Is in-person xero training better than online?

29 May

You’ve signed up for Xero. You’ve watched a few tutorial videos. You might have even done an online training session. But something still isn’t quite clicking, and you’re not sure why.

If that sounds familiar, you’re not alone. It’s one of the most common things we hear from business owners who come to us after trying to get to grips with Xero on their own.

Xero training comes in two main forms, online or in person, and both have merit. The right choice for you will depend on where you are with Xero, what you’re trying to achieve, and how much support you need to get there. This blog looks at both options and sets out who each one suits, to help you decide which is the better fit for your business.

What does Xero training cover?

Xero training can cover a broad range of areas, depending on where you’re starting from and what your business needs.

For some people, it’s about getting the fundamentals right, from setting up bank feeds and understanding how reconciliation works to making sure transactions are coded correctly from the start. For others, it’s about going a bit deeper, like building custom reports, getting Xero Payroll running smoothly, or connecting Xero to other tools in their business.

Beyond the technical side, good training helps you get comfortable with Xero as a day-to-day tool. That means knowing where to look when something doesn’t add up, understanding what your reports are telling you, and feeling confident enough to keep your accounts in good order without needing to call your accountant every five minutes.

Done well, Xero training shouldn’t just teach you how to use the software. It should give you a clearer picture of your finances, save you hours of admin each week, and remove the low-level anxiety that comes with not being quite sure whether you’ve got everything right in Xero.

What online Xero training is good for

Online Xero training has a lot going for it. It’s flexible, affordable, and you can fit it around your day without a visit to plan or a diary to coordinate. For certain situations, it’s the perfect solution.

Our ‘Power Hour’ is a good example of online Xero training done well. It’s a bespoke one-to-two-hour session over Zoom, designed to tackle your most pressing Xero questions, fast. It works well when you need a quick walkthrough of the basics as a new user, when you’ve got one or two specific problems that need fixing, or when you want a year-end review and tidy-up before you hand things over to your accountant.

However, the key phrase here is ‘specific problems’. Online Xero training tends to work best when you know what you need. You come in with a question, you get an answer, and you leave better equipped to handle that particular thing.

The challenge comes when you’re not sure what you need, or when your issues run deeper than a quick fix. That’s when online training starts to show its limits.

Why in-person Xero training goes deeper

There’s a big difference between watching someone explain a process on a screen and having an expert sit next to you, helping you work through your own Xero data in real time.

With online Xero training, you’re largely guided through a demo or a walkthrough. With an in-person session, we’ll work alongside you on your own setup, including your bank feeds, chart of accounts and transactions.

Learning Xero in-person with an experienced Xero Gold Partner often leads to problems that you didn’t know existed getting spotted and sorted on the day. Questions lead to follow-up questions, while the kind of back-and-forth conversation that helps you absorb and comprehend information properly is much easier when it’s done face to face.

There’s also something about the pace of learning. Online sessions tend to move through a set agenda. In-person sessions allow you to breathe a bit more. If something needs more time, it gets more time. If we notice something in your Xero that warrants a closer look, we can stop and address it there and then, rather than adding it to a list to follow up later.

It’s a different experience, and for businesses that need proper, joined-up support rather than answers to a specific question, the results tend to reflect that.

Who’ll benefit most from an in-person Xero training session?

In-person Xero training isn’t for everyone, but for certain businesses it can make a massive difference. It’s perfect for you if:

You’re new to Xero and want to get set up properly from day one, rather than unpicking problems six months down the line.
You’ve been using Xero for a year or more without any professional support, and suspect that things aren’t quite right under the surface.
You’re converting from Sage or QuickBooks, where there’s a lot of groundwork to cover and plenty of scope for errors during the transition.
You’ve spent hours trawling through Xero Central or watching YouTube tutorials, and are still stuck.
You’ve tried online training, which helped a bit, but you still need someone to come in and sort things out properly.

We’ve seen all these scenarios, and many more, before. The common thread is that in-person Xero training is for businesses that need more than a quick fix. They need someone to spend proper time with them and their data, and to leave them in a position where they actually understand what they’re doing and why.

What does a Day Visit from Progression look like?

Our Day Visits run for five hours, typically 10am to 3pm, with a short break in the middle. They’re hands-on from start to finish.

Before your session, we’ll have a conversation with you about what you’re hoping to get out of the day. That shapes what gets covered. We’ll then build the session around your business, your setup and your specific challenges.

On the day, we’ll help you work through your own Xero. If there are errors to fix, we’ll fix them and show you what caused them so you can avoid the same issue in future. If there are features you’re not using but should be, we’ll set them up and walk you through how to use them. And if your chart of accounts is a mess, we’ll help you get it sorted.

By the end of the day, your Xero should be working properly, and you should feel confident running it yourself.

Best of all, our support doesn’t stop when we leave. You can book a follow-up session, email us or give us a call if anything comes up once you’re back at your desk, so you’re never left to figure things out alone.

What about the cost?

An in-person Day Visit is 5 hours onsite with you & covering lots of ground, while an online Power Hour covers a specific pre-identified issue.

Please see our Xero Training solutions for our current prices.

On the face of it, there’s a clear price difference.

But it’s worth thinking about that against the alternative. Xero errors that go unnoticed for months can create real problems at year-end, and your accountant’s time isn’t cheap & isn’t always specialist support. The hours you spend trying to work things out without support can add up, too. And if your data isn’t reliable, the reports and insights Xero is supposed to give you aren’t much use.

A Day Visit is an investment with a Xero Expert to get your Xero working properly. For most businesses, it pays for itself relatively quickly - in the time you’ll save, the errors you’ll avoid, and the extra accountancy fees you won’t have to pay.

So, which is right for you?

If you have a clear, specific Xero question and you’re broadly comfortable with the platform, an online Power Hour will likely do the job. It’s efficient, affordable and designed to give you that kind of focused support.

If you’re newer to Xero, have been using it without proper guidance, or are switching from another system, in-person training is the better investment. You’ll get more from a day of focused, practical work with us than from multiple online training sessions and trying to piece things together on your own.

If you’re not sure which fits your situation, just ask and we’ll give you an honest steer. There’s no pressure to book anything. We’d rather point you in the right direction than sell you something that isn’t quite right for you. Get in touch to find out which type of Xero training is right for you and your business.