Speaker 1: 0:06

Hey, new Age Accountants, welcome to Accountants 2.0. Today I'm with Ted Williamson, our president, and we're going to get right into it, as we always do. This is step two for New Age Accountants making the client the center of all. Alright, so already I can feel the wincing coming through the ether of the internet. Oh, they say.

Speaker 2: 0:30

You mean we're not the most important thing, like the accountant doesn't think of us as the center of all things.

Speaker 1: 0:36

No, Well, as evidence shows, the clients certainly don't feel that they're the center of all things in a lot of cases and I understand it and I sympathize only because you're structured to do a job.

Speaker 1: 0:51

You're doing the books, you're filing, you're chasing them for information to do the critical filings, and you've got your bookkeepers and your staff geared to provide that service.

Speaker 1: 1:02

So what happens is you don't want to say no but at the same time, when you do say yes, you feel like you're offering a workaround or something special for that client. And then you say well, how do I remain profitable if I'm going to be offering all these services that are not really related directly to what we're supposed to be doing? Well, they are, because the health of your client's business is important and you're in a special relationship with them where you're seeing every transaction, you're seeing all their activity. If you don't add that guidance, then you're not differentiating yourself in the market. So how do you do that properly? Well, it comes down to what we found in our experience is defining core services and core service packages and offerings that are easily identified. You create your operations around that, your core operations, and then you can work towards efficiency and profitability and really knocking it out of the park when you provide those services.

Speaker 2: 2:04

Well, I'd like to talk about one small thing right before that talking about is, and that is finding the client that you like the most and how you can relate to them and how you can actually service them. So the hot button is niching, or you want to niche, so you want to make sure that you're paying attention to a certain type of client and it's in order to make them the center of all, because you can be the center of all to them, because you understand them and you know them and you're giving them so much value because you know them. So it's super important to first of all figure out who you like and who you want to serve, and then you can figure out how to serve them.

Speaker 1: 2:54

Well, that would govern your core service offerings as well. If you're catering to, you're not going to say yes to bars and restaurants at the same time as I'm dealing with insurance firms and brokers. And then I'm going to deal with contractors, construction companies. Okay, those are three niches. That's great if you have the operational depth to create three foci of marketing and infrastructure. But you know, slow down there can't take on the world. Focus on one or two and create a core packages that could define that. But now for the differentiator and this is where I believe accounts 2.0 has excelled in conceptualizing this is you can have what's called. I call them bolt-on services. You're offering your core services and you're providing. But there's other services and Ted's going to elaborate a little bit on this. Ted, like bolt-on services, either offers you an affiliate or a partner that specializes in that aspect, but you can market it as your own or offer it as your own with that. So from the client's perspective, it's almost like a custom. You can create these custom situations without creating an operational strain on yourself.

Speaker 2: 4:14

Absolutely. And it doesn't have to be that you offer it through your own name, like as it's white labeled. You can offer it on behalf of somebody. So the whole idea of Accountants 2.0 is that you're coming together as a community to grow together. And how do you do that? Well, you can connect to each other.

Speaker 2: 4:30

So, for example, my firm that we sold, we offered bookkeeping, tax. You know tax planning, payroll, things like that. You know the usual compliance and we could. So what we would do is find a business valuator. We would be able to sell that business valuation services directly for them or bring on, you know, before it used to be where you would just refer them and then the client then has like five different relationships you have to deal with where you could offer that on to your suite of services and say that's ABC firm that's doing this, but I'm going to be the one who's going to.

Speaker 2: 5:10

You know, be your like, be your relationship and make sure that ABC is getting it done right. So that's kind of how you can offer additional services and additional products by utilizing the community and making sure that you know you find somebody you trust. You can bring on their services as your own. You can sell it as your own if they allow that and if you have the you know, I guess, if you have the insurance for that and if you're, you know, able to provide or to offer that within your own firm, or you can offer it as a bolt-on you know, third party instead of bolt-on, you know, within your own firm, but it's really a third party doing the work.

Speaker 1: 5:58

And it's key that you become the portal because, or the gatekeeper of that relationship, because that's seen as the value added or the enrichment of the basic offering of your core services, so you become more interesting. It's your differentiator. You're now being seen as a unique partner in, not just another service that is driven by price and or get it done, or whether you upset them or not by not getting back to them that kind of stuff.

Speaker 2: 6:30

Well, not just that. So people need different services that are related to each other in order to run their businesses or to be compliant. So why not, instead of having them shop around and get stressed out about that, and find somebody that might not be the greatest, the greatest for them, you can bring on one of these third, a third party who you know understands your, your client base. So you have a target market, you have a niche, and now you have. So I offer bookkeeping and tax. I need somebody who can do business valuations for my niche. So I know that ABC company does, is works with my niche exclusively or works with it, you know, on an ongoing very, very often. So I can trust them that they're going to provide a good service. Now those clients are going to look for that business value either, regardless.

Speaker 2: 7:28

So what if that business, what if they find one who is not that great and then all of a sudden that that impacts your, your, your, your business in a way that you deal with that with that client because they didn't have a great relationship or they didn't do something very well. You didn't trust that person that they went to. Or maybe that person that they went to, that business evaluator does bookkeeping and tax. Now all of a sudden, they've been exposed to somebody who does more of what they need, so this might be your favorite client. You might lose your favorite client because you just didn't have an option for them. Now you can offer that without creating all of this complexity within your firm. That's really the key is you don't want to create complexity within your firm. You want to be able to offer more solutions to the specific type of client that you want.

Speaker 1: 8:21

That's a great example, Ted. Is there any other examples you can think of besides, like I say, business valuation? What would be another bolt-on service or something from a core offering that you can think of?

Speaker 2: 8:33

Well, things like CFO services. So CFO services is a hot thing right now and you can see all these coaches. I actually want to do a separate podcast for this, but you see all these coaches out there. Be a CFO, be a CFO. Not everybody wants to be a CFO or can. But doesn't mean that you can't offer CFO services. It doesn't mean that you can't find an amazing CFO partner with them and bring them on. You can help them with their compliance. They can help you with your advisory. Your client gets everything that they need and everybody's happy. So that is a huge one. Or just advisory in general.

Speaker 2: 9:14

Most people go into accounting and they don't want to actually do compliance. They want to do more advisory. So you could actually find those people that do want to do compliance as well. So if you are a CFO, you can find somebody that can feed you business or you can find somebody that can do all that preparatory work for you, so you don't have to do all that stuff. You might not like that. If you want to just be an advisor, you don't want to necessarily do all the tax planning, do all of the tax filing and year ends and all that kind of stuff. You just want to look at the information that's been compiled and help the client make decisions and move forward.

Speaker 1: 9:52

So, more than just a bolt-on affiliate gatekeeper, these opportunities offer a partnership and much deeper relationships. In the case of a virtual CFO, you'll be working more back and forth with an individual like that, as opposed to offering, maybe, a technological bolt-on like a reporting service or something that would just be a straight-up product.

Speaker 2: 10:17

Absolutely. Another thing is big, as you all know, is incorporation services. So I think all of us have been presented with clients needing incorporation services or some sort of annual filing service or some sort of legal compliance where you can actually find, you know, you can have access to owner and just refer them to there, or you can network with it, with a lawyer or an accountant that does some of these services. You might not want to do them, I didn't want to do them, I thought about doing them and I wanted to eventually do them, but ultimately I just found somebody to help me with those. A lot of times we refer just to an accountant or just to a lawyer, or to like owner or to like legal zoom or something like that. If there was a super, super simple thing, we usually try to go with a lawyer because it's better for them, but not every client values lawyers as much as they do a simple solution. But either way, you can find somebody like that too. That's a very, very common one that you could bring into the fall.

Speaker 1: 11:32

So structuring this and Ted, the new age account has to basically identify their niche or focus on their core niche, the core services for that niche, and then really think about what those extra services can be and then align that so when they're making their offering proposals they can take these into consideration and then it becomes a smooth operation where the client is getting what they want, so they feel that they're the center of all and the structure is such that it feels custom but it's not negatively impacting your core operations. And then you'll become a sea of workarounds and side procedures.

Speaker 2: 12:14

Yeah, absolutely so you can essentially grow your income without having to do all this additional work and help grow somebody else's. So by doing this, offering these like bolt-on services, you increase your ability to earn money and you give your client a better service. You are bringing on another service provider, another accountant or bookkeeper, to come on board and earn money and you're creating it's a win all around, provided you select the right ones. So it's very, very important that you select the right providers to do these bolt-on services, while making sure that they're not competing with you in. So I'll give you an example.

Speaker 2: 13:05

If I'm a bookkeeper and all I do is books and I and my clients need, you know, file taxes, well, I need to find a tax. I need to find an accountant or a tax repairer, or you know an EA or something like that to to make to make sure that that their books are Turned into a tax return and their tax returns completed and they're happy. Well, I, so I'm gonna go find an EA or CPA and I make sure that they don't. They don't care about the books as a serri, or they have, or you have an agreement in place, some sort of legal agreement, where they will not try to bring those, and if NF, a client tries to engage them for the services that you provide, that they will not or they'll compensate you or some way that. So that's really where the complexity lies with that type of situation, but I think it's well worth it.

Speaker 1: 13:54

Well, but the two scenarios are you are scaling to maintain or scaling to exit and resale, but these, these type of service, I guess structures are in desire, so that's great. These are really good examples, ted. I'm at a loss right now. We can did this out, but I she's gonna have to clip this out arena. But what? What else we have to add in this? Well, thanks, ted for for that insight on Having making the client the center of all. That was a, you know, short and sweet and simple, but at the same time complex in its implications, as you picked the service providers and allies that you want to perpetuate this situation of scaling.

Speaker 2: 14:40

So in making the client the center of all, having a proper system in place so technology, so your practice management solution, so you can communicate with them and and React to them very well, in having a good marketing system in place so that you, so that they know that you're engaging with them constantly, your, you're continuously looking for feedback from them, you know, asking them what you can do better, what area, what things work, what things don't work, and then also just staying engaged with them with your newsletters, with your, with blogs and podcasts, you know and and create, creating a community for your niche. Even All these things are very, very important to make sure that they know that you care and that they are the center of your world.

Speaker 1: 15:27

Great. Well, on the subject of podcasts, we're not a one-way street. Everyone. We actually are a community, so we encourage you to join us either on LinkedIn or Facebook communities, as well as a subscribe to our YouTube Channel and stay in touch with us as new episodes come out, and interact with us. We love the field questions and and and and talk to people, so we learn more, and then you learn more too. So until next time, you guys, have a great day.