your goal: build efficiencies and create repeatable product sales.
by jody padar
from success to significance: the radical cpa guide
in “the radical cpa,” i explained the cloud and how it works. however, i’ve always maintained that the hows are not important.
more on radicalism: true diversity means creating equity | a legacy of leadership must extend to diversity | the persona: a closer look | 3 challenges in shifting to product management | productized 1099s the new vision way | why our clients need us to be radical | introducing the fifth radical tenet: the business model
exclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.
what’s critical to understand is that cloud firms require a new type of management. why?
because the cloud is disruptive to cpa firms’ core management philosophies. the cloud disrupts what we’re selling.
the most important thing i want you to remember is that technology becomes part of the products you sell. this is a totally different way of looking at technology in a cpa firm. in a traditional firm, technology is a tool or piece of overhead. in today’s new firm, technology is part of what we sell. it becomes part of the product.
this is a huge change in thinking.
in “the radical cpa” i wrote about how i categorize my technology costs as product costs, or as part of a cost of goods sold. why is this so important?
it’s important because it truly becomes one of the inputs of what you’re selling. and as you productize your services, you will selectively choose the right technology that you will resell as part of your solution. when we get to pricing, it will become important that you bundle your technology fees with your solutions. if you do not, it becomes too easy for your customer to try and pick apart your solution.
you do not want to give customers the option of working with you differently.
it’s too easy for a customer to say, “i don’t need that technology because of the cost” when they don’t understand that the technology allows for the transparency as well as the capacity within the cpa firm. it is unrealistic for a firm to have 300 ways of doing something. it will not scale and it will frustrate your team.
and remember, you are not selling a service, you are selling a solution.
that solution includes technology chosen for that specific customer. this is key to understanding how you will continue to adopt new technologies and how you will sell your firm’s solutions. the idea of this technology being sold as part of the solution allows for capacity, process and a uniform way of doing accounting for multiple customers. without this uniformity, it is extremely difficult to scale. this is why old-school firms are caught in the rat race of everything being done differently. it is only in solution-selling that customers buy the technology you choose for them. everyone must utilize the same trial balance or system.
for example, you can’t walk into our firm with an excel spreadsheet and have an expectation of a tax return. you need to be on our system. we sell business and tax solutions, not numbers entered on tax returns.
in today’s world, i would argue that in any given month i can find a new technology that will automate my process and deliver better value for my firm. it is because of this that i believe product management is the way to help facilitate ongoing technology. and you don’t have to be the only one who introduces new technology. remember our trusty friends the millennials? they are exceptional at this stuff. but anyone on your team can find a new tool – it’s not an age thing.
customizing technology for your customer
when you know your customer well, you can then map out your specific services and technologies for them while considering their needs and goals and technological ability.
for example, in our solution for graphic designers, we include freshbooks as well as quickbooks online. the reason being is we know our graphic designers only are concerned with invoicing (remember our persona exercise) and freshbooks has one of the simpler invoicing products out there. we don’t confuse our graphic designers and try and teach them intuit invoicing when we know freshbooks is a product that better meets their needs.
however, as accountants, we also need a balance sheet, and so we use quickbooks online for that piece of the solution. our graphic designers don’t care because we are not selling them software. all the software fees are included in our monthly price for that; all they care about is that the interface is easy and we picked the best-of-breed invoicing for the task. it’s not helpful to your customer to have them use a solution that doesn’t meet their needs. that is why it is so important to figure out what is going to go into the solution or productized services you are selling and why knowing your customer is critical.
therefore, knowing the cloud and all the products available because of cloud technologies is so important. if you don’t know what is available and on the market, how can you best serve your customers?
it’s time to productize your services and use the cloud with all your customers, not just one or two. if you allow that to happen, your firm will go through a transformation. a transformation that can’t be taken lightly; a transformation that will give you more capacity to do more – whether that includes adopting more technology, taking on more client work or focusing on growth and business development.
the wonderful world of apps
this idea of using a productized service allows for a whole app ecosystem. it allows us as the accountants to select and create the complete office system for our customers. we now can help them select a cloud-driven application program that allows them to run their business and connect it to the general ledger system – as opposed to the old way, in which we tried to make the accounting system run all of their other business processes as well.
now, the business recording and operational piece takes part in the app program and only the accounting gets done in the accounting program. we also now have the opportunity to perform functions such as invoicing, accounts receivable and accounts payable remotely for the functions to increasingly become a critical part of their accounting team. hello stickiness factor!
every day, more functional apps are being included to help small business run better. in the small business sector, both the intuit and xero app stores are growing. and sage live lives in the salesforce ecosystem, taking you upstream to the next level of customer.
the app store also includes apps to allow for small business lending – both traditional and alternative types of lending – as well as the ability to receive a cash advance on a specific receivable.
have you ever heard of fundbox? are you aware of how you can add value to customers when you have a complete understanding of the technology that is accessible to them in a cloud world? how about using technology to facilitate cash flow consulting engagements?
it is important that you work in tandem with your customers on these initiatives to standardize operations and streamline internal controls. it’s also critical that you have a solid grasp of your internal team to help them implement and even perform daily processing as needed. it is critical to your firm and its internal workflows.
if you let your customers lead the way, you will end up no better than you were before your transformation as too many options become overwhelming to your team. we are looking to build efficiencies and create repeatable product sales to other customers, not sell hourly time consulting for one-off jobs.
another issue i have seen happen is overkill. make sure you have the correct system for the correct level of work. when looking at options, it is so important to make sure the technology fits the business and that it’s the right size for them today with a road map for growth in the future. too many times the solution does not fit the need.