Episode 3

Adapting Your Accounting Business Model: Subscriptions, Advisory & Strategic Partnerships

Episode Summary:

In this episode, Talila Kroy, Wayne Findlay, and Ian Aldridge discuss how accountants must adapt their business models to thrive in a changing landscape. Learn why moving from hourly billing to subscription models, embracing advisory work, and building structured partnerships are essential for future-proofing your practice.

What You'll Learn:

  1. Why subscription models create stickier client relationships for accountants
  2. How to transition from compliance-focused work to advisory services
  3. The importance of becoming the trusted adviser on emerging topics like AI
  4. Why structured partnerships deliver faster results than ad hoc referrals
  5. How to leverage partnerships to access expertise without adding headcount
  6. The power of running workshops and events with strategic partners

Key Takeaways:

  1. Accountants need to move away from hourly billing to subscription models that encourage clients to seek advice freely
  2. Advisory work is becoming easier with AI tools, creating opportunities for accountants to add more value
  3. Structured partnerships with clear rules and expectations prevent confusion and protect all parties
  4. Becoming the expert on timely topics (like AI) positions you as the go-to trusted adviser
  5. Partnerships allow you to offer expanded services without hiring additional staff

Notable Quotes:

"If you want to become the trusted adviser, hourly rate charging for everything isn't the way to go. You need to create an environment with your clients where they can call you without worrying about being charged." - Wayne Findlay

"Going through that partner suitcase and working out how to present this in the correct format—we had partners that we were working with for five, ten years and they didn't know that we did that piece of work before." - Ian Aldridge

"It's about not doing that ad hoc but systemising it. Systemising is the key. All accountants understand the power of referrals—it's really about making it structured." - Talila Kroy

Roundtable Events

Information, including registration details, for Roundtable events for Accountants: https://thebackroomop.com/thepartnershipeffect 

Panelist Information:

Talila Kroy - Emple

Wayne Findlay - The Back Room

Ian Aldridge - Progressive Legal

Production:

Co-host - Anthony Perl - Podcasts Done For You


Transcript
Anthony Perl:

Adapting your accounting business model, subscriptions,

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advisory, and strategic partnerships.

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Welcome to the Connected Accountant,

the podcast where we explore

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how strategic partnerships can

transform your accounting practice.

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I'm your co-host Anthony Pearl.

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At today we're exploring the.

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Fundamental shifts that

accountants need to make.

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Moving from hourly billing to

subscriptions, from compliance

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to advisory, and building the

partnerships that make it all possible.

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Talila Kroy: The best way to deal

with AI is to get ahead of it,

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and the same with partnership.

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Ian Aldridge: If you don't get ahead of

this now, you're gonna get left behind

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and it's happening really rapidly.

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It's fast.

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Wayne Findlay: If you want to become the

trusted advisor, the hourly rate charging

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for everything isn't the way to go.

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Anthony Perl (2): Joining me today

are our three regular panelists

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who bring incredible expertise

to the connected accountant, Tila

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Croy from Emel, Wayne Finley from

the back room, and Ian Aldridge.

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From Progressive Legal, let's

get into what will make you

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the connected accountant

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with people getting armed

with more and more information

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from AI and other sources.

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You have to become an expert in a

particular area and then have other

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experts that you can refer to along

the way, and that's the change that's

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happening and needs to happen in

accounting firms, isn't it Wayne?

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Wayne Findlay: Yeah, I think so.

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Like, you know, an niche like we

mentioned was, was tradies and, and

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my current business is accountants

and it all revolves around

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partnerships is how we market today.

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If you can imagine trying to do a

business plan back in, you know, in two

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thousands, you know, that was a huge

job that would take, you know, hours of

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work today with the, where AI is your

tool, it's a lot easier and so I think

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you can niche and you can make sure

that you tell your partners about that.

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Ian Aldridge: It's different for us

as lawyers, as accountants, where

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I've often said that if I came back

in another life, I'd come back as

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an accountant because I've seen how

sticky you can be to a business.

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We're still in this very

transactional scenario.

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Unfortunately, with our clients,

Australian businesses at least, are

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just not ready for a subscription

model that's fair and reasonable.

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There are others that are now

offering that, but that we receive

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endless complaints about those and.

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You know, they're just not

doing it in the right way.

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And we find that, you know, many

clients still want us to just,

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let's just do this one thing.

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Earn the trust, right?

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Let's just do this one thing first,

and then we'll do the next thing, and

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then the next thing, the next thing,

and do things in order of priority.

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Whereas good or bad, you know,

accountants have been forced really

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into providing monthly subscription.

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But obviously the work that accountants

do lends itself so well to that.

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You know, monthly rec, quarterly bass,

half yearly reports, either reports,

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Wayne Findlay: behavioral.

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But, but then a lot of that could

go like with ai, and that's why

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you just can't rely on that.

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And I think that's why the

accountants need to look at advisory.

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To have on top of the compliance.

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The compliance is probably the

easiest bit that AI can solve,

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Ian Aldridge: but still you

can have monthly meetings as

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part of that subscription.

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Wayne Findlay: And you

mentioned subscription.

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I think that's important too, is

if you want to become the trusted

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advisor, the hourly rate charging

for everything isn't the way to go.

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You're not going to get client

trust every time they ring up.

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Or pick up the phone to talk to you,

you're gonna get charged for it.

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So you need to create an environment

with your clients that a subscription

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is how we used to work and that

encompassed ad hoc phone calls and you

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know, having a meeting, a quick meeting.

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But what would happen from those?

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We, you would normally charge

in the old days, you would

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get additional work from that.

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There would be a project

that would come out of it.

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So I think setting yourself up.

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Yeah.

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So you can get additional

advice as a way to do it.

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Ian Aldridge: Yeah, and this is

something that I've been very envious

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of, accountants, is that, you know,

I'd sort of worked out that it,

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you kind of need to get to those.

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300 clients that are paying you the

monthly subscription, and then every

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month is a similar month, even in

January, which is horrible for US lawyers.

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Yeah.

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February sort of break even, but January

being a half month, you know, that's

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really, that's really tough on every law

firm, but it just means as well too, that

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you'll need less referral partners as an

accountant than you would do as a lawyer.

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So I have to go really hard.

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I'm gonna need to get, you know.

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Three to 500 referral partners,

whereas you're gonna get fast traction

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as an accountant if you're doing

this partner suitcase because you

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know, you'll get 20 referrals from

people, from your referral partners.

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And, and it won't, that, that, that

doesn't take long to get to 300 clients.

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Or if you want 300 more clients,

I think you'll get a lot of

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traction really quickly from it.

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I

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Wayne Findlay: think all accountants

need to market because out with the

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old and you want to get new one.

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So you need to continually

churn your clients over.

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'cause we all know you do have bad

clients or you have clients that they're

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just there for price or they're not

really, it's that 80 20 rule, isn't it?

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You just gotta continually get the

good and churn out the bad or the old.

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So I think.

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Even if you're successful now as

an accounting firm, you need to get

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good leads coming through all the

time so you can have a bit of client

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picking on who you're dealing with.

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Ian Aldridge: There's, and there's

naturally clients that fall

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out of the bucket that you've

gotta, you know, put back in.

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I see the opportunities

for accountants being.

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Like this is a really, really good

opportunity for accountants to leverage

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off these partners and partnerships and

you can do these presentations via Zoom

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or Teams or whatever you want to use.

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We just had one the other day with

someone in Perth who I've been hunting

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for a while now to softly to try and

get as I did have a relationship with

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another law firm before, and I saw that.

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Starting to fall apart.

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And so I sort of got, um, got

out our BD to reach out to her

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and, and, and organize a meeting.

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And we gave, and we did the presentation.

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And her feedback was, there's only

two people that have done this for

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me before, the first one who was a

business advisor and they've been

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working together for 10 years and

they refer work to each other up.

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All the time.

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And so she said, this

is really impressive.

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You're clearly putting a lot

of effort into this, you know,

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relationship before it even starts.

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And so I think we've now got a, we've

capitalized on that and referral partner

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and they're based in Perth where wherever

the other east coast of Australia.

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And she's happy to send

clients, you know, our way.

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Yeah.

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Anthony Perl (2): I think it's interesting

here that this is the changing nature

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of accounting firm in changing name

of businesses, but accounting firms

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have to be on the back of it, right?

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I mean, Tila, it's a good opportunity to

bring you in here in terms of thinking

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about the way they go about business

needs to be different and partnerships

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needs to be a central focus of that.

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Otherwise, they risk falling

behind everyone else.

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Talila Kroy: Exactly, and I think

accountants are very, shall we

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say, conservative people by nature.

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Majority wise, I, I don't wanna be

broad rush here, but they're known.

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There's not that many faster

doctors compared to maybe

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some other areas of business.

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But fortunately, this isn't an area

where you have to change so much.

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All accountants understand about the

power of referrals and the power of

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working as a trusted advisor with a,

surrounded by a network of excellence.

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So it's really about.

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Not doing that ad hoc, but

systemizing is the key.

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And that's like what Ian said

when he brought up his deck.

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We created that deck.

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So I know that deck has every single thing

that people need to know about progressive

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legals to be their good partner.

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And therefore that partner was not

only impressed, but educated and

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will bring him the right people.

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And for accountants, it's really,

particularly when they're moving

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more focused on the advisory space,

it's really quite straightforward.

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To take from their existing relationships

and existing network to elevate

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them from ad hoc to more proactive.

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And then to find those other ones that

they need and surround themselves with it.

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And there you have a winning formulas.

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All our focus will be on, on the

accounting and advisory partner

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suitcase that picks off in January.

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And yeah, we're very,

very excited about that.

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And both Wayne and Ian will feature

in that in different places as well.

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Yeah, so it's going to be.

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I know that it's going to be

transformative for every single

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accountant that's participating.

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Anthony Perl (2): Wayne, I just wanna

unpack a little bit further as well

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about what Tah was just speaking about

and and what you were talking about

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earlier in terms of this changing

face of the way accountants need to

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think about themselves and to start

looking at partnerships as being.

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An intrinsic part of their business.

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You know, are there some obvious ways to

start for them in terms of that rethinking

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the way the business should work?

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Wayne Findlay: Yeah, I was just

thinking there when em was talking

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about having your partners and how

you would, especially with AI and

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being a trusted advisors, if I was an

accountant today, I'd front foot that

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and become the trusted advisor on ai.

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As far as that and build some

partners around you that know ai.

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For example, I would run

some workshops with clients.

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'cause if.

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You think you've got issues with

AI in the accounting industry, your

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clients have the same issues as well,

and they're all thinking about it.

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So I would run some workshops or some

events, bring some partners in around AI

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and off that, build out some advice that

would help, you know, help those clients.

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So become the expert in ai.

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For your clients, so they go to you.

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That would be an example of something

I would look at doing right now.

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Anthony Perl (2): And Ian, I bring you

in here because that's the interesting

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thing about the legal profession

is that it's become known as being

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niched in different areas, uh, but

still at a reasonably high level.

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You know, criminal law, people

think about that and family law.

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What Wayne's talking about here is kind

of bringing that even further down.

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And in order to be, bring that further

down as you've talked to in previous

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episodes, you need to be the trusted

advisor that can recognize this is

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your niche, even within a niche.

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And then be able to have those other

partners that you can bring in to

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be able to do those other things.

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And that's the lesson that

accountants need to learn as well.

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Yeah, just had a whole bunch of ideas.

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Ian Aldridge: When Wayne just spoke,

then I guess we actually need to, we

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actually need to do that as the, as the,

as the law firm and, and specialize in

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AI and give our clients training and ai.

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And we've just recently implemented

AI into the business in the last

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two weeks because it's waiting for

the right solution to come along

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for small businesses, a whole bunch

of enterprise solutions right now.

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I'm guessing that's probably the same in,

in the, in the accounting financial space.

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But yeah, there's a huge opportunity

for accountants, I think.

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Because I know that there's a few

AI businesses that are targeting

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small firm accountants, you

know, not enterprise accountants.

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Right.

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Wayne Findlay: The automation's a

buzzword at the moment, which isn't

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really ai, but it's automation and

there's a lot of people out there saying

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they're the experts in automation.

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That's where accountants should become

involved and helping out with that.

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Yeah.

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Ian Aldridge: I think there's a few

businesses now that are specifically

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targeting the small to medium SMEs for ai,

for accounting space, and yeah, if I was

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an accountant, I reckon I'd be contacting

every single one of them and working out

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what can they do and what can, how can I

help my clients and stress testing every

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single one of them if there are multiple,

if there are multiple ones out there, and

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then helping, you know, finding a solution

that you can potentially work with.

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One or more of those referral partners

and then you are at least seen

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like, oh, I'm ahead of this curve.

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I think like Anthony, you were

saying before that you know that

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the accounts have got back this.

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I think professional services

generally now need to realize they

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need to get in front of this now.

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Like you need to be keeping up

as much as possible with this.

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As annoying as it is and as scary

and potentially business threatening

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as some of the news is saying.

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If you don't get ahead of this

now, you're gonna get left behind.

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And it's happening really rapidly.

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It's fast, it's fast moving, there's

stuff coming out every single day.

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But if you are, but, but if you are in

touch with the people in the know and

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they're telling you, Hey, what's coming?

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And at least you, you're gonna be at

the forefront of it and telling your

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clients as well too, that Hey, we

are, we are adopting this technology,

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we are using this technology.

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There are even some larger businesses

in the last six months that I've heard.

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Are insisting on their big firms using

ai like they're, it's part of the panel,

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like they've got a panel of big firms.

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And they're saying to those

big firms, if you don't use ai,

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you will not be on this panel.

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Mm.

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So there, there's, it's even coming

from the clients now where there's

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this top down approach where they,

obviously they're going off the

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big clients first for AI and, and

finding those solutions because

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they're bigger fish, they're whales,

but there's also, there's bottom up.

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I think that's happening as well too,

where, you know, realizing that can make

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an even bigger difference percentage

wise for profitability for SMEs by

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implementing AI into their business.

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And we wanna make ourselves

really, really sticky.

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So we are their first port of call.

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And that we're in front of this

and we're talking about ai, we're

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talking about how that's gonna change

the way we deliver our services.

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I think clients will now realize,

oh wow, they're talking about this.

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They're in front of it.

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They're not avoiding it

like the plague or COVID.

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They haven't got their head in the sand.

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They're actually making strategic

moves to make this a better

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service for us in the future.

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And I think those that adopt it and those

that talk about it, are gonna get the

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lion's share of the work because everyone

else will be like, oh, they don't.

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Just like what happened with Myov

and QuickBooks and the, and the Zero

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Anthony Perl (2): Crowd.

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Tila.

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I wanna bring you in here because I

think what's really important about

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some of these things that we're

talking about is, is if you're going

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to niche and you're going to become,

for example, the specialist in AI for

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accountants, you need to be able to map

out who your partners are going to be.

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And some of them are going to be

obvious and some of them not so much.

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So talk to me about that process of

how you actually go about doing that.

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Talila Kroy: This is an interesting

one because we were talking before

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about he, how every accountant has a

bunch of specific advisors that they

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all should have, like estate plan or

lawyer, finance, broker, et cetera.

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This is a new category for them

and they will have to go out

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and find the right partner.

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And I think it's such a topical

one in what Wayne instead was so

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smart because people are panicking.

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Everyone is panicking.

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It's such a great.

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To get on the front foot and say,

let's make this work for you.

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Because AI and automation as as much

as friend as they are an enemy, they're

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your frenemy and you just gotta, you

gotta work with them the right way.

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And so one of the things we do

absolutely in the partner suitcase

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is map out who do you need.

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And this is about, okay,

your clients are trad.

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For example, what are the AI or

automation options in the trade industry

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and what, what problems do they solve?

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What levels of trust are they?

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What are they gonna offer to my clients?

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What can I offer to them?

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Where would I bring them

in on the client journey?

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And then having that chat.

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Making sure that we build

enough trust with each one.

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We've got a very specific process

when it comes to bringing a partner

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on for the first time because

trust is the fuel of partnerships.

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You cannot risk your reputation, you

cannot risk your client's experience.

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So we are always starting some kind of

a small engagement, and it was kind of

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like what we were all saying before.

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The partner knows that

you are watching them.

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And actually, if you look at

it like Ian was referred to me.

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A partner, Wayne was referred to

me, like the people that refer

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to you, they're looking at you to

make sure you're doing a good job.

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So it's about scouting out who are the

right ones to talk to, ideally getting

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introduced to them, and then building

trust and making sure that there's a

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complete values alignment before you

start recommending those to anybody.

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Once that trust is created, then

you can open the doors more and more

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and more, and like quite a big flow.

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And if we don't do that, and I have

like early on in the day, I created

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some partnerships quickly that I

shouldn't have and I got burned.

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So I know how important this is.

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So important, like at the core of

everything is the client experience

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and your own reputation and trust.

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You cannot do anything

to damage or make that

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Ian Aldridge: risk in

our lines of work, right?

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Talila Kroy: Reputation is everything,

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everything.

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Ian Aldridge: That's right.

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And it takes a long time sometimes to earn

trust and it takes a moment to lose it.

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Wayne Findlay: Exactly.

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That's why I think you have those rules

in Alila as part of your partnership.

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Lay that out the front.

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So you've got these rules that you

abide by, and that way you know the

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referrals and the partners you have,

you know, you have your do's and don'ts.

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I think that's important.

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Talila Kroy: So important.

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And even people think that,

well, we're both good people.

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No, no.

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Confusion will arise.

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But two people can easily

have two different ideas of

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what a conversation meant.

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And if you don't go through and granularly

specify, let's make sure the client is

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protected in these ways, let's make sure

that float referrals flow in this way.

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The other party will have a partial

understanding of what's going on, and

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that could lead to a problem that nobody

needs to have, and it's easily avoided.

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The best way to deal with any

problem is to get ahead of it.

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Like Wayne said, the best way to

deal with AI is to get ahead of it.

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Like, and, and the same with partnerships.

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Get ahead of any potential problems in

your partnership by being super clear.

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And I mean, that's what the

Ian is in the business of.

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He's in the business of making sure

that when people are doing business

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together, they're aligned on their

terms, is the same principle.

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Like don't just leave it to chance,

be very specific and have rules.

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That way we can't get burned.

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And I became the partner.

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No one gets upset.

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Right?

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Ian Aldridge: And it doesn't

have to be scary either.

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It's just really just putting in

black and white what's gonna happen

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and stepping out that process,

going back to your partner suitcase.

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So we were kind of doing things

really ad hoc and it wasn't

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structured, you know, it wasn't

really considered, we didn't educate.

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The partners on what

we did and vice versa.

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:

Like no one is doing this right now.

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No one is, um, like this is a really,

really big opportunity for professional

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services to like, and then I think

maybe if we all sort of think back

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:

at the times when we had someone.

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Pitch for our work.

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Right?

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And it's in a really nice presentation.

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It's really professional, it's structured,

it's organized, it's well thought out.

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The wording is really clear and

unambiguous, and it gives you that

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:

confidence to speak strongly about

what you do and what type of clients

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you help and what type of work

you are really good at and love.

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:

Just that alone has been really

powerful for our business,

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:

and I don't know whether.

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I would probably say most lawyers and most

accountants are fairly sort of bashful.

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:

They don't like tooting their own horn.

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:

They don't like singing their own

praises, and we kinda like our clients

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:

to do that for us and be those advocates.

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:

And I'm sure most accountants

and lawyers normally dread.

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Networking events, dread, going to

shut trade shows and this, that,

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:

and the other, and, and talking to

people being also like taken away

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:

from their business as well too.

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And you gotta think at all times, right?

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As a business owner, where

is your time best spent?

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Where is your highest and

best value in the business?

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Right?

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And after a while, especially

when you start to get a team

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:

around you, it becomes more about.

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Spending time on the business, not so

much in the business or, or 50 50, you

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:

know, or 75% is doing the supervising the

technical work, and maybe 25% is trying

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:

to go out there and get new business,

whatever that might be, spending time

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:

on marketing and, and all the rest, but.

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:

I think definitely spending the, the

time that we have spent on creating the

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partnerships has been far more valuable in

terms of, 'cause we are obviously always

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:

thinking about our time and how much our

time is valuable, but spending time on

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:

that structured approach to a partnership.

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Instead of just sort of conversations here

and there that you might have from time

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:

to time, and how many times have you had

a client, a client referred to you from

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a, a referral partner that you hadn't

spoken to in a year or two or three?

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:

Like that's an indication that like,

Hey, this person really likes you.

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:

They obviously remember you

from three years ago to come

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:

back and refer you some work.

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:

Maybe you want to give 'em some love,

you know, like, so, you know, reach out

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:

and, and, and organize a, a coffee if

you can face to face or, or you know,

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:

zoom just to, to catch up and then, you

know, foster that relationship because

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:

chances are they've probably got.

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:

You know, a lot of clients to

send, to send to you if they're, if

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:

they're remembering you after all

this time, they obviously trust you.

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:

They remember you.

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:

So nurturing that relationship as well

too, I think is, is really important.

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:

Like, obviously nurture the relationship

with your clients as well too, but

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:

nurturing your relationship with your

business, with the partners that send you

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:

work is probably more important because

ultimately they can bring you more work

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:

and more qualified and great a clients.

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:

And that's what we found really

lawful with the suitcase.

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:

Like that's the real big benefit.

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Talila Kroy: Yes, and I agree and

I think it comes down to time.

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:

Like we don't wanna just have

unstructured coffee chats.

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:

We wanna have really, like, we're having

a great time as Wayne said, and I'd

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:

say Wayne is an accountant who quite

enjoys going out and meeting people.

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:

Not all of them are introverts, but

doing it in a structured way so that it's

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:

both enjoyable and in, and it leads to

something because those random coffee

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:

chats don't necessarily lead to anything.

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:

And I've seen a lot of people

waste as much time in in

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:

networking as they do in marketing.

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:

They're not even talking to

the right people and they're

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:

not saying right things.

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:

So do everything with intention

and with strategy and it's start.

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:

That's why partner suitcase

starts with strategy.

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:

That's why all partnerships that

anyone who's listening to this

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:

is building, be very, very clear.

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:

What is it that the client needs?

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:

What is it that you want out of this?

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:

What is it that you

can offer your partner?

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:

That is the conversation.

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:

And then how do we get this going

and how do we build trust together?

427

:

And then how do we roll

it out with metrics like.

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:

It should be solid.

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:

It should be real.

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:

That's where partnerships become amazing.

431

:

Ian Aldridge: Like how many referral

partners would accountant, you

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:

know, realistically need the sort

of continually referring work?

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:

Like how many, how many of them are there?

434

:

Wayne Findlay: Well, I think

there's a few key ones.

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:

Like you need a bank manager, you

need a lawyer, you need some real

436

:

estate agents, mortgage brokers.

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:

It is good.

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:

So someone in that IT industry and

then you have your other professional

439

:

type relationships like, 'cause

we were tradies, we like tradies.

440

:

It's your plumbing worlds, your, you

know, your industries, you know, your

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:

placemakers, all those sort of, they're

New Zealand brands or Bunnings, those

442

:

type of people that head them up that

you can get referrals through from

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:

those type of, so pick your industries,

444

:

Ian Aldridge: maybe like 20.

445

:

Wayne Findlay: Yeah, I would say 20.

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:

Yep.

447

:

Yep.

448

:

And then out of those 20, I would

fine tune and have your, your 80 20,

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:

have your five or six that you work

really close with, and then have your

450

:

maybe 12, 13, 14 that you're a bit

more of a loose affiliation with.

451

:

Uh, you'll find that, yeah,

your top five you'll get, you'll

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:

get a lot of referrals from.

453

:

Talila Kroy: Yep.

454

:

We actually have a

download, don't we, Wayne?

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:

Of the, the top seven accounts.

456

:

Partners that every

accountant should have.

457

:

So there's kind of the inner ring

and ring, and that would be worth.

458

:

Picking up from this episode, I think.

459

:

Anthony Perl (2): Great idea.

460

:

Absolutely.

461

:

And just to wrap up this episode,

because I want to bring it back to the

462

:

beginning just for you to wrap it up

a little bit, Wayne, is that the start

463

:

of this, we talked about sort of the

changing model that accountants can

464

:

look at and subscriptions was one thing.

465

:

You talked about AI is another

thing you talked about.

466

:

And I think picking up from what

Tah was saying, you have to be

467

:

deliberate in what you're doing.

468

:

Don't let this bill.

469

:

On a whim, you need to be deliberate

in choosing where you're going to

470

:

go and creating that structure.

471

:

Wayne Findlay: Yeah.

472

:

I can't emphasize enough, you

know, what Tila is doing with her

473

:

partner's Suitcase, I think is just

such a good for accountants that.

474

:

You can be specific.

475

:

You go out and you could interview and

fine tune who you want as a candidates

476

:

in specific industries and knowing, I

think so what do, how do you call it?

477

:

Like if, if someone knows that

you're interviewing for that spot,

478

:

they're gonna send you leads.

479

:

Otherwise, if they know they're

not, if they don't send you

480

:

leads, then someone else is gonna.

481

:

Fill that spot.

482

:

So it's, it's making sure you

find the right partners and then

483

:

making sure there's an agreement.

484

:

I, I wouldn't do a big legal agreement.

485

:

It would be like an understanding

that this is what we're gonna do.

486

:

I'm gonna send you leads in this area.

487

:

You send me leads in this area.

488

:

And we'll help each other.

489

:

And I think that's, that's the

crux of what Tila is trying to do.

490

:

And I think, but you gotta

have structure overlapping it.

491

:

If you don't, it's just not gonna happen.

492

:

Yeah.

493

:

Ian Aldridge: You're effective,

you're effectively seeing the

494

:

referral partners as a target market.

495

:

Right.

496

:

And basically then the client

that refers you clients.

497

:

Right.

498

:

So, but going through

this process with Tila.

499

:

You are working out.

500

:

There's something magical

that happens, right?

501

:

When you, when and when you start to

focus on a particular area, it's kinda

502

:

like in any area of a business, right?

503

:

Wherever your focus goes,

the, the revenue flows.

504

:

And what we found was just going

through that process of identifying

505

:

the language that we use, the

unique selling proposition.

506

:

How do we talk to them?

507

:

Who is, and identifying who

are the top people to go.

508

:

Approach and doing that in a really

structured way, then giving them

509

:

a structured presentation with

dedicated follow ups after that to

510

:

make sure all that hard work doesn't

just up and vanish in the wind.

511

:

And, you know, how many coffees,

how many telephone conversations

512

:

have you had with potential referral

partners that just didn't go anywhere

513

:

afterwards because you got too busy.

514

:

Mm.

515

:

Talila Kroy: Yeah.

516

:

Or, or it wasn't done right.

517

:

No, that's exactly, exactly right.

518

:

And if you look at our business, em,

69% of our leads come from partnerships,

519

:

but they're also the best ones we have.

520

:

It doesn't take a lot of

really great partners.

521

:

We've got five or six really strong,

what I'd call embedded partners that

522

:

always send us work, and that's all it

takes to, to give us everything we need

523

:

to the point where we've become lazy

and haven't even done our own marketing

524

:

because the word of mouth is so strong.

525

:

By the way, I don't recommend that.

526

:

I think you should do your marketing,

like get your basics in order, but instead

527

:

of pouring money into lead generation

and all that, put it into strategic

528

:

partnerships and you'll get more clients.

529

:

Better clients, everything that you need.

530

:

Ian Aldridge: Yeah.

531

:

Forget about paying so much to Google.

532

:

Talila Kroy: Exactly.

533

:

For, for randoms.

534

:

Ian Aldridge: You then have to like very

heavily if you let them in the door.

535

:

Mm-hmm.

536

:

Exactly.

537

:

Talila Kroy: Exactly.

538

:

I mean, that's why 75% of

your con referral leads

539

:

convert because someone else.

540

:

Already warmed them up, someone

else already qualified them.

541

:

They're handed to you on a planner.

542

:

Whereas these ones that just come off a

Google search, they're price shopping.

543

:

They don't know you from a bar,

so they'll just do whatever.

544

:

It's not the same quality and leads

ain't leads, and time is money.

545

:

So the more time we can save on both

marketing and sales, the more we can

546

:

invest in our clients, which is, I

always think of it wrong, and Orchard.

547

:

Get those partners and really

focus on those partners and

548

:

then give you so many fruit.

549

:

It's like you have your own

little orchard of partners.

550

:

Instead of going fishing and getting

one client at a time, at a time

551

:

through marketing, create an orchard

and let the apples fall into your

552

:

lap, and that's the difference.

553

:

Yeah, I like that, Tim.

554

:

Yes.

555

:

Anthony Perl (2): Well, that's all we

have time for in this conversation.

556

:

Next time we're tackling

the profit Squeeze.

557

:

The pressure to do more for less

and how partnerships help you

558

:

deliver premium value without

racing to the bottom on price.

559

:

It's one you definitely

do not want to miss.

560

:

A reminder also about some

of our exclusive round table

561

:

events for accountants.

562

:

Visit the show notes for dates

and registration details.

563

:

You'll also find all the

contact information for Tila

564

:

Wayne and Ian there as well.

565

:

This has been a Partner Alchemy

podcast for thought leaders, a

566

:

joint venture between PLE and my

team at podcast Done For you.com

567

:

au.

568

:

I'm Anthony Pearl, your co-host,

reminding you to like, share, comment, and

569

:

subscribe so you never miss an episode.

570

:

We'll see you next time on

the Connected Accountant.

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About the Podcast

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The Connected Accountant
Expert insights on growing your accounting practice through strategic partnerships. Learn how to scale, increase profitability, and achieve freedom.

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About your host

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The Connected Accountant

The panel is made up of specialised experts, Talila Kroy, Wayne Findlay and Ian Aldridge.

Talila Kroy - Emple. Talila is a partnerships and business growth specialist who helps accounting firms move from accidental networking to intentional, systemised partner ecosystems. Her Partner Suitcase methodology gives accountants a practical framework to build, manage and measure strategic alliances that generate consistent, high-quality referrals.

Wayne Findlay - The Back Room. Wayne is a former accounting firm principal turned CEO of The Back Room, helping 150+ accounting firms across Australia, New Zealand, the UK and the US create capacity through offshore support. His Three Freedoms framework guides firm owners toward wealth, time and stress-free living - without working more hours.

Ian Aldridge - Progressive Legal. Ian is the founder of Progressive Legal, a NewLaw firm that has advised 5,000+ Australian businesses using fixed-fee, plain-English legal services. He built his practice specifically to work alongside accountants, not against them, turning the traditional lawyer-accountant friction into a seamless client experience.