Mario cut his client list by 150 clients and increased his revenue by $150,000 all the while setting boundaries around his weekends and nights. In this experience share Mario says, “I got control of my business so it could provide for my life and not be my life.”
Mario was in one of our Accounting Practice Academy (APA) groups just a few months ago. In 2021 his revenue was $350,000 with 650 clients and right now he has about 500 clients with a revenue of $500,000.
Coming into APA Mario was driven to work less after a phone call with his oldest son. His son was angry at him for not being more present with the youngest children, aged eight and ten. That was a wake-up call for Mario that he was spending too much time being at the beck and call of clients.
The big game changer for Mario was his decision to inform all clients via email that he would no longer be answering his emails after 5pm on weekdays or on the weekends. He feared his clients would be angry and the truth was, most of them respected the decision. Mario said he knew his clients were accustomed to having him respond regardless of the hour or day of the week, but he couldn’t keep doing that and expect to be a present father, husband and boss. He was running himself ragged.
One of the first modules in APA has members reviewing their book of business. Mario evaluated his client list and decided to let many of them go. He did this in the first few weeks of being in APA, before the workshop was even over. Then, he doubled his fees on many remaining clients. He anticipated losing 20% of his clients. He only lost 4%. The rest happily paid more.
Mario also Reached out to existing clients to see how he could better service them. He took one client who was paying $1500 for business tax and $350 for personal tax preparation annually, to a $1700 per month advisory client. With freed up capacity, he is able to offer greater value and take on new, better clients.
You can watch the podcast on Vimeo Here. (22 minutes)
PS – Whenever you’re ready, here are 4 other ways we can help:
- SellerFAQ: Answers to the questions sellers are asking. From practice value, to timing, we’ve got you covered.
- Strategic Guide to Selling your CPA Practice Video: The how-to of selling a CPA firm.
- Accounting Practice Academy: If you’re looking for benchmarks, our 8-week workshop has a community of established firm owners that will help you get perspective, reduce your owner hours, and raise your bottom line. email ibrennan@poegroupadvisors.com with “APA” and we will fill you in on the details.
- If you want to chat about your exit strategy, email bball@poegroupadvisors.com with “strategy call” or request a call here.
