Gloria Murray of Murray Associates knew where she wanted her firm to go; and AVN helped her to get there.
The problem was that I was a very busy fool. I had a lot of clients, but that wasn’t being translated into actual good profit for the business. And I wanted to make things just that little bit smoother.
We were having difficulties with not having enough time to get back to our basics and understand the practice again due to our volume of work. This was leaving us feeling overwhelmed and ultimately was increasing the stress levels within the business.
So then I came across AVN and went along to one of the masterclasses. I realised all the tools and the resources and the training that you had would get me from where I was to where I wanted to be.
Taking Action: Pricing and Client Grading
One of the very first things that I did was to take on board what was being said about pricing, and I started to put my prices up. And then taking on board what was said about the different types of clients – because not all clients are equal. I sat down and graded my clients and realised that it was the classic 80/20 principle: 80% of my profit was coming from around about 20% of my clients.
So I looked at how I could actually give those clients much more of what they were looking for, which was why I’d set up my accountancy practice in the first place. But I’d got diverted from it. So I put my prices up, got rid of some of the clients who were causing a lot of the hassle, and started to do things systematically.
By working with our dedicated Practice Growth Expert, we were advised to review our client base and amend our level of contact with each depending on the package they were paying for. This helped us use our time more effectively, along with increasing our prices as we had not done this in over 3 years. This resulted in increased revenue income into the business.
The support I received from AVN helped me to focus on the costs and time of each client and reevaluate what we needed to concentrate on. Personally, this has made me feel more confident in my ability to say no or charge for a service that I wouldn’t have before. In terms of the business our turnover has increased by 15% and we now have more time to deal with more complex work rather than clients that are not paying for our services.
The Power of a Like-Minded Community
Being in a group of like-minded accountants has been fantastic because being in business by yourself can be really quite lonely. I don’t have other partners, so I was by myself. And the accountants that I met at training courses or CPD courses, were really not the type of accountants that I found useful to have a meaningful discussion about my business.
So being in a room full of like-minded accountants, meeting on a regular basis, has been fantastic for me. Also, having the different forums that are there, where I can post things and ask questions and gain someone’s experience on that.
Moving Into Business Consultancy
I wanted to do much more on the business consultancy side. So the training that I got from AVN was really invaluable. It’s helped me take my business from where it was to where it is now, and I wouldn’t be there without AVN.
Now that I’m at the stage where I’m taking a step back from the accountancy side, I am now using AVN to train my practice manager and other members of the team, so that they will be the future of the accountancy practice. So AVN is helping me to do a succession strategy, which would have been really difficult for me to do without them.
Would You Recommend AVN?
Definitely. I think you’re mad if you don’t!