One of the issues that many entrepreneurs run into in Canada according to Edmonton tax accountant is that 50% of all entrepreneurs fail within the first five years of opening their business. The accountants at Spurrell and Associates saw this as completely avoidable the right business and tax planning in place. However, they were unable to upsell their clients on these vital services because clients that need it most were not able to pay additional fees for that. Therefore, they decided to change the way they build their clients moving from an hourly fee to a flat monthly fee. All the products and services that their clients could ever need is included in one monthly price. That way, the are able to provide all of the products and services to the clients that they needed without fear of them having to pay more. There able to give them the planning they need to succeed in business, and in return ensure that they have a successful client in their business longer.
One of the things that they saw at Spurrell and Associates when they moved from an hourly fee towards a flat monthly fee, is that rather than having an adversarial relationship where their clients would avoid calling them because they were worried will receiving a high bill that month, was at the clients started to see the accounting firm more as a strategic partner in their business. They knew that they would be able to trust them, call them any time they needed, and bring them all of their problems without fear of a higher bill at the end of the month. That also ensure that they knew that anything they were being asked to was for their businesses benefit to, and not so the accounting firm can bill them a higher amount.
What this also did for Spurrell and Associates when they moved to this type of billing format was that a significant amount of time that was previously spent on billing is now being able to be directed back onto helping their clients. Instead of having to review each of the bills every single month, and perhaps adjust them then sending out those bills and then answering questions, they went from spending approximately two days every single month dealing with billing and answering questions about the billing to being able to help clients those two days every month.
What this also allowed the Edmonton tax accountant to do is be able to dictate exactly how much time is going to enable them to help their clients, which means they know how many more clients they can take on and help them at the same level. There able to offer an extremely high quality of service, we will predict exactly how much they are going to be making every single month which helps them allocate resources.
A flat monthly fee turned out to be an extremely beneficial billing cycle for both Edmonton tax accountant Spurrell and Associates as well as their clients.
The typical billing model for most Edmonton tax accountant firms is to bill an hourly rate. However, one accounting firm called Spurrell and Associates found that an hourly billing created an adversarial type of relationship between their clients and themselves. Customers would actually hesitate reaching out to their accountant when they truly need it it is because they were scared of causing higher bill that they were unable to pay. They also would question the accountants suggestions on what products and services they needed, out of fear that they were making the suggestions so that they could bill a higher amount. Therefore, by moving from an hourly fee to a flat monthly fee, they could change that relationship and be able to focus their time and energy on helping their customers succeed.
Regardless of what type of client they took on in their business, unincorporated businesses, Inc. clients, or clients that they act as their outsourced accounting firm, all pay the same recurring monthly fee. There is no additional fees added on for tax planning, business planning or any other service. The reason why this is so beneficial, is because clients will be able to get whatever they need in order to succeed at one price. Even though many other accounting firms charge additional rates for doing business or tax planning, the Edmonton tax accountant Spurrell and Associates found that the clients who had the biggest need for tax planning and business planning for also the clients that had the most difficulty paying for those services. Instead of making clients pay for additional services when it was the hardest for them, Spurrell Associates decided to make all services that they can offer their clients part of the monthly payment plan.
What they saw this started doing for their clients was that they became more of a strategic partnership instead of an adversarial one. They saw the value that they were getting for the fees that they paid, and were confident that no matter how many times they needed to speak to their accountant, have a meeting or what plans they needed they were able to get that service for no additional charge. This ended up ensuring that the customers that are at greatest risk could get the help that they needed in order to succeed.
The reason why this is also beneficial for Spurrell and Associates is because they are able to ensure that they are helping their clients succeed so that they continue having a steady stream of clients. It is far more beneficial and profitable to have return clients then to constantly be onboarding new clients. This Edmonton tax accountant said that investing in a long-term relationship where there helping their clients succeed, allows them to be able to have clients well into their future. Turned the situation into win-win situation for both the accountant and their business client.