Tax Firm Growth Solution Helps CPAs Transition From Compliance To Advisory

Michael Uadiale, CPA, CGMA, ACA is the Managing Partner of SMEED CPA, Inc, doing business as Smeed CPA, Inc. The Firm is based in the Brentwood suburb of Northern California. He decided to join 7 Figure Firms in December of 2016 because he knew he needed to have a turn-key tax firm growth solution. If his business would ever grow and become what he envisioned, he knew he had to stop doing so much of the service delivery himself and free his time to market his advisory services and lead his team.

CPA Firm Nightmare

Michael Uadiale shares the same story many CPAs have experienced: Being overworked; not having enough time to concentrate on things that will grow an accounting firm; unable to figure out how to bring new services to the table that will add greater value for the clients; and dealing with too many bad clients who pay too little and ask for too much.

Michael Uadiale found himself in this typical tax firm growth dilemma—the desire to change how things are done but not seeing a clear path to do so. “I engaged with 7 Figure Firms because I knew there were a lot of things I was not doing right. I just had a gut feeling I wasn’t doing it right and there was a better way. I knew I only needed somebody to give me that confirmation and also possibly show me how to grow an accounting firm by doing things differently.”

Mr. Uadiale admitted he was doing way too much of the work. His goal was to reduce his actual work on professional services to no more than 500 hours a year and be able to take more control of the marketing and leadership of his CPA firm.

The Firm Shift

The 7 Figure Firms program first began to allow Mr. Uadiale to align himself to understand and believe the true value propositions his accounting firm had. He said one key moment for him was when he found he could position his firm’s services in a way that communicated higher value, which in turn began closing higher priced contracts.

“In the past, I was inviting too many bad clients into my firm’s ecosphere. I never thought about cutting or rinsing out these difficult, low-paying customers because my focus was only adding more of them. 7 Figure Firms helped me realize that having a bad client is like having a cancer inside your firm.”

In addition, he noted his accounting firm was constantly in reactive mode to what the clients needed rather than proactively giving them what they didn’t even know they needed. With the help of the sales slide decks and one-on-one coaching inside 7 Figure Firms, Mr. Uadiale began to change the way he pitched his services. “Before I was more of the typical CPA that is almost seen as an employee of the client. Now I’m able to position myself as an advisor that’s more akin to a partner of my clients.”

This shift has completely revolutionized the firm’s thought process with pricing. In the past, Mr. Uadiale would make excuses as to why some clients wouldn’t pay for a service. He admitted that his own fear of money was being projected onto his clients!

Explosive Tax Firm Growth

The turning point came when he was looking over the bank statement of a client paying his firm $700 for bookkeeping. This client was paying $4,000 to another accounting firm for an advisory service on the same numbers Mr. Uadiale’s firm was preparing! “I did the work and they did the razzle dazzle,” as he explained the sudden revelation.

Once getting coached inside 7 Figure Firms, he now considers it “criminal” to use the word bookkeeping. His firm does accounting work—and it’s a subtle but important change he had to reprogram his entire team with. Secondly, the coaching he’s received has shown him how tax planning is simply a foot in the door for potential advisory clients.

“I’ve evolved through the 7 Figure Firms coaching program—I now understand my value and believe I’m the best in my trade. I NEVER compete on fees anymore and I don’t need to lower my prices. Besides, the cheapest clients are in reality always the most expensive to my firm, meaning they take our time and energy.”

Today, Michael’s firm does about 60% tax work and 40% advisory work. Before 7 Figure Firms, his accounting practice was typically doing only 10-20% advisory services. He’s stayed in the program year after year because of fear of missing out: “Andrew Argue is constantly bringing new things and ideas to the table. I want to see what service is next, because what I get is CPA product innovation.”

With a staff of 10 now, Mr. Uadiale has not only tripled his sales since joining, but he’s currently on pace to 4X in four years while having his staff handle most of the service delivery!

New Accounting Software Introduced to Firm

With large increases in sales also has come greater need for accounting firm practice management. Smeed CPA, Inc. is now transitioning to Corvee Software to use with clients to send and receive documents. “It was painful to get clients to upload anything, now Corvee Tax Planning software is making it much easier.”

New Accounting Firm Mantra

“While medical professionals save lives, I now see the accounting profession as saving financial lives.”

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