Case Study
“7 Figure Firms and the teachings of Andrew Argue helped me with my single biggest problem in my accounting firm—getting more leads and appointments.”
MICHELLE HYDE, CPA
Michelle Hyde, CPA, is the Managing Director of Hyde & Associates in Chester, New Jersey. She is a Certified Tax Coach™ that helps individuals and businesses in designing and implementing tax, estate and financial planning engagements. She has over 20 years experience in providing tax reduction strategies for businesses. Here is her story of how she solved some of the biggest issues her firm has faced, including how to get more tax clients beyond just referrals.
“My challenge was always about getting new leads and appointments. All my clients were organic referrals. It seemed the gains were always being offset by the losses, and I wasn’t able to truly get more tax clients overall. The 7 Figure Firms system helped with generating cold leads.”
Specifically, Ms. Hyde implemented 7 Figure Firms’ LinkedIn marketing process for cold leads. This had included getting a robust, professional LinkedIn profile, properly sending LinkedIn connection requests to the right people, and a follow-up system that eventually leads to a strategy session with the potential client. The LinkedIn lead generation for accountants process, which is taught in detail inside the 7 Figure Firms coaching program, has helped Ms. Hyde have an increase in both leads for tax services and appointments.
“It’s been so valuable having a marketing process that continually works for getting tax clients. Plus, after I get the appointments I now have the right script to walk these leads through what I can offer them…and I even have a script for overcoming objections now too.”
Naturally, she has gained more leads, more appointments, a better close rate, and also has seen an increase in higher-priced advisory work compared to lower-tiered compliance work.
“I used to be at about 70% compliance work, now I’m down to about 60%. I’ve learned that growth is not dependent on doing billable work, but on doing sales.”
Besides the revenue benefits, one of her favorite things about 7 Figure Firms has also been the support of the community Facebook group. “I can ask any question any day of the week. The resources provided are tremendous, and it’s great hearing from other tax planning professionals going through this program as well.”
Going back in time,, there had come a point where Ms. Hyde wasn’t growing her firm because her churn rate was about the same as her new clients acquisition rate. Eventually, she became revenue stagnant, unable to reach beyond what her typical annual gross sales levels had become. She knew she had to make the jump from just “working in the factory” to “managing the factory”—to find new procedures and ways of doing things that would bring in more tax clients and revenue.
Ms. Hyde noted, “Before 7 Figure Firms, I was stuck in service delivery mode. Now I’m able to step back some and outsource more of the lower end returns while I concentrate on fishing for new, higher end clients.”
In addition, the coaching inside 7 Figure Firms has helped her better price her tax services and gives her the confidence to charge more because of the value she provides. “Don’t get me wrong, I was already providing incredible value to clients before 7 Figure Firms, but I’ve now been able to communicate that value with the client much better than before,” she explained.
Ms. Hyde used to be afraid to spend money on her business because she was afraid of not getting ROI on it. She now knows how important continuous marketing is even if there is no clear, immediate ROI.
“Processes and procedures are great inside 7 Figure Firms, but the mindset teachings have been a surprising help for me.” These mindset ideas inside 7 Figure Firms have been a catalyst for evolution in this tax firm.
Now in marketing tax services mode, with the lead generation for accountants plan, Ms. Hyde has broken gross sales records each of the past three years. This year, she’s on pace for a 33% increase from last year.
“Even though 2020 has been a wonky year with all the world events going on, our sales are still projected to climb higher than 2019.”
As many accounting firm owners can relate to, Ms. Hyde also struggled with giving up control when it came to work being done inside the firm. “I wanted to control the service delivery because I thought if I didn’t do it, then the quality of work wouldn’t be done as good.” While possibly true to some extent, Ms. Hyde knew that to grow her firm she’d have to get over her fear of delegation.
As the work kept coming in, growth forced her into hiring. “There are only so many hours in the day and I knew I couldn’t have a million-dollar firm with just me and an admin.” She now has two admins, two full-time in-house accountants, and two accountants overseas. She also was able to acquire a practice last year, so her tax firm is much larger today than what it once was.
The 7 Figure Firms program helped Ms. Hyde to ease the control mindset that traditionally limited her growth opportunities, but as we’ll show below, this spilled over into other areas besides just hiring people.
Another item Ms. Hyde found herself stuck on was the exactness of the numbers she was presenting while on a sales call for tax planning. She learned through 7 Figure Firms that preciseness isn’t always necessary in the accounting sales process.
“Andrew and team helped me understand that I don’t need to give a client an exact number on a sales call with how much money I can save them in taxes. I just need a range, for example $10,000 to $12,000. Before 7 Figure Firms, I would be afraid to quote any number without first sitting down and actually doing the entire tax plan before I even sold it!”
This caused Ms. Hyde to do more work and slow down the sales process, including missing sales entirely. 7 Figure Firms has helped her with the mindset of letting some control go, even in the sales process, in order to close more deals. “I’ve learned preciseness has its place, but it doesn’t always have to be on a sales call. I’ve been able to let go of that.”
So, what’s her final piece of advice to firm owners?
“Instead of selling your practice, sign up for the 7 Figure Firms program!”
To learn more about the 7 Figure Firms program, request more information below.
Please fill out the form below.
Fill out the form below, and we’ll be in touch.
Please fill out the form below.
Please fill out the form below.
Please fill out the form below.