The Origin Story of Simple Numbers and How You Can Apply it to Your Accounting Firm

Read Time: 3:39 minutes

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I recently was fortunate to join a program with Greg Crabtree leading the group. One thing has stuck out in particular so far. He told us how he created Simple Numbers.

Greg created Simple Numbers by listening. He joined a group of entrepreneurs where the rule was no soliciting. This allowed Greg to focus on hearing what others wanted and did not want from their accountants.

Greg asked his core group of nine entrepreneurs, "Would you re-hire your current accountant?".

All nine answered no. He followed up with, "What are they not doing?" There were three common answers.

1. They did not like the tax day surprise of owing money.

2. They did not like being billed by the hour. This gets a lot of mixed emotions in the accounting space. Greg says it best: "You are either giving away your expertise or charging for your ignorance."

3. You have the knowledge and insights of hundreds of businesses. Greg took this as a way to evaluate and compare multiple businesses using the same metrics and income statement format. It is also a way to bring additional knowledge to your client, similar to what I discussed in this issue.

Greg built a solid firm based on what he heard. It was so solid a top 20 firm purchased his firm in 2020. And hundreds, if not thousands, of entrepreneurs use his metrics.

You can have a lot of success by listening to your clients. Feedback from customers is what is constantly shaping my firm offerings and FinDaily.

You can do this, too, by performing Voice of Customers "VOCs" with your clients. VOCs will help you discover the things your clients value the most. Here are two things I discovered recently doing them:

1. My largest client didn't want a forecast. Now, I only include them in my top package when a need is identified during a client assessment. I also have scaled them back; more on this in a future issue.

2. I noticed my clients pay the most attention to short-term cash tracking. Then, a coaching client told me it has been the most impactful report to helping them better understand their cash position. This is one of many reasons why I purchased FinDaily to streamline the process and provide other accounting firms with an automated solution.

I've also started doing VOCs for clients in assessments. My biggest takeaway is that clients care more about the relationship than they do the process, and value is attached to results, not hours.

Do you seek feedback from clients in your accounting firm? Drop a comment below 👇.

Guru Cache 👂📚👀

📚 Karbon’s take on questions to clients

📚 CPA Practice Advisor: What Clients Want vs. What Many Firms are Delivering

Client Cache 🗣

📈📚 How to write a cold email like a pro:

Thanks for reading, Luke Templin!

P.S. There are 3 ways I can help you grow your CAS offerings when you are ready:

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