“The riches are in the niches,” the saying goes and it certainly holds true for accounting firms, in my experience. Another saying, which I coined several years ago as I started building and creating niche-based accounting businesses is, “Scalable payables help drive growth.”
From my experience, the payables process is a powerful driver for delivering scalable client accounting services. In fact, if you have the right strategy, system and support structure in place, the results can be pretty life-changing for you, your practice, and your clients. Here’s why: if you have a niche-based accounting firm, the first step to scaling it and increasing revenue significantly is to have a repeatable template for the processes you and your team need to complete based on the services you deliver.
An example from my own accounting business serving health-based coaching businesses illustrates the point about having scalable payables as a revenue driver. Of course, this model applies to any niche where your clients have the need for a streamlined, digital payment process and you can build a critical mass client base by offering a standardized solution.
Our health coaching clients have high volumes of online payments they receive as well as having their own payables which we handle for them as part of a monthly package of accounting and advisory services. We use Melio for this purpose primarily because it aligns with the four key scaling strategies we have developed for our niche-based accounting practices:
- Maximum workflow efficiency. In order to scale you have to be lean and a machine. Melio fits into our tech stack perfectly because it syncs seamlessly with QuickBooks Online so there’s no time tied up in data migration or toggling between apps. In addition it provides us with the ability to add team members, assign them to clients, and set payment approval workflows, easily and quickly.
- Elimination of manual processes for productivity. Another key strategy for scaling is to eliminate any and all manual processes to keep costs down and productivity high. With Melio, the payables process is completely automated which eliminates the time spent managing payments by at least 60 percent, and provides us with complete visibility into every client and every transaction for ultimate insight and control.
- Reduction or elimination of technology and other costs. If you are going to cut costs for staffing with automation, you don’t want to add them back with the cost of technology itself! Melio is completely free automated payable technology which means we gain not only in operational efficiency but also by saving costs, too.
- An environment of maximum reliability. Reliability of software and support is crucial to eliminate downtime and to offer a great client experience. As an integral part of our tech stack, Melio support is second to none, which means we don’t have to tie up our valuable time if we encounter issues. The Melio team is always there for us and our clients.
This is a simple snapshot of using the scalable payables model to drive a niche-based accounting firm and increase your revenue doing so. Join me for the Leveraging the Power of a Scalable Payables System webinar, Thursday, May 5, 2022 at 2 p.m. for an in-depth look at how you can create the same streamlined system that will make this possible. Register here.