Ryan Lazanis, a Certified Public Accountants (CPA) and the founder of Future Firm has helped many accountants scale their firm through standardizing their services. Ryan started his career as a CPA, but his real passion has always been helping advance the accounting industry by creating a modern business model that serves accountants' lifestyles a lot better. This is the reason why he has always focused on ‘scaling’ a business and not ‘growing’, as to him, it's not the same. According to him, “It's easy to grow an accounting firm by sacrificing one’s personal life but when you scale, you add a top line to the business by streamlining the process and not adding extra working hours.”
Watch the full video below where Ryan, with our very own Business Development Manager and Training Specialist, Ethan Spadino, discusses the process of scaling a firm and building a business model while also achieving a work-life balance. The two unpack the various results gained from doing so, which ranges from giving more value to your clients, to enabling you to excel in both your career and personal life.
Standardizing your packages is a powerful strategy for scaling your firm
“A professional services business is a very hard business to scale,” says Ryan. “It has tight deadlines and specialized knowledge that is required to produce high-quality work - otherwise there are risks of losing your clients. The issue a lot of firms face is that they are servicing a very broad client base with a wide set of needs. It becomes very difficult to standardize all of that work.”
Ryan explains how he has experienced firms not charging appropriately for the work they deliver. Offering pricing with transparency, flexibility, and a client-centric approach can help bridge the gap between the perceived value and the fees charged. One way this can be done is by standardizing your packages and prices. With this approach, it becomes easier to fit clients in the packages, onboard and train them, eventually leading to improved efficiency, faster turnaround times, and better resource allocation.
Generating high-quality inbound leads is crucial for sustainable growth
Ensuring a consistent lead flow is a must for accountants, as they can then focus on providing more value to their clients.
Ryan says, “A lot of firms are really stuck in their marketing as they don’t know what they are doing. While there are several marketing channels available, truthfully all of them work.” He recommends picking a channel that you prefer the most and remain consistent with it for at least six months.
Optimizing resource allocation to achieve the art of capacity planning
Capacity planning is a crucial aspect of managing operations and resources within a firm. It involves forecasting time and allocating human resources effectively to meet customer demand, while also maximizing efficiency and profitability.
“Similar to cash flow forecasts, standardizing packages help forecast time,” says Ryan.
Implementing an autonomous team for ongoing benefits
The main reason why firm owners and partners are so busy is because they wear multiple hats. From sales and marketing to customer success and operations, they are responsible for every aspect of the business. This can eventually lead to burnout or being overwhelmed in their job.
Another problem that Ryan has seen firm owners struggle with is structuring their team properly. Many organizations face significant challenges in finding and retaining the right talent. Implementing autonomous teams by doing the diligence of hiring correctly can help unlock the full potential of an accounting firm.
To learn more about significantly minimizing your workload, check out the full podcast by Ryan Lazanis here.
If you're looking to build and scale an online, automated, modern accounting firm, check out Ryan’s online coaching program where you can also get access to a community of 750+ like-minded firm owners.
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