February 27, 2025 • 25 mins
Unlock the secrets to attracting high-paying clients without the dreaded "salesy" vibe. Explore insights with Michelle Weinstein from the Abundant Accountant, as she shares her transformative journey from finance to entrepreneurial success. We promise you'll master strategies that empower you to communicate your value effectively, freeing yourself from solely relying on referrals. Michelle's structured sales process and eight-week sales mastery course have already helped many firm owners establish themselves as authorities in their fields, and now it's your turn to benefit from her expertise.
Michelle takes us through the essential steps of positioning yourself as a trusted authority in your niche, enhancing both your professional and personal life. Hear inspiring success stories, including a client's remarkable revenue increase and stress reduction, while understanding the significance of targeting your ideal client. Michelle's own experiences, like her pivotal Shark Tank presentation, serve as a testament to the power of preparation and systematic approaches in achieving business growth. Listen in for actionable strategies that promise to elevate your firm to new heights, all while gaining personal freedom and confidence.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to CFO Chronicles the secrets behind
success, the go-to podcast forfractional CFOs and accounting
firm owners who want to attractmore high-paying clients and
increase their revenue.
Hosted by James Donovan fromNine Two Media, this podcast
dives into marketing strategiesspecifically designed for lead
(00:22):
generation and clientacquisition.
In each episode, you'll hearfrom industry leaders sharing
their success stories, and Todaywe're joined by Michelle
Weinstein from the AbundantAccountant based out of
(00:52):
California.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Michelle, thank you so much for joining us.
I'm looking forward to divinginto this conversation and
hearing a little bit more aboutwhat you offer to accounting
firms.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
Yeah, thanks so much for having me.
I appreciate it.
And yes, the AbundantAccountant.
I'm here to help firm ownerswho are basically feeling really
burnt out and stressed over thesales process, constantly
worried about coming acrosspushy or salesy.
(01:23):
That's where I come in, so youcan have confidence, you can get
paid your worth and you canhave a plan on how to
communicate your value with avery simple, step-by-step
process so you never have toaimlessly wing it anymore.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Awesome.
I love the intro.
Helps us out.
Michelle, tell me a little bitabout how you got into this
space and how long.
How long have you been in thisspace and how did you get into
this space?
Speaker 3 (01:50):
Yeah, well, that's a great question.
Do you want the long versionand short version or medium
version?
Speaker 2 (01:58):
Let's, let's go with whatever version you're most
comfortable with.
Speaker 3 (02:01):
Okay, well, basically I have over 20 something years,
maybe 30 years, of salesexperience now and I had a food
company back in the day and Ipitched on Shark Tank.
I got into big retailers and Iwas on this mission to help
entrepreneurs from after thatkind of part of my life for a
(02:23):
decade and I said how can theyhelp sell high value services to
clients without being sleazy,pushy or desperate?
And so that's really when Istarted the Abundant Accountant
out of college.
I have a degree in finance andI worked at Moss Adams as an
analyst for three years and Iwas like this cubicle life is
(02:43):
not for me and I got a part-timejob at Nordstrom and just
really love the clientexperience, customer service and
sales and I said, well, how doI take that and help firm owners
?
Because I loved working at MossAdams, because I love really
smart, educated people, I loveintroverts, I love people who
(03:03):
are people pleasers.
You just don't have thestructure in how to enroll.
So I basically took all thatexperience and then I said, well
, this is what I'm going to doand I'm going to really help all
the people that are just not.
You know, it's not your fault,you've never been taught this
before, and when you're nottaught something, it's like you
(03:25):
don't know what you don't know.
Most people think, oh well,michelle, I just need more leads
, I just need to do marketing.
I was like, well, that'smarketing, that's not sales,
that's not conversion, that'snot how to have clients
basically want you to help themso you can double your billings
and you don't have to comeacross pushy or salesy in any
(03:45):
way.
And so that's where I reallystarted the Abundant Account in
about 2018 and learning andteaching firm owners actually
how to take back control oftheir firm and how to close high
quality, premium paying clientsand establish themselves as the
authority with their clientsand be able to grow their firms
(04:07):
without trading time for dollars.
How do you do this valuepricing, how do you get paid up
front so you don't have accountsreceivable, and how do you grow
your firm on your own terms,and that's what I help firm
owners with now.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
It's such an important thing that you're
helping Firms do I can't tellyou how many people come through
our ads, that we speak toclients, that we work with, that
there's such a need in thatspace because there's been so
much relying on referrals andnot okay.
Well, when that pool dries up,how do I actually convert
(04:44):
someone who has come through anad or has expressed any interest
on LinkedIn, wherever it is?
So that's awesome, the stuffthat you're doing.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
You get the lead.
So the lead comes from LinkedIn, a Facebook ad, organic
marketing, a referral.
It doesn't matter where theperson finds you.
If they contact you throughYelp or your Google review or
your website.
You have to be able to notfreeze up and learn how to have
a proper enrollment conversation.
That's where we come in and Ihave the solution for those that
(05:12):
are sick of the way things havebeen going.
One of my clients, jessica, shespent three the last three to
four months on marketing onLegion and she missed out on
about 30,000 of potentialrevenue because she didn't know
how to convert.
And she went through my programthat I have, which is called
the eight week sales masterycourse, and so she worked with
us for eight weeks and sheliterally just posted on our
(05:33):
Facebook group.
She closed a $10,000 cleanupproject, a $9,000 cleanup
project, and she did two $500diagnostics with prospects where
she would have done that forfree in the past, and that all
happened in a seven day period.
So that's really what'spossible when you know exactly
how to communicate to prospectsand how to attract high paying,
(05:57):
premium paying clients andtaking them through a different
client experience.
You know I get a lot of peoplethat are complaining and I don't
know if you hear this too.
You know the clients I getaren't quality, they're not good
enough, they're not this,they're not good leads, whatever
that may be, and it's like well, did you check your sales
process?
Do you even have a process toattract a quarter million, half
a million dollar kind ofbusiness owner into your firm?
(06:19):
What is the that you'reproviding to your clients and
they have to align, otherwiseyou're going to keep getting.
You know energy attracts andright, we attract what we put
out.
So if you don't have a processand you don't have a system for
your sales workflow, you mighthave one for your uh client
workflow.
Right To do a CFO engagement,to do an accounting engagement,
to do bookkeeping.
You have the flow process forthat, but how come you don't
(06:41):
have it for your sales?
Speaker 2 (06:43):
It's so true, it's the.
You're not looking in your ownbackyard, but you're helping
everyone else have the beautifulyou know curb appeal from the
front.
So, um, it's interesting youtalk about the sales process,
because we hear it all the timeas we help firms bring in more
leads, book their appointments,help with their sales process on
(07:04):
the back end.
That's a new.
Most of the time it alwayscomes back to either even
prospects you spoke to orclients working with the leads.
Speaker 3 (07:11):
The leads are bad yeah, the leads are bad like all
the time, the leads are alwaysbad.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
Multiple marketing companies, every channel, the
leads are bad.
Speaker 3 (07:21):
Um well, it has where with that because once you
learn how to communicate to theleads in a way where you can
actually convert and close them,then you're going to think the
leads are great.
I think people think the leadsare bad because you don't have
control over your salesconversations.
You don't close high payingclients, they ghost you.
(07:41):
You send proposals and quotesand cross your fingers and hope
that someone's going to sign it.
That's not a sales process.
That's a passive approach.
So if you want to put an end tosecond guessing how to do this,
how to price correctly, how tonot send a proposal or quote,
then you have to change that andthat's exactly what I can help
with so you can get leads fromyou guys and go oh my gosh,
(08:04):
those were the best leads ever,because now you have money in
your bank account to show for it.
Right, You're not wonderingwhen your next client's gonna
come from.
You actually have a process andyou've eliminated the guesswork
.
And I think that's the crucialpart, because the stress and the
anxiety for most of you when itcomes down to the sales call or
discovery call or whatever youwanna call it the meeting where
(08:26):
you are gonna ask for money.
If you have stress, anxiety andyou're irritated, that's
because you don't have a process, so you're always going to
think every lead is bad.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
Yeah, there is.
Yeah, I mean every.
It's when people are coming inwith us.
They didn't have a process forgetting those leads.
Speaker 3 (08:58):
Again, you need the process the whole way through.
So maybe I can quote like it'sthe hope and a prayer strategy.
It only gets so far and it'snot converting.
So the only way to do it right,especially if you're going to
spend money on leads or doadvertising, you have to remove
and eliminate the guesswork.
You have to have a step-by-stepprocess in order to follow it,
(09:20):
to give your chances higher.
I call it like you can go to LasVegas and put money in a slot
machine and hope you have a bigpayout.
That's like the passiveapproach.
You're kind of winging it.
You have no structure, you haveno sales process.
You just think the leads arebad.
You need more marketing, youneed to do lead gen, you got to
do advertising.
That's how you think you'regoing to solve the problem.
(09:41):
So where I come in is.
I basically compare this to likeplaying poker, where you're
going to learn the cards thatthe other person has.
You're going to know what tosay.
You're going to know the exactnext step for you to make the
best move in order for you tohelp this client who's sitting
in front of you.
Most of you are so smart and soamazing.
You are doing CFO services,accounting, bookkeeping,
(10:04):
whatever it is these clientsneed you, you guys.
Accounting, bookkeeping,whatever it is, these clients
need you guys.
But if you don't know how toenroll and how to sell, then it
will be very difficult.
So I like to say, here at theAbundant Accountant, we teach
you how to strategize properly,where you get to create a sales
process, in your own words.
You're not doing any scriptingor anything like that, but your
(10:27):
conversions are so high thatwhen you go play poker, you're
winning most of the time.
You have clients who want topay you premium fees, you have
clients who are never ghostingyou and you have zero stress and
zero anxiety as to what thenext step is in your process.
And I think that's the mostcrucial part, because you're not
going to freeze up in your nextsales call.
(10:47):
You're not going to come acrosspushy.
You're going to have a verysystematic, step-by-step
approach that shows you're thebest person for this prospect.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
That's so good.
We've had clients that whatyou're saying just really
reinforces that.
What we do, a big piece of whatwe do on LinkedIn we're never
going to overwhelm anyone withleads or appointments.
It's just the way the platformworks and the quality of the
leads that are coming through,and we've had clients that have
had drastically differentresults.
(11:16):
Some, on one end, they'reclosing 90% of the people that
are coming through on theappointments because the quality
I say quality with air quotes,but it's there because they're
running a really solidconversation with another human
Cause.
That's ultimately what it isbut they're asking the right
questions.
They're being a doctor thatpushes on the pain versus maybe
(11:37):
some other clients who've comein and they feel like they need
20, 30 appointments to close oneperson.
It's like that's not the case.
Speaker 3 (11:44):
It's just asking the question to be a human yeah.
Yeah, that's like your recipefor burnout.
Yeah, yeah, I love it.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
What are you doing at the Abundant Accountant to
bring prospects into yourecosystem?
So I'm sure you must give somefeedback and hints to your
clients on like, hey, this isworking for me.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
You guys should give this a try, yeah well, I don't
do much of that because I liketo separate the sales from the
marketing.
So if we're talking about that,then I'm talking about how I'm
doing my lead gen in mymarketing, which I like to keep
very separate, because here atthe Abundant Accountant we don't
include that.
I simply am focusing on theconversion piece.
So, from the time you get thelead to the time they pay you,
(12:25):
your follow-up, how to handleobjections, how to have your
full sales workflow process and,if you have current clients,
how do you re-engage yourclients and get them on new
engagement letters, how do youincrease your fees to your
current clients by two to 300%so you have more money in your
bank account and you can go onmore vacations, you can start
(12:46):
working less and you don't haveto sacrifice your time with your
family and friends anymore.
You finally get your freedomback.
So that's what I focus on.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
So, with this being a , I would say, more focused on
marketing, I would love if youwere open to sharing what works
for you to get new prospectsinto your ecosystem.
Talking to you.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
So I love to do podcasts, I do a lot of webinars
and I do a lot of podcasts whatworks for you to get new
prospects into your ecosystemTalking to you.
So I love to do podcasts.
I do a lot of webinars and I doa lot of podcasts and I also
have my own podcast called theAbundant Accountant Podcast.
So we get a lot of leads fromthat, just having conversations,
just like what we're having.
And I think for every person, Ithink you really need to think
(13:26):
about, well, how many clients doyou really need in order to hit
your financial goals?
Because the marketing you know,like you said, you can do the
linkedin and get high qualityleads and that's really that
might be the only thing someoneneeds to do, but I think it's
just really important to learnhow to position yourself as the
authority for whoever your idealclient is, and knowing who your
ideal client is and reallytargeting in that niche.
(13:49):
So, like for myself, I onlywork with accounting, tax,
fractional CFO, bookkeeping,firm owners, very specific right
.
So for all of you, what I wouldwant you to think about is from
the sales side of things thathelps this as well, in addition
to your marketing, is who do youwant to speak to?
(14:11):
You have to start learning whatkeeps them up at night.
It's like a doctor, right?
You brought that up earlier.
A neurosurgeon wouldn't helpsomeone who just has like a head
cold.
They would go to like a generalpractitioner.
So I think, for each of youbeing a firm owner, who do you
really want to speak to?
Could you work with clientsthat don't fall into your niche
(14:34):
or your ideal client profile?
A hundred percent, if that'swhat you choose?
But if you're going to startspeaking to them and marketing
to them and being the authorityof them, I would recommend a
pick one.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
And if you can't think of who your ideal client
is, who isn't your ideal client,and start reverse engineering.
Speaker 3 (14:53):
At least you get a little bit closer to who you
want to work with who you do notwant to work with, exactly.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
You touched a little bit earlier your client, jessica
, and some really cool winsshe's had recently with you.
What else stands out to you aslike some of the biggest wins
you've you've seen with yourclients, or like what are you
most proud of with with yourentrepreneurial journey?
Speaker 3 (15:19):
I would say I mean I just give people back their
freedom.
You know, I just did atestimonial with another client
yesterday, mary, and she's likethis was life-changing, like her
marriage was on the rock, shewas going into a lot of debt.
She thought she just neededmore leads and marketing and she
(15:40):
realized that it was just avicious cycle.
You can continue to get peoplein the door, you can continue to
have sales meetings, but ifyou're not converting and
getting paid what you want,getting paid your value, getting
people to get paperwork to youand documents on time instead of
hounding people for paperworkthe stress of all of this is
(16:01):
just too much and her health wastaking a toll and so she shared
with me yesterday.
You know it was life changing,literally.
She's still in my program, she'son week six of eight.
She's increased her revenue byover twenty five thousand
dollars from where she was towhere she's at now.
So that's additional revenue.
I call it like the gain the gapbetween where they were and
(16:23):
where they're at now.
So I only calculate theincrease and her monthly
reoccurring revenue has gone upon that one client over $15,000
for the year.
But with this she doesn't haveto hound people for paperwork.
She doesn't have to stress, shedoesn't have to hound people
for paperwork.
She doesn't have to stress, shedoesn't have to say, oh, all
this falls on my shouldersanymore and she's able to start
(16:45):
seeing a return on thatinvestment.
So if she gets a lead, she nowhas a process so she doesn't
have to have any more bleeding.
So the cool part about this isthat I've helped hundreds of
firm owners with this.
But you can stop the bleeding.
You can really create the firmthat you've always wanted.
And what most and she says, andpretty much Jessica and
(17:06):
everyone, if you go to mywebsite, I have a couple hundred
and that's exactly what we dois give you the you know plumber
.
Come into the house withoutyour toolbox and your tools.
I give you the proper tools forthe sales piece in your firm,
just like you help on themarketing side.
So you can make sure you don'thave AR.
You can make sure that peopledon't ghost you and you don't
(17:27):
have to send another proposal orquote ever again in your life.
And when you have a system thatworks so flawlessly, that's
what people get.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
That's awesome it's.
I mean, you're just explainingwhat you're doing.
I can see why everyone gets somuch value.
Because it's not like, oh, I'llhelp you get, like, I'll help
you convert at X percentage andyou're going to get dollars.
Well, it's like that's what's aripple effect of what's to come
(17:58):
, but the main piece is yourconfidence and you're getting
time back.
You can read like there's somuch more to it.
Speaker 3 (18:05):
The ripple effect is, sure, your percentage of
closings higher Big deal, butyou're putting more money in the
bank because of it and I thinka big thing too for many firm
owners is they get to stopfeeling awkward in these sales
conversations, like it's likewhen you don't learn something
or you don't know how to dosomething.
It just feels weird.
And I had a client yesterday.
(18:26):
His name's Aaron.
He told me, michelle I think Iactually like selling better
than doing the accounting and Iwas like, oh my gosh.
When I hear that I'm like, yeah, we did a good job, you know,
and now he can save more money,he can go on trips he feels like
, if you think about it, on aP&L, the top, the first thing on
a P&L is revenue.
(18:47):
So if we don't have a system onhow to get more revenue in the
door, how can we be a successfulfirm?
How can we save for retirement?
How can we go on multiplevacations a year?
How can you have freedom if wedon't have that?
Speaker 2 (19:04):
That's so good.
Michelle, tell me a little bitabout as we're approaching the
end of this.
Tell me about maybe one of,like, the biggest learning
experiences on yourentrepreneurial, entrepreneurial
journey, like what wassomething that you look back on.
You're like, wow, that was soimpactful and because of that
(19:25):
now I'm you know this far aheadyeah, I would say um with my
last business pitching on SharkTank.
Speaker 3 (19:31):
If you want to prepare yourself for sales
meeting or you want to have asuccessful business or anything,
it all comes down topreparation.
So I would say that experienceset me up for pretty much to
conquer anything that came myway.
Nothing phases me after that.
When you're preparing for that,you're pitching.
I live in California so I wasclose to LA.
(19:55):
They don't um if they run outof time because they work on
union and eight hour shifts andsome pitches go two, three hours
and I've been, I was sent hometwo or three times.
So that experience even thoughI don't remember a lot of it
because you kind of black outbecause it's so intense it it
really solidified so much.
(20:17):
After that I got a milliondollar investment from the
vitamin shop for my last companyand they did this full build
out and I mean the fact that Icould pitch to the CEO of
vitamin shop at the time to dofresh food.
It was a fresh food companyinside a supplement store where
they've never done freshdistribution.
(20:38):
A fresh food company inside asupplement store where they've
never done fresh distribution.
I mean it was just like mindboggling some of the things that
I did.
So I would say that experiencereally shaped who I am.
And then also, you know, I said, well, if I can do this, then I
can teach any firm owner how tolearn, how to enroll with a
step by step process, because Iknow you guys like systems.
(20:59):
I know you like just to followdifferent steps and it's very
nice to have that freedom and Ilove being able to help so many
people now.
So that's probably the mostmonumental moment and shift in
my career.
Speaker 2 (21:17):
Yeah, no kidding, going on Shark Tank, that's huge
.
Michelle, thank you so much forcoming on and sharing all of
your wealth and knowledge.
I hope everyone has a lot totake from this.
And how can everyone get intouch with you so we can add in
some links to the show notes?
Speaker 3 (21:33):
Yeah.
So for most people, if you wantto figure out what's working in
your firm, what's not workingin your firm, we do
complimentary calls, so I don'tcharge for them.
Me and my team will talk to youfor about an hour and then if
you say, hey, this sounds reallygood, we want more help, then
we can talk about that too.
(21:53):
But no matter what, you'regoing to get a lot of value and
a lot of clarity.
So you go to theabundantcallcomto book a call with me and my
team and we'll talk about allthe things that maybe you're
doing right and some of thethings that maybe you're doing
wrong.
And where can we find thoseplugs.
So you can think about it aslike the Titanic and the ship
(22:14):
right, there might be a holewhere water's seeping in and
it's bringing you down, whereyou feel exhausted, you feel
tired, you're angry, you'resnapping at people.
That's all the stuff.
So you can actually come acrosson the other side and have
freedom.
You know freedom and peace onthese calls.
So it's theabundantcallcom.
Speaker 2 (22:35):
Perfect, we'll put that in the notes so that
everyone can pick up theconversation with you.
Thanks again, michelle.
I really appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (22:41):
Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 4 (22:43):
Thanks for tuning in to this episode of CFO
Chronicles the secrets behindsuccess.
I hope you found value intoday's conversation.
As we wrap up, I'd love for youto do two things.
First, make sure to subscribeto this podcast so you don't
miss any future episodes.
If you enjoyed today'sdiscussion, please rate and
review the show.
It helps others discover theinsights we share here.
Second, if you're ready to takeyour business to the next level
(23:06):
and attract the high-endclients you deserve, head over
to accountingleadsnowcom orclick the link in the show notes
to book your strategy.
Call it's time to positionyourself as the advisor your
clients need.
Call it's time to positionyourself as the advisor your
clients need.
And don't forget you canconnect with me on LinkedIn to
stay up to date on what'shappening in the world of
accounting and financial growth.
We've got more exciting topicscoming up, so stay tuned for the
(23:26):
next episode of CFO Chronicles.
Until then, keep pushingforward.
Your growth is just onestrategic move away.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
Thanks for listening to CFO Chronicles the secrets
behind success.
We hope today's episodeprovided valuable strategies to
help you attract morehigh-paying clients.
Be sure to subscribe, followand share with fellow
professionals.
Connect with us on LinkedIn andleave a review or comment to
join the conversation.
Your feedback helps us bringyou the best insights in finance
(23:57):
and marketing.
Your feedback helps us bringyou the best insights in finance
and marketing.
Until next time, keep strivingfor success and unlocking your
business's potential.
Welcome to CFO Chronicles the secrets behind
success, the go-to podcast forfractional CFOs and accounting
firm owners who want to attractmore high-paying clients and
increase their revenue.
Hosted by James Donovan fromNine Two Media, this podcast
dives into marketing strategiesspecifically designed for lead
(00:22):
generation and clientacquisition.
In each episode, you'll hearfrom industry leaders sharing
their success stories, and Todaywe're joined by Michelle
Weinstein from the AbundantAccountant based out of
(00:52):
California.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Michelle, thank you so much for joining us.
I'm looking forward to divinginto this conversation and
hearing a little bit more aboutwhat you offer to accounting
firms.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
Yeah, thanks so much for having me.
I appreciate it.
And yes, the AbundantAccountant.
I'm here to help firm ownerswho are basically feeling really
burnt out and stressed over thesales process, constantly
worried about coming acrosspushy or salesy.
(01:23):
That's where I come in, so youcan have confidence, you can get
paid your worth and you canhave a plan on how to
communicate your value with avery simple, step-by-step
process so you never have toaimlessly wing it anymore.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Awesome.
I love the intro.
Helps us out.
Michelle, tell me a little bitabout how you got into this
space and how long.
How long have you been in thisspace and how did you get into
this space?
Speaker 3 (01:50):
Yeah, well, that's a great question.
Do you want the long versionand short version or medium
version?
Speaker 2 (01:58):
Let's, let's go with whatever version you're most
comfortable with.
Speaker 3 (02:01):
Okay, well, basically I have over 20 something years,
maybe 30 years, of salesexperience now and I had a food
company back in the day and Ipitched on Shark Tank.
I got into big retailers and Iwas on this mission to help
entrepreneurs from after thatkind of part of my life for a
(02:23):
decade and I said how can theyhelp sell high value services to
clients without being sleazy,pushy or desperate?
And so that's really when Istarted the Abundant Accountant
out of college.
I have a degree in finance andI worked at Moss Adams as an
analyst for three years and Iwas like this cubicle life is
(02:43):
not for me and I got a part-timejob at Nordstrom and just
really love the clientexperience, customer service and
sales and I said, well, how doI take that and help firm owners
?
Because I loved working at MossAdams, because I love really
smart, educated people, I loveintroverts, I love people who
(03:03):
are people pleasers.
You just don't have thestructure in how to enroll.
So I basically took all thatexperience and then I said, well
, this is what I'm going to doand I'm going to really help all
the people that are just not.
You know, it's not your fault,you've never been taught this
before, and when you're nottaught something, it's like you
(03:25):
don't know what you don't know.
Most people think, oh well,michelle, I just need more leads
, I just need to do marketing.
I was like, well, that'smarketing, that's not sales,
that's not conversion, that'snot how to have clients
basically want you to help themso you can double your billings
and you don't have to comeacross pushy or salesy in any
(03:45):
way.
And so that's where I reallystarted the Abundant Account in
about 2018 and learning andteaching firm owners actually
how to take back control oftheir firm and how to close high
quality, premium paying clientsand establish themselves as the
authority with their clientsand be able to grow their firms
(04:07):
without trading time for dollars.
How do you do this valuepricing, how do you get paid up
front so you don't have accountsreceivable, and how do you grow
your firm on your own terms,and that's what I help firm
owners with now.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
It's such an important thing that you're
helping Firms do I can't tellyou how many people come through
our ads, that we speak toclients, that we work with, that
there's such a need in thatspace because there's been so
much relying on referrals andnot okay.
Well, when that pool dries up,how do I actually convert
(04:44):
someone who has come through anad or has expressed any interest
on LinkedIn, wherever it is?
So that's awesome, the stuffthat you're doing.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
You get the lead.
So the lead comes from LinkedIn, a Facebook ad, organic
marketing, a referral.
It doesn't matter where theperson finds you.
If they contact you throughYelp or your Google review or
your website.
You have to be able to notfreeze up and learn how to have
a proper enrollment conversation.
That's where we come in and Ihave the solution for those that
(05:12):
are sick of the way things havebeen going.
One of my clients, jessica, shespent three the last three to
four months on marketing onLegion and she missed out on
about 30,000 of potentialrevenue because she didn't know
how to convert.
And she went through my programthat I have, which is called
the eight week sales masterycourse, and so she worked with
us for eight weeks and sheliterally just posted on our
(05:33):
Facebook group.
She closed a $10,000 cleanupproject, a $9,000 cleanup
project, and she did two $500diagnostics with prospects where
she would have done that forfree in the past, and that all
happened in a seven day period.
So that's really what'spossible when you know exactly
how to communicate to prospectsand how to attract high paying,
(05:57):
premium paying clients andtaking them through a different
client experience.
You know I get a lot of peoplethat are complaining and I don't
know if you hear this too.
You know the clients I getaren't quality, they're not good
enough, they're not this,they're not good leads, whatever
that may be, and it's like well, did you check your sales
process?
Do you even have a process toattract a quarter million, half
a million dollar kind ofbusiness owner into your firm?
(06:19):
What is the that you'reproviding to your clients and
they have to align, otherwiseyou're going to keep getting.
You know energy attracts andright, we attract what we put
out.
So if you don't have a processand you don't have a system for
your sales workflow, you mighthave one for your uh client
workflow.
Right To do a CFO engagement,to do an accounting engagement,
to do bookkeeping.
You have the flow process forthat, but how come you don't
(06:41):
have it for your sales?
Speaker 2 (06:43):
It's so true, it's the.
You're not looking in your ownbackyard, but you're helping
everyone else have the beautifulyou know curb appeal from the
front.
So, um, it's interesting youtalk about the sales process,
because we hear it all the timeas we help firms bring in more
leads, book their appointments,help with their sales process on
(07:04):
the back end.
That's a new.
Most of the time it alwayscomes back to either even
prospects you spoke to orclients working with the leads.
Speaker 3 (07:11):
The leads are bad yeah, the leads are bad like all
the time, the leads are alwaysbad.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
Multiple marketing companies, every channel, the
leads are bad.
Speaker 3 (07:21):
Um well, it has where with that because once you
learn how to communicate to theleads in a way where you can
actually convert and close them,then you're going to think the
leads are great.
I think people think the leadsare bad because you don't have
control over your salesconversations.
You don't close high payingclients, they ghost you.
(07:41):
You send proposals and quotesand cross your fingers and hope
that someone's going to sign it.
That's not a sales process.
That's a passive approach.
So if you want to put an end tosecond guessing how to do this,
how to price correctly, how tonot send a proposal or quote,
then you have to change that andthat's exactly what I can help
with so you can get leads fromyou guys and go oh my gosh,
(08:04):
those were the best leads ever,because now you have money in
your bank account to show for it.
Right, You're not wonderingwhen your next client's gonna
come from.
You actually have a process andyou've eliminated the guesswork
.
And I think that's the crucialpart, because the stress and the
anxiety for most of you when itcomes down to the sales call or
discovery call or whatever youwanna call it the meeting where
(08:26):
you are gonna ask for money.
If you have stress, anxiety andyou're irritated, that's
because you don't have a process, so you're always going to
think every lead is bad.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
Yeah, there is.
Yeah, I mean every.
It's when people are coming inwith us.
They didn't have a process forgetting those leads.
Speaker 3 (08:58):
Again, you need the process the whole way through.
So maybe I can quote like it'sthe hope and a prayer strategy.
It only gets so far and it'snot converting.
So the only way to do it right,especially if you're going to
spend money on leads or doadvertising, you have to remove
and eliminate the guesswork.
You have to have a step-by-stepprocess in order to follow it,
(09:20):
to give your chances higher.
I call it like you can go to LasVegas and put money in a slot
machine and hope you have a bigpayout.
That's like the passiveapproach.
You're kind of winging it.
You have no structure, you haveno sales process.
You just think the leads arebad.
You need more marketing, youneed to do lead gen, you got to
do advertising.
That's how you think you'regoing to solve the problem.
(09:41):
So where I come in is.
I basically compare this to likeplaying poker, where you're
going to learn the cards thatthe other person has.
You're going to know what tosay.
You're going to know the exactnext step for you to make the
best move in order for you tohelp this client who's sitting
in front of you.
Most of you are so smart and soamazing.
You are doing CFO services,accounting, bookkeeping,
(10:04):
whatever it is these clientsneed you, you guys.
Accounting, bookkeeping,whatever it is, these clients
need you guys.
But if you don't know how toenroll and how to sell, then it
will be very difficult.
So I like to say, here at theAbundant Accountant, we teach
you how to strategize properly,where you get to create a sales
process, in your own words.
You're not doing any scriptingor anything like that, but your
(10:27):
conversions are so high thatwhen you go play poker, you're
winning most of the time.
You have clients who want topay you premium fees, you have
clients who are never ghostingyou and you have zero stress and
zero anxiety as to what thenext step is in your process.
And I think that's the mostcrucial part, because you're not
going to freeze up in your nextsales call.
(10:47):
You're not going to come acrosspushy.
You're going to have a verysystematic, step-by-step
approach that shows you're thebest person for this prospect.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
That's so good.
We've had clients that whatyou're saying just really
reinforces that.
What we do, a big piece of whatwe do on LinkedIn we're never
going to overwhelm anyone withleads or appointments.
It's just the way the platformworks and the quality of the
leads that are coming through,and we've had clients that have
had drastically differentresults.
(11:16):
Some, on one end, they'reclosing 90% of the people that
are coming through on theappointments because the quality
I say quality with air quotes,but it's there because they're
running a really solidconversation with another human
Cause.
That's ultimately what it isbut they're asking the right
questions.
They're being a doctor thatpushes on the pain versus maybe
(11:37):
some other clients who've comein and they feel like they need
20, 30 appointments to close oneperson.
It's like that's not the case.
Speaker 3 (11:44):
It's just asking the question to be a human yeah.
Yeah, that's like your recipefor burnout.
Yeah, yeah, I love it.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
What are you doing at the Abundant Accountant to
bring prospects into yourecosystem?
So I'm sure you must give somefeedback and hints to your
clients on like, hey, this isworking for me.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
You guys should give this a try, yeah well, I don't
do much of that because I liketo separate the sales from the
marketing.
So if we're talking about that,then I'm talking about how I'm
doing my lead gen in mymarketing, which I like to keep
very separate, because here atthe Abundant Accountant we don't
include that.
I simply am focusing on theconversion piece.
So, from the time you get thelead to the time they pay you,
(12:25):
your follow-up, how to handleobjections, how to have your
full sales workflow process and,if you have current clients,
how do you re-engage yourclients and get them on new
engagement letters, how do youincrease your fees to your
current clients by two to 300%so you have more money in your
bank account and you can go onmore vacations, you can start
(12:46):
working less and you don't haveto sacrifice your time with your
family and friends anymore.
You finally get your freedomback.
So that's what I focus on.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
So, with this being a , I would say, more focused on
marketing, I would love if youwere open to sharing what works
for you to get new prospectsinto your ecosystem.
Talking to you.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
So I love to do podcasts, I do a lot of webinars
and I do a lot of podcasts whatworks for you to get new
prospects into your ecosystemTalking to you.
So I love to do podcasts.
I do a lot of webinars and I doa lot of podcasts and I also
have my own podcast called theAbundant Accountant Podcast.
So we get a lot of leads fromthat, just having conversations,
just like what we're having.
And I think for every person, Ithink you really need to think
(13:26):
about, well, how many clients doyou really need in order to hit
your financial goals?
Because the marketing you know,like you said, you can do the
linkedin and get high qualityleads and that's really that
might be the only thing someoneneeds to do, but I think it's
just really important to learnhow to position yourself as the
authority for whoever your idealclient is, and knowing who your
ideal client is and reallytargeting in that niche.
(13:49):
So, like for myself, I onlywork with accounting, tax,
fractional CFO, bookkeeping,firm owners, very specific right
.
So for all of you, what I wouldwant you to think about is from
the sales side of things thathelps this as well, in addition
to your marketing, is who do youwant to speak to?
(14:11):
You have to start learning whatkeeps them up at night.
It's like a doctor, right?
You brought that up earlier.
A neurosurgeon wouldn't helpsomeone who just has like a head
cold.
They would go to like a generalpractitioner.
So I think, for each of youbeing a firm owner, who do you
really want to speak to?
Could you work with clientsthat don't fall into your niche
(14:34):
or your ideal client profile?
A hundred percent, if that'swhat you choose?
But if you're going to startspeaking to them and marketing
to them and being the authorityof them, I would recommend a
pick one.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
And if you can't think of who your ideal client
is, who isn't your ideal client,and start reverse engineering.
Speaker 3 (14:53):
At least you get a little bit closer to who you
want to work with who you do notwant to work with, exactly.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
You touched a little bit earlier your client, jessica
, and some really cool winsshe's had recently with you.
What else stands out to you aslike some of the biggest wins
you've you've seen with yourclients, or like what are you
most proud of with with yourentrepreneurial journey?
Speaker 3 (15:19):
I would say I mean I just give people back their
freedom.
You know, I just did atestimonial with another client
yesterday, mary, and she's likethis was life-changing, like her
marriage was on the rock, shewas going into a lot of debt.
She thought she just neededmore leads and marketing and she
(15:40):
realized that it was just avicious cycle.
You can continue to get peoplein the door, you can continue to
have sales meetings, but ifyou're not converting and
getting paid what you want,getting paid your value, getting
people to get paperwork to youand documents on time instead of
hounding people for paperworkthe stress of all of this is
(16:01):
just too much and her health wastaking a toll and so she shared
with me yesterday.
You know it was life changing,literally.
She's still in my program, she'son week six of eight.
She's increased her revenue byover twenty five thousand
dollars from where she was towhere she's at now.
So that's additional revenue.
I call it like the gain the gapbetween where they were and
(16:23):
where they're at now.
So I only calculate theincrease and her monthly
reoccurring revenue has gone upon that one client over $15,000
for the year.
But with this she doesn't haveto hound people for paperwork.
She doesn't have to stress, shedoesn't have to hound people
for paperwork.
She doesn't have to stress, shedoesn't have to say, oh, all
this falls on my shouldersanymore and she's able to start
(16:45):
seeing a return on thatinvestment.
So if she gets a lead, she nowhas a process so she doesn't
have to have any more bleeding.
So the cool part about this isthat I've helped hundreds of
firm owners with this.
But you can stop the bleeding.
You can really create the firmthat you've always wanted.
And what most and she says, andpretty much Jessica and
(17:06):
everyone, if you go to mywebsite, I have a couple hundred
and that's exactly what we dois give you the you know plumber
.
Come into the house withoutyour toolbox and your tools.
I give you the proper tools forthe sales piece in your firm,
just like you help on themarketing side.
So you can make sure you don'thave AR.
You can make sure that peopledon't ghost you and you don't
(17:27):
have to send another proposal orquote ever again in your life.
And when you have a system thatworks so flawlessly, that's
what people get.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
That's awesome it's.
I mean, you're just explainingwhat you're doing.
I can see why everyone gets somuch value.
Because it's not like, oh, I'llhelp you get, like, I'll help
you convert at X percentage andyou're going to get dollars.
Well, it's like that's what's aripple effect of what's to come
(17:58):
, but the main piece is yourconfidence and you're getting
time back.
You can read like there's somuch more to it.
Speaker 3 (18:05):
The ripple effect is, sure, your percentage of
closings higher Big deal, butyou're putting more money in the
bank because of it and I thinka big thing too for many firm
owners is they get to stopfeeling awkward in these sales
conversations, like it's likewhen you don't learn something
or you don't know how to dosomething.
It just feels weird.
And I had a client yesterday.
(18:26):
His name's Aaron.
He told me, michelle I think Iactually like selling better
than doing the accounting and Iwas like, oh my gosh.
When I hear that I'm like, yeah, we did a good job, you know,
and now he can save more money,he can go on trips he feels like
, if you think about it, on aP&L, the top, the first thing on
a P&L is revenue.
(18:47):
So if we don't have a system onhow to get more revenue in the
door, how can we be a successfulfirm?
How can we save for retirement?
How can we go on multiplevacations a year?
How can you have freedom if wedon't have that?
Speaker 2 (19:04):
That's so good.
Michelle, tell me a little bitabout as we're approaching the
end of this.
Tell me about maybe one of,like, the biggest learning
experiences on yourentrepreneurial, entrepreneurial
journey, like what wassomething that you look back on.
You're like, wow, that was soimpactful and because of that
(19:25):
now I'm you know this far aheadyeah, I would say um with my
last business pitching on SharkTank.
Speaker 3 (19:31):
If you want to prepare yourself for sales
meeting or you want to have asuccessful business or anything,
it all comes down topreparation.
So I would say that experienceset me up for pretty much to
conquer anything that came myway.
Nothing phases me after that.
When you're preparing for that,you're pitching.
I live in California so I wasclose to LA.
(19:55):
They don't um if they run outof time because they work on
union and eight hour shifts andsome pitches go two, three hours
and I've been, I was sent hometwo or three times.
So that experience even thoughI don't remember a lot of it
because you kind of black outbecause it's so intense it it
really solidified so much.
(20:17):
After that I got a milliondollar investment from the
vitamin shop for my last companyand they did this full build
out and I mean the fact that Icould pitch to the CEO of
vitamin shop at the time to dofresh food.
It was a fresh food companyinside a supplement store where
they've never done freshdistribution.
(20:38):
A fresh food company inside asupplement store where they've
never done fresh distribution.
I mean it was just like mindboggling some of the things that
I did.
So I would say that experiencereally shaped who I am.
And then also, you know, I said, well, if I can do this, then I
can teach any firm owner how tolearn, how to enroll with a
step by step process, because Iknow you guys like systems.
(20:59):
I know you like just to followdifferent steps and it's very
nice to have that freedom and Ilove being able to help so many
people now.
So that's probably the mostmonumental moment and shift in
my career.
Speaker 2 (21:17):
Yeah, no kidding, going on Shark Tank, that's huge
.
Michelle, thank you so much forcoming on and sharing all of
your wealth and knowledge.
I hope everyone has a lot totake from this.
And how can everyone get intouch with you so we can add in
some links to the show notes?
Speaker 3 (21:33):
Yeah.
So for most people, if you wantto figure out what's working in
your firm, what's not workingin your firm, we do
complimentary calls, so I don'tcharge for them.
Me and my team will talk to youfor about an hour and then if
you say, hey, this sounds reallygood, we want more help, then
we can talk about that too.
(21:53):
But no matter what, you'regoing to get a lot of value and
a lot of clarity.
So you go to theabundantcallcomto book a call with me and my
team and we'll talk about allthe things that maybe you're
doing right and some of thethings that maybe you're doing
wrong.
And where can we find thoseplugs.
So you can think about it aslike the Titanic and the ship
(22:14):
right, there might be a holewhere water's seeping in and
it's bringing you down, whereyou feel exhausted, you feel
tired, you're angry, you'resnapping at people.
That's all the stuff.
So you can actually come acrosson the other side and have
freedom.
You know freedom and peace onthese calls.
So it's theabundantcallcom.
Speaker 2 (22:35):
Perfect, we'll put that in the notes so that
everyone can pick up theconversation with you.
Thanks again, michelle.
I really appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (22:41):
Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 4 (22:43):
Thanks for tuning in to this episode of CFO
Chronicles the secrets behindsuccess.
I hope you found value intoday's conversation.
As we wrap up, I'd love for youto do two things.
First, make sure to subscribeto this podcast so you don't
miss any future episodes.
If you enjoyed today'sdiscussion, please rate and
review the show.
It helps others discover theinsights we share here.
Second, if you're ready to takeyour business to the next level
(23:06):
and attract the high-endclients you deserve, head over
to accountingleadsnowcom orclick the link in the show notes
to book your strategy.
Call it's time to positionyourself as the advisor your
clients need.
Call it's time to positionyourself as the advisor your
clients need.
And don't forget you canconnect with me on LinkedIn to
stay up to date on what'shappening in the world of
accounting and financial growth.
We've got more exciting topicscoming up, so stay tuned for the
(23:26):
next episode of CFO Chronicles.
Until then, keep pushingforward.
Your growth is just onestrategic move away.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
Thanks for listening to CFO Chronicles the secrets
behind success.
We hope today's episodeprovided valuable strategies to
help you attract morehigh-paying clients.
Be sure to subscribe, followand share with fellow
professionals.
Connect with us on LinkedIn andleave a review or comment to
join the conversation.
Your feedback helps us bringyou the best insights in finance
(23:57):
and marketing.
Your feedback helps us bringyou the best insights in finance
and marketing.
Until next time, keep strivingfor success and unlocking your
business's potential.
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