The Modern CPA Success Show: Episode 122

In this special episode of the Modern CPA Success Show, the internal Summit Virtual CFO by Anders onboarding team comes together to discuss successful client onboarding strategies. They explore the need for a formalized onboarding process, the role of discovery in understanding client needs, and the importance of building strong relationships. The conversation also covers the value of internal team involvement, the significance of leadership in remote meetings, and the support provided by ancillary roles within an organization. The episode emphasizes the importance of communication, resource utilization, and personalized service in fostering successful client engagements and advisory relationships.

Intro (00:00:00) - Welcome to the Modern CPA Success Show, the podcast dedicated to helping accounting firms stay ahead of the curve. Our mission is to provide you with the latest and greatest insights on cutting edge tools, innovative marketing strategies, virtual CFO services, and alternative billing methods. Join us as we change the way people think about accounting.

Joey (00:00:23) - Hi, everybody. Welcome back to another episode of the podcast. I'm Joey Kinney. I'm joined today with Adam Hale to my right on the screen. Adam is the partner in charge. Not, I guess not partner in charge. But you are a partner at Anders. You're, I guess, the. What is your title with the organization? Adam. It's changed a couple times.

Adam (00:00:42) - I just do stuff. Don't worry about it. That's great.

Joey (00:00:45) - And then down below us is, is Lori Miller. Lori and I are, I guess the new title is NSP CFO support. Whatever the role is, call me what you want. Just don't call me late to dinner. Like Adam, we solve problems.

Joey (00:00:58) - The idea behind this podcast today is to serve not only, as you know, an introduction to onboarding for specific training for CFOs and controllers, but also just to talk about the process of onboarding in general. It's a term that I didn't know, Adam, until I joined summit two years ago, two years ago to the day as we're recording this, and it's not really something that I was aware of. And I think there's a big gap in when someone new coming into the organization thinking about what onboarding means, specifically onboarding a client into our system. So, where I'd love to start this, Adam, with you is like, can you explain a little bit about the background of onboarding? When did you, as you were building this thing up, when did you realize that a formalized onboarding process was going to be a key to the success? And when did you know what were some of the steps that you took to get us from where you are, from where we were to where we are now?

Adam (00:01:54) - Yeah, formalized onboarding, probably whenever, you know, Jodi and I stopped leading all the new client engagements really is whenever we started to kind of notice that it needs to be more formalized and really the feedback came from the clients.

Adam (00:02:07) - Yeah. I think onboarding and it's in its own right, the, the, the tasks and the things that you're doing are always going to happen no matter what. Is it just you doing it in a systematic way? Is it time to lock those kinds of things. And we had clients just coming back to us going, man, it feels like we've been onboarding or getting started for like the last six months. We work with a lot of digital agencies. They have formal onboarding processes and discovery processes, that kind of stuff. So, we kind of got educated a little bit to, you know, how they do things. And from there we kind of just took, okay, here's the building blocks. These are the things that we need to get accomplished. Because at the end of the day, we're promising in a sales call a lot of things that we're going to be able to activate and do on behalf of the client. And so, the client wants us to get there from 0 to 60 as fast as possible.

Adam (00:02:54) - and I've been through several onboarding processes myself as a customer, and some of them are just painful. And so, we're always trying to just look for different ways, better ways to do things that are more effective, more efficient.

Joey (00:03:09) - Lori's thinking about how Anders was doing onboarding before the merger a couple years ago. I think one of the first things we learned was that the way summit viewed onboarding and the way Anders viewed onboarding were very different. What were some of the things that you all were doing that you thought were really important to your success in terms of things like how to get new clients in and get them up and running as quickly as possible.

Lori (00:03:35) - onboarding, I think for us was really developing that relationship and getting to know the clients kicking off. We, we did push more projects, I think out to the to the normal engagement, I guess, when you're actively doing that. But it was about establishing the relationship, making them feel comfortable and more a part of Anders. Just that they're now, you know, we're a team.

Joey (00:04:00) - I think one of the things I took away from the merger and, and where the deficiencies in our onboarding process were, you know. Speaking specifically about discovery. You know, I remember talking with Scott Hoffman. He was like, yeah, we do a lot more discovery at the beginning of our engagements than y'all do. What is, you know, what are some of the things that you would learn during that piece of the puzzle that you'd like to see carried forward on all onboarding engagements?

Lori (00:04:28) - Yeah. Good point. Discovery for us. So, we got into their accounting software. We kind of looked under looked under the hood, made sure there weren't any glaring errors, any huge red flags that, hey, nothing had been done for a few months or just totally wrong balances on the balance sheet that the client did not know about. or just that the scope, right? That there's ten large bank accounts rather than just one. So, looking at the accounting software, the payroll software, and trying to understand it to a high level, what's going on in their books?

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Joey (00:05:48) - Thinking about, you know, Adam, where we came from here, that the discovery piece is something new that we have tried to bring in it. And we've leaned heavily on Lori for that piece and building out the new onboarding process. What are some things that you think about in discovery when like if you were putting on your hat and saying, I'm a new CFO, like, I don't even know what discovery means from a video perspective, what are some things you would be looking for if you were doing an onboarding starting tomorrow on that discovery piece?

Adam (00:06:19) - Yeah, I mean, from a CFO perspective, it really does start at the sales call.

Adam (00:06:23) - So you're digging into, you know, where their pain points are. You want to hear a little bit more about their story, what motivates them, where they feel like they are now because they're often a little bit confused, you know, from a financial perspective, they're like, oh, we do this, and we do this. And it's like whenever you start looking at stuff, you'll quickly find that they're not likely where they think they are. And then most importantly, obviously where they're going. So, we do a little bit of that in the sales call. So, we feel like we had from an advisory standpoint, we feel like we get a good start at that on that first call. So listening to that call and really kind of tuning in to what the client is saying is really important, and then following that conversation up and getting a lot deeper, you know, deeper into details in terms of, again, understand why they got in business in the first place, what they're trying to accomplish, where they think they are, and where do they want to be.

Adam (00:07:12) - You know, those are really the things that as an advisor, those are the things that you really need to unearth and discover right out of the gate. Because ultimately, at the end of the day, those conversations are going to be what crafts, how you are going to, you know, kind of navigate the entire engagement really, you know, because if they don't care about this, but they care about that, you're going to start to, you know, measure the KPIs. That way. You're going to make sure you adjust the charts of accounts. That way you're going to start leaning your consulting in that direction. Those are important conversations.

Joey (00:07:44) - Well, I think that's a great point about that sales call. Not living in a vacuum, right. Like that is kind of that foundation of the entire thing. Because expectations are being set with the client during that. And it's one of the things that was a little bit, I don't want to say shocking to me, but it was one that I kind of learned quickly.

Joey (00:08:03) - Working with summit for the first time was like, for a lot of our clients, this is maybe the biggest engagement they're going to do outside of paying their people. I've heard from multiple folks like, hey, you are our largest line item that's external to our organization as a whole, and that relationship is so huge and so key that if we're not paying attention, like I said, to that sales call and trying to pick up and learn from that sales call, what again, pain points are a great thing. But also, like how do they see the company? How do they see the vision? Where have they? Where have they gone? Where are they going? If we're not using that as CFOs to guide the storytelling and the story that we're trying to craft with, with our financials and KPIs, we're missing the mark on that. a couple of things we've talked about here. You know, we've Laura, you kind of mentioned building that relationship, and I think that's a great way to think about it, because it should be a partnership more so than like a vendor relationship.

Joey (00:09:03) - What are some tips for somebody who's new to the organization coming in on, on how to build some of those relationships with not just the client, but also with you might be working with a senior on the account who you've never worked with before. You might be working with an INS support person that you've never worked with before. What are some tips for building those relationships and getting the soft skills?

Lori (00:09:26) - Me at first. All right. I think with the client, first and foremost, it's just having those conversations, right? face to face, video to video, whatever it is. getting them on the phone, understanding what Adam just talked about. But then going a little bit further. Right. You want to ask about what they like to do outside of work and just start some of that conversation that you can have down the road? internally, I think what I have found the most is bringing that team on board as early as possible in the onboarding, getting them in on those initial calls. making the introduction, allowing them to be part of the process, getting their buy in that this client is cool, right? Understand the industry, understand what they do, what they want.

Lori (00:10:08) - Getting them engaged as much as possible, as early as possible has been key. And then having those weekly sinks with the team, keeping everybody talking, communicating, giving updates, not letting people sit quietly in those, leading the meetings in that way, I think is key.

Adam (00:10:29) - Yeah. And just to add to that, I agree with everything you just said there. And I think the big thing is, whenever we say onboarding, that's very tactical, right? It's like we're going to do these things, but really it just means first impressions. And so, if you want to build a good relationship with somebody, you must ensure that you're doing what you say. And we're accomplishing that kind of stuff. This is your opportunity to really kind of, you know, you need to really show up prepared for these meetings. So, do a little pre-work before the call, make sure you understand their information, don't go in there blindly asking them questions.

Adam (00:11:04) - So I think if you show up well into those meetings, I think that's a good tip and trick. Also, sometimes during the onboarding process, things can get very tactical. And if you have owners that are outside of the daily, they don't want to be involved with that stuff. So, it's important to listen to what type of meetings and the things that we need to do and make sure that we're offering up just having those outsides of the owner. So that they don't necessarily have to do that. It's an opportunity for the rest of the team or yourself to connect with people inside of the organization. That's not the owner because you're not having to worry about, you know, talking to 2 or 3 different people or serving the owner directly. But at the same time, I would also say do the exact opposite of that and find some time whenever you're just meeting with the owner, because that's whenever you're going to be able to dig into some of those.

Adam (00:11:53) - In both of those situations, you're going to be able to dig into more of those personal things. You know, make sure you remember those kinds of things, bring them to the next conversation. Make sure that you make room inside for those conversations' personal conversations. Everyone goes to the weather. But, you know, once you start to learn and know somebody, you can kind of lean on those kinds of things and just make sure that you're, you're activating that whenever you're talking to them. But have one on one conversations. I can't stress that enough. Because in big group settings, it's going to be tough to create those relationships.

Joey (00:12:28) - Well, especially because you might need to be having a conversation with the owner about other members of the team who are a part of the of the group. You know, I think of one group I work with, where I have 2 to 3 meetings a month with them. But two of those meetings are incredibly tactical.

Joey (00:12:44) - I'm working directly with the CEO and her team. I'm working directly with them on things like building out a forecast and their forecast tool, getting the nuts and bolts correct. And that is an incredibly different type of conversation than the one I have with the owner, where it's like we're going to put, you know, get a little bit higher level or talk more about sales pipelines or what his goals are for the company and those types of things. But, you know, to your point, it's all about creating. It's finding the right person to have that relationship with. And it's one of the number one tricks that I give new CFOs is identify quickly. Like if it's a rev rec meeting that you're doing, is the owner the right person to talk about rev rec with? The owner doesn't own HubSpot, and the owner doesn't do any of that stuff, then no, they can just be informed about that meeting. Give the take aways. Figure out a way to report to that individual what the takeaways are but leave the tactical stuff with the person who does the tactical stuff.

Joey (00:13:42) - Yeah. And the onboarding is the perfect time to figure that out.

Adam (00:13:45) - Yeah. I mean, you have to your Spidey sense has to be high. If you start to sense frustration from the client, or you can tell that maybe there's something else that you need to dig into. There are many times whenever I tell the team, it's like, hey, offer up. Like, just send them a quick note and say, hey, you mind if we talk tonight or talk, you know, and I offer up my cell phone all the time. I've never had a client abuse it. No client calls me all the time. In fact, as you start to build those relationships, they'll text you just like your friends do sometimes and just say they'll be talking about personal stuff whenever they reach out to me. They don't talk business. generally, whenever it's whenever they're texting me or doing any of those kinds of things. So, it's important that you establish that relationship, that connection you want to be.

Adam (00:14:30) - Their first phone call, whenever it comes to some of these pressing issues. And you can establish that trust in that relationship easily whenever you're talking to them and you're like, and again, don't do it just to do it. But I'm saying like in instances where you can kind of see something's wrong, you can tell they're going to have to go through a riff and lay a bunch of people off. It's like, hey, maybe this is a more sensitive call, and we should just one on one this and then make sure you jump on that call. It's gone a long way from helping me to build relationships with my clients.

Joey (00:15:00) - That I had a guy that I worked for tell me one time, and this stuck with me throughout my career in the life cycle of an engagement with a client. And we do long term engagements like our average engagements, what, four and a half, five years? Like that's kind of the average, right? In that time frame, you're going to have 1 to 2 opportunities to really make a difference in that person's life.

Joey (00:15:23) - There's going to be other things that are important, but like 1 to 2 critical things are going to happen in that timeline. And if you miss that opportunity, you've missed it forever. Whereas if you recognize that opportunity up front and really take care of that person, not just as a client but as a human, you will have a client for life in that regard. And that's something that's always stuck with me as good practical advice. I think the other thing I took away from that, Adam, is as a CFO. And Laura, you kind of touched on this too. Being a leader in that room is important, which means as the CFO, like, you can't be switched off during those meetings, especially with our delivery model, which is much more remote, like I, I'm going to butcher the stat, but it's like 90% of all communication is nonverbal. And you only see us from here up. So, you've got to be really paying attention as a CFO to like, what's the nonverbal stuff going on in the room? What are the cues? What is the vibe in the meeting? Is it good? Is it bad? And if you're zoned out and not leading it actively from that perspective, you'll miss that.

Joey (00:16:28) - And that's huge. Thinking a bit more about us recording this in March of 2024. and the idea is for this to kind of be some evergreen content. But one thing we're rolling out right now that's not evergreen is revamping the structure a little bit in support. And support is a word that carries a lot with it. But you know, Laura, you're in my role throughout onboarding. And as CFOs and controllers are watching this training is we're there as support resources. So, Adam, I wanted to hear from you specifically as kind of the architect of the big vision of the company and where we're going and how we're going to scale. What sort of role is the INS team, not just me and Lori, but also Miranda and Kaylee and Lydia, our project management team, all the different moving pieces. What role are we playing in onboarding and how can we best be utilized by CFOs and controllers? Also, the FDAs don't want to forget the FDA's because they're a huge part of this, too.

Adam (00:17:33) - Absolutely. I mean, invaluable resources, like, we didn't just, like, make these roles up. We've learned a lot from, again, from clients and from ourselves over time that there are just outside roles, from maybe your day to day process where people could use additional support, whether it's from an organizational standpoint that's going to be the project manager, you know, connecting calendars, connecting dots, holding people accountable to getting some things done. There are those aspects where they can add extra weight, having strategic conversations, having somebody else in the room that has a lot of experience that you can bounce ideas off, like, hey, here, look at this with me. That's where the CFOs will help with. If there's an accounting issue, you know, that's where an INS support member from the that's more manager focused or controller focus can kind of come in and, look at the financials and help you kind of wade through that stuff. And then of course, whenever it comes to putting together the forecasts, sometimes the technology gets in the way and it's a little bit difficult to decipher.

Adam (00:18:32) - And you need somebody to help with that lift. That doesn't mean that you're not architecting things. and I think what's important in all those ancillary roles that we're talking about, you're still kind of the nucleus. You're expected to lead the engagement all the way through and help direct those folks so they're not in place to say, hey, I've got this, I do this, I do that, you go do this. That's not how it works. It's I do everything, and I have these additional resources to make sure that I can get it accomplished and get it accomplished well and timely, you know, those kinds of things. And so, making sure you understand how to leverage those resources around you are important. And the people on those teams are extremely gifted, and they know how to help leverage the team. But again, it's not one of those things where you just kind of abdicate certain tasks to them. You're still overseeing them, architecting, controlling that process. But we have this other support team that's really helping to move things along in a very formal way that is fast and efficient.

Adam (00:19:35) - And clients, frankly, come to expect.

Joey (00:19:39) - I think the other thing, too, there and this is Lori, where I want to get your thoughts as well. There's a there's a new piece of this structure that we haven't had on the on the summit side that's been part of the Andrew sculptures for years, which is the coaching. even outside of the I know on the NS team, we, we directly coach. But like also there's other coaches and those types of things that are available. What sort of stuff can people come to expect from their coach?

Lori (00:20:06) - Poaching king. It can take.

Lori (00:20:08) - A lot of different directions. It is what you want it to be, and it will be as much as you put into it. You'll get out of it. coaching relationships are there to help progress your career, to give ideas and support and mentorship of where you want to get, and a kick in the butt of how to get there. talk about goals. Or it can be about life.

Lori (00:20:31) - You know, get through hard times. It's just continual support. Within the team, I think we've developed some good friendships, some professional relationships out of coaching. But it's a great chance to get to know team members well. and motivate yourself just from hearing their stories, their experiences and, and help you get where you want to go.

Joey (00:20:57) - And I think it's a great point there too, that it's you get what you what you put into that on the coaching that, you know, if you're, you know, a, a newer individuals to the organization and you're not actively seeking out your coach like you're missing that opportunity. And it's you know, I think about Adam when you were talking about the architecture there, the CFOs and controllers who are most successful in onboarding are the ones who know where they want things to go. And they can come to you. They can come to me, they can come to Lori, they can come to Jamie or any of those other folks who maybe have a little bit more experience of what they're doing.

Joey (00:21:32) - If you can come to those meetings saying, hey, Adam, I know this is where I want to go, I'm having trouble bridging this gap. Can we talk about some ideas? That's a conversation that I have never seen you turn down, ever. You will never turn down having that conversation and be able to have a much more positive outcome for everybody because it's a collaborative. You're not just the ones that are like, hey Joey, just tell me how to do this. I'm not getting much out of that as a coach. And B, you're not getting a lot out of it either. So, that's an important thing you've got to be. You've got to. You've got to know where you're wanting things to go. And if that's a problem, then okay, that's a different problem that needs to be solved. But like that, that that part of that, that engagement from the CFO or controller is, is the key to having not just a successful onboarding, but just a successful experience here.

Adam (00:22:29) - Yeah. And I think the same goes for the CFOs. And controllers should ask the same of their team. Everybody should manage up. Everybody should come with, hey, this is what I'm thinking about. This is why I'm thinking about it. Here's the solution I'm thinking about. You know, I always tell people never, you know, I never want to see your, you know, your ears between your hands and just come and say, hey, do this for me. That's not going to happen. Like, I need to make sure that you understand, fully understand the question that you're asking and what needs to be done for you to really understand the answer, because otherwise you're just going to do it. even if I gave it back to you, you're going to do it. But you might not understand it because you're not having to think through the problem as much. So, we want to make sure we spend some time doing that stuff.

Joey (00:23:11) - Yeah, I think it's the other thing too, that I wanted to mention as part of this little, little section of the training is full disclosure.

Joey (00:23:18) - When I came to summit, I thought the expectation of mine was you should be able to do everything. And I thought I had to deprogram myself to say, "It's I did not; I had to deprogram the part of me that didn't want to go." As Steve and Jake and Max for help on the tech side. Like, I think the important thing to understand is that. A long time ago, we made the decision as a company to invest in these resources. We did not invest in these resources for you to not utilize. That's what they're there for. And so, if that's something that you're feeling like, try not to do that because don't be like dumb Joey, who kept thinking he had to do Excel when Steve Richard has forgotten more about Excel than I know. Like, let's that's what we're there for. That's what the team is here for. And you know, if you're not utilizing those resources, I have a lot more questions than I do. If I'm like, oh, someone's leaning on us a little bit too much.

Joey (00:24:18) - One of those is a lot easier to solve than the other.

Adam (00:24:21) - Yeah, it comes back to how you use those services. So again, it's not you're going to Steve and saying I don't know, can you build this thing for me. It's no, I've sketched it out. Here's how I want it to be built. This is where I'm getting information from, and this is what I want it to look like. Can you help me do that? I do that all the time with our tech team and it's amazing. They come back and go, okay, I had to change this and change that because this is the way the data comes in. Is this cool? Can you do this too? They do amazing, amazing things, but you just need to tell them what the inputs are, what do you want it to look like on the outside. And then they can kind of, you know what what they're offering together.

Joey (00:25:01) - For automation if there is any. And how do we how do we go from there 100%.

Adam (00:25:06) - Yeah.

Joey (00:25:07) - Okay. I think we can wrap here on this one because there's and I want the folks watching this video to know there's going to be a lot more training like tactical stuff on how to do this. This is just kind of a primer to think about, like, because someone you've heard us talk about forecasts, you've heard us talk about KPIs and all those things, and, you know, we'll get there. But one of the questions we talk about specifically related to onboarding is what the CFO and controller expectation is and how do we know? And this is always our question, how do we know if we've won when it comes to onboarding? And I think one of those answers is easy. We've one if everything's set up in the clients happy. And we did it timely. But there's some other things in there too that I think we need to talk about.

Adam (00:25:48) - Yeah, I mean, those are the obvious ones, right? Like we can all check the boxes and make sure that we went through the checklist.

Adam (00:25:53) - And we've been meeting expectations in terms of the timeline. Timeline is important because again, this is where we're building trust with the client. And we're saying, hey, we're good at these things and this is when we can get them done. Obviously, we know clients are blockers, so you must get good at communicating and trying to pull those things through to make sure that we're meeting our expectations from that perspective. But from a from a CFO and a controller perspective, you want to make sure that you walk away at the end of that with a deep understanding again, of what the client does, where they're at and where they're going. Those things will set up a good advisory relationship. And if you know those things and you've taken the opportunity to have someone on one conversations and build some rapport with the with the client, I think you're going to walk away with a really good advisory relationship at all levels, even if we're only touching the books once a month versus, you know, we're in the leadership meeting on a weekly basis, it doesn't matter.

Adam (00:26:52) - I have similar relationships with clients that I've served in both capacities. That doesn't change because one client has a higher service than the other. All those things exist and are true at every service level.

Joey (00:27:06) - Lori, what about you? What is success for you.

Lori (00:27:09) - To add to what Adam is saying? I think having the right people on our team, on your client team in the right place and kind of let them do what they're good at, bring them in, use your resources, leverage it as much as you can. But if you have a good team beneath you, and you're utilizing them to the fullest, you're not on your own. You're not doing it all. Joey. and it's going to be a better experience for everybody, including the client. So, I think they'll feel that, too. If you're collaborating and all, you know, work and working at the same thing.

Adam (00:27:42) - Yeah, you're right. Lori, that's in addition to the relationship with the client. You should be building those relationships and making those deeper with the internal team as well, because they there's going to be times whenever you're leading them and they're not going to understand exactly.

Adam (00:27:55) - You know, you got to be good at painting what done looks like. You have got to be very explicit about what you want accomplished and what it looks like to the internal team as well, so that they have all the tools that they need to be successful. So, you know, making sure that you're taking responsibility, you're not, again, abdicating tasks to them, but you're showing that you're giving them the tools that they need. And then the time on the review of all those things to understand that'll help establish and build some of those relationships. And the team sometimes you'll, you know, some team members are going to be better at some things than others. So, make sure you give it the time and attention it needs, all the way through the process.

Joey (00:28:33) - Yeah. I think that's probably the hardest thing with onboarding is you. There's the natural human desire to standardize it as much as possible. And I think across the broad swath of clients, I would say for most clients, 50 to 75% of it is going to be roughly the same.

Joey (00:28:49) - Right? Like accounting is accounting. Debits and credits are the same. No matter where you go to college or what business you're in. Right. It's that 25% about that client that makes them special and unique. That's the difference between what we offer and what somebody else offers. And that's where, you know, again, we can try to standardize the thought process as much as possible. But at the end of the day, as the CFO or controller, it's our function and our job there to flesh out what that 25% is and make sure we're hitting it every time.

Adam (00:29:21) - Great.

Joey (00:29:22) - Cool. Well, Lori, Adam, thank you so much for taking some time to record this. This is again going to be live at the beginning of training to get everybody involved. There's going to be a lot more down the line that's going to be more specific and more tactical. But hopefully this was a good overview of how we see onboarding, why we onboard, some good tips and tricks, and some other things that you can take away to ultimately be successful.

Joey (00:29:48) - When you get the call from Adam saying, hey, I've got a new client for you, it starts tomorrow. Get excited. Here's the sales call. So, thank you all so much for joining us.

Adam (00:29:58) - Thanks.

Outro (00:29:58) - Enjoy this podcast. Visit our website summit CPA Dot net to get more tips and strategy for achieving modern CPA firm success. We are here to be a resource in this ever-changing industry.