The Future of Accounting Packages: What Clients Will Expect in 2028

Speaker A: If you look back at your packages three years from today, what would feel outdated? Would you still primarily be leading with bookkeeping, tax preparation, maybe a bunch of different quarterly reports? Or would you possibly be designing your services based on changes that are happening in the industry and possibly connecting with what clients are uh, actually valuing at this point three years from now? So this is what I see. The firms that are going to thrive over the next three, maybe five years, they're intentionally redesigning their packages now around outcomes instead of tasks. This is Lauren Fogelman with Business Success Solutions showing accounting for a how to be able to go ahead and create packages, value prices, services that appeal to quality clients. And, and if you look at sticking with the status quo, keeping your packages as they are today, in three years from now, there's probably a really good chance that you're going to go ahead and lose some of your quality clients. And that is because those quality clients don't want what is good enough for today. They want something more. And I'm going to look at what you need to do to start repositioning your firm today for three years in the future so that we're forward thinking and we're really being proactive instead of reactive and trying to catch up or trying to avoid something from happening. And this is going to just keep you ahead of the curve once again instead of getting into that knee jerk reaction. So I'm going to go ahead and share later on what I call the revenue ready review. It is a three step process that I do with my clients as well. And it allows you to start to evaluate your current structure and also make those adjustments now for the firm that you want in the future. So you start today with being that firm in the future. And the very first thing that we look at in the ready revenue ready review is shifting from deliverables to outcomes. It's talked about a lot. This isn't just something that is wishful thinking, this is something that needs to happen right now. It's already happening with so many firms across the board. So let's just be on the same page. Clients, they already have access to data, they can log into their accounts, they can go ahead and see the reports, they can review their dashboards, they can maybe track revenue trends. So access to numbers is not a premium M service any longer, it's status quo. But what they do want is interpretation. That is something that you are uniquely qualified to give them. They can't get that. But just going into their dashboards and looking at the reports and the numbers so they want someone that is going to be able to help them understand what those numbers actually mean, what decisions may be to prioritize, and also how to avoid some costly surprises. And that is something that starts to differentiate you from every other firm out there is your approach with helping your clients achieve that. So when your packages, they're primarily built around tasks, then you're looking at reconciling reconciliations, filings, reports. And doing that does keep you busy, but it means that you're focused on the delivery of the tasks and you're tied to your workflow. And that is also about times. But uh, when your packages are actually built around outcome, then it starts to position you and your firm differently. That's because you're going to now be that person that helps your clients think strategically and being able to make those better decisions, be forward thinking, avoid those crossweet mistakes. It's not about reading with the reports anymore. Instead you're now reading with clarity, you're leading with confidence. You're giving them direction and insights so that they can make informed decisions based on the number and the data. So that's what we want to do, is focus on reading with guidance, with a direction. And when you do that and you're talking about moving forward and the investment into your packages, then those pricing conversations start to shift because at that point you don't longer any longer have to justify your time. You're now leading with something that is of value to them, not how long it takes to deliver those tasks and reports. That's a big differentiation. Okay, that goes now into section number two, which is what premium price, premium packages will include. So if you're still structuring your packages primarily around compliance and maybe adding advisory services into that, then it's a model that's already starting to age. It's already on the way out. Compliance is not what future focused firms are leading with any longer. Over the next few years, what feels like a premium service today will actually become standard. Clients are going to go ahead and expect advisory services as part of their, uh, as part of their engagements. They're not going to want it as an occasional add on. So think about proactive tax bill, uh, tax planning. It's going to be built into your packages from the start. And as a result of that, you no longer have to think about tax planning as maybe a Q4 strategy that will be an upsell to your clients. It's going to be built into your packages very, very strategically. The other thing that's going to be built into it is visibility for your clients around key numbers and how you can help them create a structure that is going to be very, very transparent of the way that the two of you are working together. So it's more where they see you as a valued resource, a team member as opposed to a technician, or just something necessary so they can get their taxes filed at year end. So we want to be able to be very, very clear of what goes into the scope as well as what is not included in the scope. And this matters to you as well as to them, especially if you're client centered firms. Because when packages are not clear, then of course you've already experienced it, scope creep naturally starts to increase. And that means that when, when scope creep is happening, it affects your hours, it also affects the time of your team and their workload. And when the scope increases but your revenue has plateaued, that means that you will eventually be maxed out. There's only so much time you have to give. So we need to be mindful of it and make sure that we're very, very transparent about what is in the scope, what, what's not in scope and how to address it. And I'm just going to say similar workflows, systems, even around the scope, give you freedom, it protects your time, and also it can be very, very client centered. So what we want to do is focus on outcomes because that's going to be what's central to your packages. And when you do that, then value pricing once again becomes more natural. That's because you're no longer billing for time or how long a tip a task takes to complete. Your pricing is based on decisions your clients can make because of your guidance. So once again, it's not necessarily that you're changing that much. We're just flipping the priorities. Value pricing is aligned with your guidance and the decisions that your clients can make because that's what they value as opposed to tasks that you're doing or how long it takes in order for you to be able to give them those insights. And by flipping it and leading with the guidance and helping your clients make those decisions, what they value. That is an elevated level of positioning, especially now, but over time it will become standard. So start to get comfortable with that, start to put that in place now so that you can have that future focused firm that you want to achieve down the road. And then section three will be why traditional tiers actually struggle. So your packages, maybe the design will change, but you're still going to have what I believe is three tiers. You're going to have your base, which I call the Silver, which is going to focus on compliance primarily. You're going to have that middle tier, which is gold, and that's going to add in some additional insights, maybe additional work for you to be doing for them and possibly some, and, and definitely not possibly, definitely some additional advisory. And then you're going to have your top tier, which is diamd, and that includes more deliverables, it includes more guidance, advisory and insights as well. Because those are the clients who want to have access to you in order to make informed decisions. And sometimes they need it in a very quick turnaround time so they get priorit. Um, and once again, your tiers, your packages, they're not differentiated by volume, they're differentiated by access and guidance. So think about what does strategic involvement actually look like. This is where your clients, that's what they value, that is what they want more of. So instead of once again adding more tasks, we want to think about how high level thinking is going to be able to be something that you can build into your tiers and how does it look from one package the next. So once again think about high level thinking, access to you, your brain, your way of looking at something, your insights, how can you differentiate one tier to the next so that it's all about guidance and expertise and leading with that. And uh, as you know, as clients move from one tier the next, the silver, the gold, the diamond, they should actually have more forward looking conversations. So maybe silver doesn't have that many or possibly one if you're going to include any. Whereas the diamond has a lot more access to you in those forward looking conversations. So think about, it might be deeper reviews about profitability or maybe it is, um, more strategic thinking based on their goals and insights so that they can make better decisions moving forward as they are focused on their own business development. And include with each package a structured number of advisory sessions. Don't leave it open ended. We want it to be structured and specific and as a result of that, this means that there's transparency between how much is included as far as access to you or your team and how much is not. And by doing this, we're now once again emphasizing your insights as the highest value as opposed to the technical aspects of what your firm is doing. Those technical aspects once again become secondary. I, um, want to give you an example of how this actually works with a firm. Now I worked with a firm owner and she was stuck at $180,000 a year in annual revenue and she Was actually stuck there for several years. Might go up a little bit, it might go down, but she kind of reached a plateau. And this for a mona, solid work. She was really, really dedicated to her clients and she was very responsive. Her clients loved her. She wasn't having a lot of turnover or churn. They really stuck with her once they started with her for year and year out. But, uh, adding a new client meant that there was going to be an increase to her workload. And, uh, what she realized is that, okay, her workload was increasing, but her revenues kind of remained flatlined. Like I said, she was stuck at 180,000 a year for several years, even though her client base continued to expand. So we took a look at her packages and how they were structured entirely around tasks entirely. And as a result of that, scope creep actually became a byproduct for her. Her workload gradually increased as her clients, their businesses grew, they had more financial complexity. And part of that was she was very, very quiet. She said yes to most of the requests, but she never adjusted her prices accordingly. That was something that she didn't feel comfortable talking about. She didn't know how to open that conversation. She was afraid of having a valued client leave and move on because she would be charging them more. So what we did is we once again looked at her packages. We went ahead and structured them now around outcomes instead of tasks. We went ahead and actually built the advisory conversations she was actually having with clients. And into every single tier of her packages. We clarified boundaries, we went ahead and rewrote her descriptions of each packages. And as a result of that, it was now more client centered to focus on what the client had to gain as opposed to the tasks or the time involved. And also her pricing reflected those outcomes. It was value priced as opposed to time based on, um. And because that within six months, she actually increased her revenues by $60,000, she reduced her workload by eight hours a week, and she was able to bring on two premium clients who were ideal for her firm without actually increasing any marketing efforts. And it was proportional as far as revenues go to what she was doing for them. So she was able to finally break through that plateau. She had a breakthrough. It was very, very significant for her. So once again, nothing dramatic change as far as her level of expertise, but what she did do is adjust her service packages to reflect her expertise instead of her technical skills. So if you're wondering where you might need to begin, then here is the framework that I mentioned before that I take clients through. First of all, we want to reveal, we want to look at your current packages and I, um, want you to ask yourself what, whether they're restructured around your tasks or are they restructured or are they structured about what your client gains? Because a lot of times the descriptions of how you talk about your packages tend to be tech heavy and focus too much on what you're doing for them instead of the benefits and the outcomes they gain because of what you're doing for them. So look at your uh, packages and also how you describing them. And then after that, we want to go ahead and restructure each tier. We want it to be based on meaningful outcomes that actually matter to your clients. And as a result of that, you can actually shift the focus of the packages, each tier, without having to add any additional services. By doing that, it repositions what you're already doing and it leads with value. And then the third thing is repricing. Evaluate now where your fee reflects the outcome or is your fees primarily connected to the time it takes to deliver the fir, the, the work? So we want to look at repricing. Are, uh, your prices connected to value and outcomes or are they connected to time and deliverables? So if you're able to do that, then you want to think about, do your fees actually, uh, reflect the value that your clients receive? Because so often an indicator of underpricing is that the value of what you're delivering so far exceeds what you are charging for them. So think about how many increments is the value of what you're delivering higher than the fees that you're actually charging for that service. And to think about under pricing, it's usually a structural issue within your firm. And, and when you're underpriced, then it actually limits your firm's growth. So it has a, uh, cascade of different outcomes that it keeps you from being able to move forward. It limits your time, it is going to limit your revenues. And as a result it limits your firm's ability to scale and scope, uh, scale. So once again you're going to have some clients that are going to reach out to you. They're going to make some requests, they're going to want something additional. Here is how you want to respond. You want to say something like, that's outside the scope of what we agree to, but we can go ahead and talk about what you want to achieve and outline options as to how you would like to add that in if that's what you want to move forward with. So that is a very, very client Centered, clear, professional way to respond to those out of scope requests. Once again, that's out of scope of what we agreed to. I can meet with you, we can talk about what you want to achieve, then I can outline some options. And if that's something you want to move forward with, I can show you how we can make some adjustments to add that new service in. Now I realize anytime you might be thinking about talking with a client about expanding the price, uh, increase the price because the scope expands, it might feel a little bit uncomfortable to you, you don't want to. The thought of raising your fees might sound good in theory, but you might be concerned once again about losing clients. Totally understandable. And what I see is when you're doing this in a very, very clear, professional, client centered way, then your quality clients, they actually respond very positively. They're not necessarily looking for you to do without having to have their fees adjusted. So this is what happens when you have very well defined, clear service, um, outcome focused packages. And when you're able to do that, you're able to set some boundaries because it's already transparent in your packages and how to adjust things when they ask for those additional services, then your clients are comfortable with agreeing to the additional investment and they understand that they are investing in your expertise, not just taking your time and your technical skills deals for granted. And by the way, of course you might have someone, maybe that person already came pop top to top m of mind to you, popped immediately into your head of uh, who's going to give you pushback. And I just want to say those clients, and you know who they are that are going to give you pushback, they were already stretching your time thin and they were also stretching your margins then. So having them maybe move on is not the worst thing that could happen because you might have already secretly been wishing that they would have moved on anyway. This is a way for them to gracefully bow out and move on. And as a result, it often opens up capacity for you to bring on a client that is a better fit for your for your firm moving forward and really appreciates what you have to do. So once again, think about your future self. Three years from now, review your current packages. What would you notice? And when you're doing that, just open up a sheet and have two columns. What do your packages currently deliver and what are the benefits to your clients? And start to gain that awareness about what your packages say you deliver. Is it heavy on the tasks and the technical side of what you do? And as a result of those Technical things. What are the benefits to your clients and how much advisory is already built into this? And where do you think that clients would actually value and appreciate and benefit from more insights from you? So once again, there's going to become a gap in those two lists, uh, between the tasks that you're delivering, what your current packages say about you, the benefits, your clients. We want to be able to close that gap in order to start to have your packages be more future focused. And that is where that's going to create more structure. And we can now start to value price your packages. So if you are ready to go ahead and evaluate your packages more structurally, you want to be very, very intentional about that, then let's have a conversation. Go to business successsolution.com LetsTalk and as a result of that, we can talk about your current structure. We can look at opportunities on being able to increase your revenue and being able to do it in a way without adding to your workload, and map out your next steps. So I would love to hear from you what you took away, what you resonated, what you would like to have more, um, of and realize the future of the accounting profession as well as your firm leads with value and protects your time. And, uh, you don't have to wait for three years. You can start building it into your firm now. So don't wait. Get ahead of the game, be proactive, and it's going to make a difference for you, your firm, as well as your clients. This is Lauren Fogelman with Business Success Solutions, showing accounting firm owners how to be able to double their revenue working half the time.