Accounting Influencers Podcast | The Power of a Pipeline for Accountants: Ed Warren - Accounting Influencers

Episode 4

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Published on:

27th Feb 2023

The Power of a Pipeline for Accountants: Ed Warren

Welcome to the Accounting Influencers Podcast, going live every Monday to 150 countries and 30,000 accounting practitioners, fintech specialists and influencers in the accountancy, CPA and bookkeeping space.

In today's episode 4, "The Power of a Pipeline for Accountants: Ed Warren", host Rob Brown sits down with Ed Warren, an accomplished sales executive with over 25 years of professional services sales and marketing experience. Ed works for Sage, a large accounting software firm, and helps accountants grow their outsourced accounting practice.

Ed shares his insights on how the accounting industry has been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic and what the future may hold for the industry. He believes that while the accounting firm space is in a good place given the circumstances, there is also a bit of complacency as they have weathered the storm reasonably well. However, staffing is a huge issue right now, and the industry will have to figure out how to adjust to players with different values than the legacy partner.

Ed also discusses the importance of the trusted advisor relationship that accountants have with their clients. He shares tips on how firms can increase their revenue through client advisory services, including cross-selling other services to clients such as wealth management, family office, and retirement planning. He emphasizes the importance of making conscious decisions to go after higher volume, higher margin clients to provide a better client experience and where the team is treated with respect.

You can also watch this on youtube here: https://youtu.be/4SlJKmLFoR0

Key takeaways

➤ Staffing is a significant issue for accounting firms, as younger generations value work-life balance and giving back to their communities more than partnership and equity.

➤ To stay competitive, accounting firms must adapt to changing software technologies, such as cloud-based ERP solutions and tax and compliance software.

➤ Blockchain and other technologies in the venture stage could significantly impact the audit process in the next five to ten years.

➤ Firms should focus on developing trusted advisor relationships with their clients and consider pruning their book of business to eliminate unprofitable relationships and replace them with clients who will pay their fees and treat their employees well.

➤ Cross-selling other services to clients, such as wealth management, family office, and retirement planning, can create a multiplier effect and lead to multiple business streams.

➤ Conducting a pipeline review and focusing on individuals expected to bring in new business is essential. Still, it's also crucial to have honest conversations with clients regarding the value of relationships and the lifetime value of a client.

➤ Having tough conversations with clients regarding billing rates and ensuring that the billing is fair for the work done is essential for maintaining a successful practice.

Guest Bio

Ed Warren is an accomplished sales executive with over 25 years of professional services, sales and marketing experience. He has worked in marketing, business development, and practice growth roles in Top 100 and Top 200 CPA firms. Ed is a fractional Chief Growth Officer for cloud accounting firms, helping them grow their outsourced accounting practice. He is a board member and finance committee chair of the Association for Accounting Marketing (AAM) and currently serves as the treasurer of AAM.

Aside from his professional work, Ed is an avid jogger, running 3 to 4 days per week, typically between 3 & 5 miles per run. He completed a Tough Mudder with his former managing partner and enjoys cooking, grilling, photography, and beach vacations with his wife, Marcia.

Ed is active on Twitter, where he can be found at @EdwardDWarren, and on LinkedIn at http://linkedin.com/in/edwarddwarren. He is also offering a free eBook download titled "7 Tips to Increase Revenue with Client Advisory Services," which can be found at https://edwarddwarren.hubspotpagebuilder.com/7-tips-to-increase-revenue-with-client-advisory-services.

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Accountex. Accountex will return to ExCeL London UK on the 10-11 May 2023. Bringing together 250+ top fintech companies and cutting-edge start-ups, visitors can browse new software and stay up to date with the latest technology, tools and ideas in accountancy and finance. Alongside the exhibition, attendees will take away actionable tips from the CPD-accredited seminar programme, led by 200+ thought leaders shaping the profession.

Accountex is Europe’s largest annual event for the accounting and finance profession. It attracts 8,000+ attendees and 250+ exhibitors. Attendees can get up to 16 CPD hours with 200+ free seminar sessions across 12 theatres.

https://www.accountex.co.uk/london/

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About the Podcast

Accounting Influencers
Insights, interviews and commentary for accounting, CPA, bookkeeping and finance professionals
ACCOUNTING INFLUENCERS is a weekly podcast for accountants, CPAs, bookkeeping and finance professionals, together with the networks, associations, fintech vendors and influencers who lead them, work in them and serve them.

The show is hosted by Rob Brown. co-founder of the Accounting Influencers Roundtable (AIR). The style of the show is not overly technical/technological/tax in nature but more on people, performance and success in the accounting world. Popular topics and themes covered include:

☑ leadership, executive presence, trust, integrity & reputation
☑ M&A, business models, future proofing, drivers of change & disruption
☑ performance, values, culture, vision & strategy
☑ employer brand, gen z/millennials & talent - succession, recruitment and retention
☑ industry trends, statistics and patterns
☑ growth, marketing, differentiation & positioning
☑ pricing & profitability
☑ digitisation, cloud, technology & automation
☑ advisory services, niches & emerging markets
☑ environmental & social governance ESG
☑ diversity, equity & inclusion DEI
☑ professionalism, career development & CPE/CPD
☑ business acumen & commercial awareness

Sources and guests come from:
★ EXPERTS - influencers, disrupters, consultants, gurus, podcasters and broadcasters in accounting and fintech
★ EVENTS - live coverage and interviews from exhibitions, conferences and a range of industry events
★ MEDIA - newspapers, online outlets, commentators, writers, bloggers and authors
★ VENDORS - suppliers and providers of accounting apps, platforms, fintech and software
★ REGULATORS - professional accounting bodies, institutes and associations
★ NETWORKS - alliances, associations, networks and communities of professional firms and accounting practices
★ SOCIAL MEDIA - opinion pieces, high engagement posts and controversial conversations

Rob Brown is a renowned presenter, facilitator and chair of high level conferences, panels and events globally for the accounting and fintech profession. He is retained by many professional networks, alliances, associations, practices and vendors to chair their events and provide high-level interview content for their communities.

He is a dynamic speaker and accomplished expert on trust, reputation, employer brand, talent, career development, succession, gen z/generations, executive presence, referrals, networking and winning new business. He is also the bestselling author of Build Your Reputation (Wiley) and his TEDx talk ‘The Personal Brand of You’ has been viewed 320K times on YouTube.
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About your hosts

Martin Bissett

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Martin Bissett is the founder of the Bissett Group of companies that provide practice and personal growth communities, content, and continuing education exclusively to the accounting and bookkeeping professions worldwide.

Previously he established a high six-figure consulting firm while serving as a keynote speaker with over 100 one-off and repeat engagements to his name, as well as becoming the most published author on his topics of specialism with 11 books including 1 bestseller.

Since 1998, he has played a major part in working with over 1800 accounting firms in over 40 countries. These projects have led to those firms acquiring over £500m of recurring fees before inflationary increases, referrals and upselling are factored in. He stopped keeping track of this number over 5 years ago. Martin now advises both accounting practitioners and FinTech companies alike, at board level.

Rob Brown

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Rob Brown is a renowned MC, facilitator and chair of virtual and in-person panels, conferences and events globally for the accounting and fintech profession.

Rob is co-founder of the Accounting Influencers Roundtable (AIR) mastermind group and co-hosts the world’s most popular accounting and fintech podcast: Accounting Influencers.

Throughout the pandemic, he chaired 24 virtual panels with leaders of global accounting networks and alliances to discuss the key issues and challenges. Rob is retained by several associations and vendors to chair their events and provide high-level interview content for their communities.

He is the bestselling author of Build Your Reputation (Wiley) and his TEDx talk ‘The Personal Brand of You’ has been viewed 300K times on YouTube.