SME owners bust small firm myths on pricing and people
Small business owners have no obligation to invest in extensive staffing, processes or pricing to be successful, according to SME accounting practice owners.
Small business myths surrounding firm success were ‘busted’ in a panel session presented at the Access All Areas event yesterday.
The ‘Busting small firm myths’ panel at the event held yesterday in Melbourne focused on the three key themes of team and people, processes and pricing.
The panel session was presented by 5ways Group Chartered Accountants CCO, Paul Meissner, and included insights from Goldi Group managing director, Amy Fox, and M&C Accountants founding director, Carmel Filippone.
The three presenters opened the myth-busting panel with the statement that firms did not need “to be really big to be really successful.”
Filippone said she operated her firm with a small staff base to pour more effort and trust into her employees.
“As for how many employees, I think we just want to play it by ear as we go,” she said.
“We do this because it’s not about size, to me it’s about happiness until the employee fits in and they’re comfortable.”
Fox echoed the sentiments of Filippone and said she had definitely “busted the myth” of being a large-scale company to find success.
“We’re very small too, it’s just me and my part-timer,” Fox said.
“I did look at growing the team to be able to increase our capacity, but had issues finding someone I really trusted.”
In terms of processes, both Filippone and Fox said they hardly used or operated with software practices.
The panellists shared their personal experiences with software platforms and how they had the effect of creating more complexity than ease.
Fox noted she had tried all platforms designed for accountants with little success based on the small size of her business.
“I don’t use any software. I’ve tried them all. I’ve tried all the tools that are supposed to make my job really quick and easy,” she said.
“I always go back to Excel because I just love numbers and data and I need all the information. If my client asks me where I am getting a certain figure from, I need to know exactly where it is coming from so I don’t look silly.”
Filippone shared that her software philosophy was to buy it and use it for 12 months before getting rid of it if she found no value.
Meissner noted an unspoken pressure that seemed to surround using software, as every firm seemed to be using it.
However; Meissner said this wasn’t achievable nor affordable for most micro firms, such as the ones owned by the three panellists.
The session also included a conversation about clients and what the “ideal small firm client” looked like for Filippone and Fox.
Both Filippone and Fox stated there was now no such thing as an ideal client, other than someone who paid the fees for the services they were provided and the expectation of a perfect client needed to be squashed.
“I have now realised that there’s no loyalty,” Filippone said.
“There is no ideal client anymore, and people forget and expect, so let’s just say my processes are evolving.”
When it came to the accounting industry and clients, Fox said it was an unusual industry in terms of interactions.
“It’s such a strange industry, accounting, because it’s like, if you go to your hairdresser and get your hair cut once, do you just get a free trim for the rest of the year?” she said.
“Clients expect to pay one and then get some free advice for the rest of the year, and it’s not like that. From my experience, they don’t like paying for what they need.”
Filippone and Fox ended the panel by recommending that all small business owners stick by their pricing strategies and charge what they wanted to charge clients, despite alternative firm prices.
“If you’re a business owner, you feel too busy, or you don’t like something, you can change it.”
“Look after yourselves, put yourself and your business first because it’s been a hard year, but looking after and valuing ourselves and valuing our clients is what is really important.”
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