Dustin Hostetler, previously the Principal at Flowtivity and current Director of Lean Six Sigma Consulting at Boomer Consulting will show you how to increase productivity in your accounting firm.

He’s been a lean six sigma black belt for over 13 years and continues to consult with firms like yours.

In this episode of the Growing Your Firm Podcast by Jetpack Workflow Software, David Cristello and Dustin Hostetler discuss:
+ How to apply lean six sigma to your firm or practice
+ The proper structure for reviewing and optimizing workflow and processes
+ Common workflow mistakes firm owners make
and much, much more!

ADDITIONAL LINKS:

Boomer Consulting
Connect with Dustin on Linkedin 
Create a tech ecosystem and automate your firm

What is Lean Six Sigma?

Dustin Hostetler, Chief Innovation Officer of Boomer Consulting, started his career actually as a financial analyst at Cardinal Health. He had graduated with a finance degree and spent two years at the company rotating through different roles trying to find his passion. In 2005, he joined with a Top 100 regional accounting firm as they needed a consultant, and that’s what Dustin was looking to do. In 2006, he got his lean six sigma black belt and started implementing the practice into one of the satellites of his company. After one busy season, senior staff members said it was the “best busy season ever” thanks to the lean six sigma practices implemented thanks to Dustin.

That brings us to the million-dollar question: “What is lean six sigma actually?” 

Lean six sigma focuses on optimizing client value. The process finds and reduces waste. Waste = redundancies, duplications, anything that doesn’t provide value. It then improves the processes to further optimize value.

Bottom-line…efficiency + quality in your firm.

How to Start Implementing Lean Six Sigma?

Before Dustin does any sort of tinkering, he has to go through two major processes.

First, he works to get ‘buy-in’ from partners. The firm must be ready to make a massive change. They can’t be looking for the ‘flavor of the month’ fix, they need to be ready to make a move. Lean six sigma is a full-on cultural change. In order to proceed, Dustin must see some sort of level of commitment from the firm, not to mention, get a notion they are excited about the change.

Second, they must start with a specific area of their firm. To do that, Dustin must be allowed to present a half-day to a full-day seminar on the subject. This isn’t a lecture series, but rather a collection of interactive demonstrations and discussions built around your team. One event is building legos where you pretend the lego shape you’re trying to build is a tax return. You go through each person who touches the process and it really lets you see how people work and think.

The big part is the discussion with each other. Henry Ford famously said, “No one knows the work better than the people doing the work, so let’s ask them.” Break up into groups: associates with senior associates, managers with senior managers, partners with senior partners, and administrative staff. Get them all into a comfortable environment, learn where the opportunities are. This is the key.

Let each person speak freely in their groups. Really run through the current processes of the firm and vocalize it to every group so each person can see the big picture of each person’s role. The key is for everyone to see what each person is doing so they can fully understand the importance of a team working together.

DAVID’S TIP:While talking with an executive at IBM, the executive mentioned as the IBM team grew, the cracks in the awareness formed. You’d hear “I didn’t know Sally did this and that.” When you understand other’s responsibilities, you’re able to work together and be willing to do things a certain way because you’re helping others.

The 5 Steps to Implement Lean Six Sigma: 

The 5 steps to implement lean six sigma are simple. A few we’ve already touched on. Here’s all five:

• Define
• Measure
• Analyze
• Improve
• Control

Define is getting in groups, as mentioned, and going through processes and workflows to find opportunities. It’s getting on the same page, defining the scopes, goals, and objections. Dustin recommends practicing the “5 WHYs” when discussing and looking for opportunities. Like a 5-year old asks “why”, you want to ask “why” about everything you and every team member does. It uncovers if something is important or fluff.

Measure means to map out the current processes, perhaps through a flow chart. Don’t go off what is ‘documented’ but what is actually done. Some honesty is required. For a tax return, map out in a flowchart how it goes from engagement to executing to finishing. See where the opportunities to expand or trim are.

Analyze looks at everything you discussed and measured and have an honest discussion about what needs to change. This is where conflict and slowdown can occur. If possible, start with deciding on changing one thing at a time if that’s what’s needed.

Improve has you looking at “what needs to change?” and beginning to implement. Let team members get adjusted to new workflows and processes. Work out the kinks here.

Control keeps a tight leash on your new implementations. When everyone can understand “why this new workflow is better than the old one” you get buy-in and excitement from the team.

To keep everyone accountable, Dustin recommends the leaders of the lean six sigma implementation should meet at least twice per year if not more. They should debrief on busy seasons and where processes messed up. Then, later in the year, have a get-together on refreshing everyone on the new processes. If team members start following back to old habits, it will be all for naught.

Common Mistakes When Implementing Lean Six Sigma:

There are a few common mistakes Dustin highlights that firms commit.

First, some partners go right to ‘improve’ in the 5 steps. They skip the first four steps perhaps because they just saw a new software or heard about a new product. The 5 steps are there to identify what improvements need to be made and are best for the team. Plus, it builds buy-in and support when the entire team addresses issues and goes through them. Going right to “improve” is hasty and typically results in bad execution and efforts that fizzle out.

Second, team members can fall into the trap of implementing ‘a la carte’ changes. They pick and choose what they want to change and what to keep. This is an “I” mindset not a team mindset. The lean six sigma process is to develop strong, efficient, profitable teams, not individual islands.

In the end, you’re trying to gain results. Those results should be faster workflow, more efficient processes, higher realization rates, and better profits. Also, your team develops better, you have more leverage overwork, and it utilizes the talents of your team the best.

If you have a question about lean six sigma, head over to Boomer Consulting and drop a note to Dustin.

Blake Oliver, once the CEO and Co-Founder of Cloudsourced Accounting, reveals how to get acquired in under 36 months based on his story.

Blake actually wanted to be a professional cellist, and instead went on to sell his accounting firm. This is an interesting story you won’t want to miss.
On this episode of the Growing Your Firm Podcast by Jetpack Workflow Software, David Cristello and Blake Oliver discuss:

• How Blake landed his first few clients which helps show you how to get acquired
• Challenges he faced while the team was growing
• How to managed client workflow and team communication

and much, much more!

ADDITIONAL LINKS:

• Blake’s Website
• HPC Website
• LINKEDIN – Blake Oliver
• How to generate your first 100 clients (interview)
• How to sell your accounting firm for 7 figures and beyond (interview)

How to Get Clients i.e. the fastest steps to how to get acquired

Blake Oliver, once the CEO and Co-founder of Cloudbased Accounting, didn’t go the traditional route. He wanted to be a musician and even majored in that arena. Then, to make a little money, he started working in a music store. While there, he happened to become the one to use Quickbooks and do the bookkeeping. He picked it up quick and each of his jobs going forward he managed to snag the bookkeeping gig there too.

He didn’t know it when he started, but he realized he enjoyed keeping the books. He started delving into the software and the apps out there. So, he decided to go back to school and get his CPA. While in school (again), he needed to make ends meet so he did some bookkeeping on the side. Quickly, he became frustrated with the software inefficiencies including having to drive to each client to use their desktop Quickbooks. Things were moving too slow for him!

That’s when he stumbled upon Xero and other cloud-based apps like Bills.com, etc. He found himself to be an advocate for Xero in their early days, and that translated to

Blake being featured as 1 of only 2 Xero bookkeepers in the country. As you can imagine, a sea of new clients flooded his door.

With all this new work, he dropped out of getting his CPA, found an old classmate on a similar accounting path, and launched Cloudbased Accounting.

Now, you might read this and think “oh, well I wish I was an early user of Xero.”

There are these type of opportunities all the time. Blake simply lays out the formula:

1. Understand the pains of the industry and actively search for new software solutions
2. Become an advocate for that plugin, add-on, enterprise software, whatever it is

These new tech companies are desperate for some attention. They’d happily feature you if you’re signing up new clients for them. 

DAVID’S TIP: Think about how you can become a first mover in the industry. Maybe it’s a technology, maybe it’s a new strategy. Where can you beat the pack? If you can get out in front, that will put you and your firm on the radar of dozens of new prospects.

Blake recommends looking at Xero add-ons and becoming an advocate for those companies. He’s doing that right now with his current company and it’s working.

The Growing Pains and Struggles of Building a Firm

If you plan on knowing how to get acquired in under 36 months, just know it’s no cake walk. Blake describes the fast influx of clients as “like building a boat while trying to row the boat.” It’s not easy at all. Yet, too many firms get complacent and sit on their hands while innovation takes over the industry. These innovations are where new clients can come from. 

To build his firm, Blake recommends getting a co-founder. Preferably, someone who complements your skill set, not someone with the same skillset. As mentioned before, there were so many clients coming inbound from Xero and his advocacy efforts that he had to grow quickly to capture the opportunity. He was onboarding clients while implementing new systems, then also hiring on top of that.

His team grew so fast, they got to a dozen people in under 24 months. That’s about one new hire every other month.

If you’re curious about the hiring process, it was rapid fire. Blake says they made plenty of bad hires, including hiring accountants with too many years of experience. These years of experience translated into someone stubborn to learn new things. Blake found fresh, inexperienced college graduates to be best due to their flexibility in learning. Plus, they also knew and understood technology better. 

The best recruits didn’t come from job boards. Actually, the best came from recommendations from team members. That makes sense. A person comes in recommended which means they’re already vetted beforehand.

How to Manage Client Workflow and Communication:

For communications within the firm, they use Slack.com. They have multiple channels where they discuss the different issues. Each client has their one accountant that is their ‘go-to.’ Say the accountant has a tech question. They simply open up the ‘tech channel’ in Slack, drop in their question and wait for the rest of the team to respond. The accountant then relays the answer back to the client. Much easier than the client having to juggle multiple team members. Keep it simple.

Today, they still get a lot of Xero leads through the new company he works with. Although, he expects Xero to make changes to location-based algorithms and thus will give up-and-coming Xero bookkeepers an opportunity to secure new clients.

He recommends to get a steady stream of clients to go all-in on being an advocate for the technologies you use. Then, reach out to those technologies and let them know what you’re doing. Those can lead to features which could lead to clients which could let to the first steps to how to get acquired. 

The Positions in Your Firm That Will Be DEAD in the Coming Years: 

Blake sees accounting moving to a more ‘client services’ destination. Bookkeepers will go by the wayside as manual entries will be gone. Also, he sees technical firms who just do compliance to fold up shop.

Why?

Because clients today want a one-stop-shop for all their financial needs. They don’t want a bookkeeper in one company, a CFO in another, and a compliance person in another, then a wealth manager.

Blake believes you should have the mindset of: “Everything my client needs financially, I want to be the first call they make.” 

Technology, as mentioned, is on the rise. Clients need more firms knowing about these technologies and putting them to work. When Blake started automating his bookkeeping and accounting, he didn’t lower his fee. Instead, he found new ways to help his clients. That’s what the clients out there expect now.

Blake learned all this fast, and he had to. But, those are the steps he took and the ones you can take if you’re looking for how to get acquired fast.