Secrets to Scaling From the Startup Accounting Firm of the Year

Podcast

Summary

• Networking Leads to Success
• Educating Clients and Building Credibility 
• Growing a Well-Run Team

How to Connect:

• Visit https://www.allinadvisory.com.au
• Find All In Advisory on LinkedIn
• Connect with Aly on LinkedIn

Aly Garrett: Founder of All In Advisory

Aly Garrett, founder of All In Advisory has seen massive success, winning Start-Up Firm of the Year and finding a place on the top 50 cloud accounting list and the top 50 women in accounting list. She contributes the vast majority of her achievements to the way she connects with clients and continuously builds her network.

In this episode, Aly gives us insight into how networking leads to success, how she educates clients and builds credibility, and how she grew a well-run team.

Networking Leads to Success

In October of 2018, Aly started All In Advisory. She experienced early success by focusing on advisory, transactional bookkeeping, and cloud integration. She wanted to offer a “full gamut” of resources to her clients, existing to empower businesses to achieve their why through innovation and technology. Her approach to creating good, trusting relationships with her clients resonated on both ends, allowing her to fulfill her promise to them and let the customer feel like they were in good hands. 

Within one year, All In Advisory had met its five-year goals. Aly contributes the majority of her early success to her relationship with clients from previous positions and her strong network. Because her story resonates so well with people looking for the services she provides, she was averaging one new client a day. 

When meeting with potential clients, Aly liked to lead with “the why;” asking them why they were in business and explaining how her services can meet their needs. She credits talking with her clients as if they were partners instead of just their accountants as a large contributor to her strong relationships. The referrals from other accountants and colleagues came flooding in, and soon All In Advisory quickly became a very well-known and credible accounting firm.

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Once Aly makes her initial contact with potential clients, she wants to grow that connection. She does so by hosting workshops. These workshops are free and bring people in so she can help them work through the basics. She noted that more often than not, business owners don’t know the basics of accounting, and if they do, they don’t know why it matters. Aly found that once she helps the business owners who attend her workshops understand the basics, they also understand why it is important to work with All In Advisory. 

Social media has been the driver behind finding people to attend her workshops. She says that posting regularly, even if there isn’t much interaction with your page, keeps your business fresh in the mind of potential connections, so when they do need you, they know where to find you. 

In addition to providing free information, Aly mentions the importance of winning awards. This creates more brand awareness, builds credibility, and places a spotlight on your business within the members of your community.

Growing a Well-Run Team

All In Advisory experienced tremendous growth within the first year, and Aly wanted to be sure she was prepared to handle the current and future growth that was to come. To do so, she focused heavily on setting systems and processes into place. This meant relying on technology and automation to drive her business. Taking this extra step meant Aly didn’t have to hire an admin until after the first year the firm was in business; 150 clients later. 

Setting up these systems and processes was Aly’s way of practicing what she was preaching to her clients. She wanted to be proof that automating and having these tools in place was the proper way to run a successful business. This built trust and allowed her to delay making hires until she absolutely had to. 

Once she started making hires, she also began outsourcing companies to help her business run more smoothly. Currently, each team member also has an outsourced support member helping them with their day-to-day work. When starting All In Advisory, it was important to Aly that each team member was doing the right level of work, and outsourcing is how she is upholding that goal. 

Another way she helps support her team is by creating 12-week plans with each member. During these meetings, they discuss everything from their “why,” their 12-week professional goals, and their 12-week personal goals. Because connecting with clients on this level is an important piece of her business, she believes it is equally important to make these connections with her team members as well. 

With a rapidly growing business and a family, Aly highlighted the importance of determining what is important and then setting boundaries and using resources to help keep those things at the forefront.

Overall, Aly has shown how networking can lead to rapid growth, how educating clients and building credibility maximizes success, and the importance of growing a well-run team. To learn more about All In Advisory, including how they found their niche, set their prices, and structure their team, listen to the podcast linked above!