Starting from scratch and iterating as you go
“These tasks might only take a couple of minutes, but it's a couple of minutes every time you do it. It's those little things that just made it a no-brainer to sign up to Ignition.”
- Jeremy Wells, Owner, JWellsCFO
When Jeremy Wells set up his boutique firm JWellsCFO in 2017, he initially had the support of a mentor whose firm handled all his billing and administration. But when it came time to manage things himself, he had one question on his mind: How do I make sure I still get paid?
“I had never owned a business before. I didn't know anything about pricing, billing, invoicing, or anything like that.”
Jeremy needed a tool that was going to cover more than just invoicing.
“I needed something that was going to fill what seemed to me like a huge gap: from discovery call all the way to payment. And Ignition did that fairly seamlessly.”
Ignition gave him a solid framework to start with, and being new to business, Jeremy initially opted to stick with the default options. But with each client interaction, Jeremy reviewed and refined each step of his processes, optimizing his templates, workflows and automations to create a system that worked for his clients and his business.
“Ignition really forced me to intentionally think about not just the services I’m offering a particular client, but how am I building my entire firm out.”
Jeremy now has a subscription-based model, a payment method that works for his business as well as his mostly younger clientele, who are no strangers to subscriptions.
“I don't really think of billing per service, I think of billing for the relationship. I don’t want my clients to feel like they have a bill hanging over them, or they're locked in for a certain amount of time. So for me, the subscription model has always made the most sense.”
Now that he has the foundations in place, Jeremy is building out his workflows, making use of Ignition’s integration features to connect his business systems and automate tedious tasks.
“These tasks might only take a couple of minutes, but it's a couple of minutes every time you do it. It's those little things that just made it a no-brainer to sign up to Ignition.”
It’s never too late: Unravelling 25 years of ‘old school’ processes
“Automating payments has set me free to do better work for my clients. The cost of collecting is now a fraction of what I used to pay for a full-time person.”
- Heather Retsky, Heather Retsky Tax Prep
Having learnt the ropes in a family-run accountancy business, the traditional ways of doing things were firmly ingrained in Heather Retsky’s DNA.
“I worked for 25 years in an old school firm. We did no automation whatsoever, if we needed something done, we hired someone to do it.”
When she decided to break away from the family business and build her own firm Heather Retsky Tax Prep, she knew she wanted to do things differently.
However, even a small change like moving from hard copy to email invoices “really rocked the boat” with her clients, so Heather was understandably hesitant about moving to automated monthly payments. Thankfully, it turned out her worries were unfounded.
“99.9% of my clientele got totally on board with the new automated payment system. They love it. It's very easy for them.”
With Ignition’s automated payment collections, Heather has streamlined her process and managed to completely eliminate accounts receivable.
“We used to spend hours collecting payments, and our success rate was not very good. The cost of collecting is now a fraction of what I used to pay for a full-time person.”
It’s also given Heather the freedom to focus on better serving her clients and planning for future growth.
“Automating payments has set me free to do better work for my clients. I’m not spending my time trying to collect payments. Instead, I can focus on bringing on more staff, investing in new equipment, or planning phase two of my new firm.”
Building on existing processes to make payment a breeze
“Ignition helped set us apart from the competition. Clients find it really easy and appreciate not having a big year-end bill.”
- Kristen Keats, Owner, Sherwood Tax & Accounting
When Kristen Keats bought Sherwood Tax & Accounting in 2020, she was pleasantly surprised to see there were already some cutting-edge strategies in the works. As well as other software and apps, the firm had started using Ignition with a small number of clients.
When Kristen took the reins she decided to go all in on the platform, fully integrating Ignition’s tools and features into the business. And one of the first areas of focus was payments.
With the help of Ignition’s clear proposals and automated payment features, Kristen was able to shift her clients from invoices and checks to an automated, fee-based business model that has put payments on autopilot and helped her grow her client base.
“Ignition helped set us apart from the competition. Clients find it really easy and appreciate not having a big year-end bill.”
Although she was concerned the change might be too much for her clients who were accustomed to paying by check, it turned out to be a positive move.
“Getting a proposal upfront is much more transparent than waiting for a bill to come in and pay with a check. It's better for us and I think ultimately it's a better experience for the clients.”
For Kristen, the transition was made that much easier with Ignition’s expert support behind her.
“The support that we've received from Ignition has been above and beyond. Having access to the Ignition community on Slack has been a huge benefit to us too.”
No matter where you are in your business journey, Ignition can help. Get paid on time, every time and say goodbye to debtors with Ignition’s automated payments. Start your 14 day free trial today.
