Partnerships in the accounting profession are a hot topic these days, given the rise of new and improved applications, there are more opportunities for accountants to work with these companies to help them educate other professionals, too.
A large number of these programs also offer a partner program. Affiliate partner programs, in particular, are fabulous because they don’t cost your clients anything—and they can put some extra money back to your bottom line! Beyond these more traditional partnership opportunities, for those of us who enjoy developing our personal brands as contributors to our profession there are many ways to work with these partners by sitting on their advisory boards and providing expertise at conferences and online through content and webinars.
Although the idea of accounting profession “influencers” is relatively new and trendy, from my experience working with partners for almost two decades, I believe that the most important thing in developing these relationships is to have a solid understanding of the solutions you partner with and, in most cases, to actually use them in your firm.
This is the way that I have built my Team Brolin Starting Lineup tech stack for accounting firms and for entrepreneurs as well as the Team Brolin Playing Field (you can see them here.). These are all 100 percent based on what I believe are the best of breed solutions and the specific technology “positions” every firm needs.
The reason why I have a softball theme is not because it is “cute,” but because I believe the same strategy you can use to build an amazing softball team can also be employed to structure the technology ecosystem for your accounting firm (and for your clients’ businesses).
A Closer Look at Partnership Opportunities
A question I am often asked is, how do you find the time to look at all of the technology solutions you do? For me, that’s part of what helps me remain competitive and continually improve and expand my role as an advisor to clients. For those solutions you select which also have a partner program, the commissions you receive will compensate you for the time involved in implementation, training, and support.
As an example, one of the best solution partners I have ever been involved with is ADP. Yes, “Big Red” as they are lovingly nicknamed by some of their employees is a key part of my Starting LineUp. Here is why:
When you first get started in business, you kind of do anything to make money. In the beginning, Powerful Accounting was offering bookkeeping and in-house payroll services. But I quickly realized that payroll was not my friend. It ties you down—every quarter, you have to make sure those tax returns are completed and that they’re done correctly, and all the payments are being made. If you’re doing payroll in multiple states, you’ve got to know the ins and outs of every local, city and state tax. And then there’s all the compliance headaches!
I realized years ago that I didn’t want to be an expert in payroll. For a long time, I was referring my clients to whatever payroll service made the most sense for their needs and accounting software.
We mostly lived in the Intuit ecosystem. But we would run into problems with support. Most payroll products don’t have great support—this is not a secret.
The reality is, notices for payroll are inevitable, and when the client gets a notice, they come to me— not the payroll provider. If the provider doesn’t have a centralized location for handling notices, it becomes a nightmare for the accountant.
With some companies, all you can do is email the notices, and they end up in a black hole somewhere, and it practically takes an act of Congress to get somebody to give you an answer. For me, the ADP® Accountant Connect program allows me to outsource my clients’ payroll without sacrificing control, and the ADP Accountant Revenue Share Incentive Program provides ongoing revenue to compensate for whatever time I dedicate to it.
How do I know the signs of a strong partnership? Culture is one of the important things I look at, beyond the solution itself. Along with this is the level of service they provide our firm and our clients. Once I can check these boxes, I feel like I can confidently advocate for the solution as part of The Team Brolin Playing Field or Starting Lineup.
Working with Sponsors as an Influencer
Over the past 20-plus years that I have been working as an accounting professional, I have given countless (literally thousands) of interviews, delivered at least as many webinars, done endless hours of consulting, and contributed tons of content. I love the opportunity to share new knowledge and ideas as well as help other practitioners out!
These days, most of what I do is generally paid endeavors, but there is definitely value in unpaid speaking, publishing, subject matter expert opportunities when you are building your personal brand. And you can also develop classes and courses for events and for your own platform.
You can work with technology vendors, associations, other sponsors, schools, for conferences, and webinars, and you can use these as stepping stones for the next level of impact you wish to have through paid endorsements as I mentioned above.
I think the biggest advice I can give you when forging sponsorships and partner alliances is this: if you create your authentic voice, curriculum, and actually put in the work, you will be successful. Sponsors should not be viewed as short-term revenue generators because there is a two-way investment to consider.
Sponsors want our brains and experience, we want to amplify our message, to help more people, and hopefully monetize our knowledge in the process. From accounting technology to practice management, and other compliance or visionary topics, you can make an impact and earn income with these types of partnerships and sponsorships.
Often, you just need to ask a platform or a sponsor to see where you might be able to fit into their education/editorial calendar and the best alignment with what their audiences want. Consider AccountingWEB a great place to start!
