CFO Chronicles: The Secrets Behind Success

Elevate Your Earnings: Sarah Elliott Webb’s Revolutionary Strategies for Financial Harmony

• James Donovan • Season 1 • Episode 13

Share episode

Unlock the secrets to financial growth and harmonious business relationships with our special guest, Sarah Webb, the visionary founder of Webb CFO. Sarah takes us through her transformative journey from her beginnings at PricewaterhouseCoopers and a pharmaceutical company to becoming a successful fractional CFO catering to the private medical and legal sectors. You'll hear about the pivotal moments that led her to identify the crucial need for strategic financial planning in small enterprises and how this inspired her to establish Webb CFO. Sarah shares her expertise on helping business owners craft forward-thinking financial strategies that go beyond the basics of bookkeeping and tax preparation, ensuring that their financial goals align with their business aspirations.

Join us as we explore the "web way" of nurturing business relationships with empathy and effective communication. Sarah offers invaluable insights from "Crucial Conversations" training, teaching how to handle challenging dialogues with poise, thus maintaining a drama-free workplace. We'll discuss practical strategies for setting boundaries and nurturing accountability, all while avoiding the pitfalls of micromanagement. Plus, discover her savvy approach to pricing for new clients, starting with an hourly rate during initial cleanups and transitioning to fixed fees as client needs become clearer. Packed with actionable advice and real-world experiences, this episode is a must-listen for anyone eager to refine their approach to business growth and client relations.

Send us a text

Feeling stuck in your growth? Discover how to elevate your marketing, personal brand, and sales approach to attract clients who value your expertise.

Ready to make a shift?

Book your strategy call today at accountingleadsnow.com

Speaker 1:

Welcome to CFO Chronicles the secrets behind success the go-to podcast for fractional CFOs and accounting firm owners who want to attract more high-paying clients and increase their revenue. Hosted by James Donovan from Nine Two Media, this podcast dives into marketing strategies specifically designed for lead generation and client acquisition. In each episode, you'll hear from industry leaders sharing their success stories and Thank you to your bottom line.

Speaker 2:

Good morning. This morning we're joined by Sarah Webb from Webb CFO. Sarah, I'm really looking forward to this conversation. I can't wait to hear what Webb CFO is all about, how you help your clients who you work with. For those who don't know who you are, do you mind giving a quick introduction for yourself?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, my name is Sarah Webb and I run a fractional CFO practice. I'm based in Fort Worth, texas, but we serve clients across the country. We're primarily in the private medical space and in law offices, but work with professionals of all types.

Speaker 2:

Awesome. How did you get into this space? Fractional CFO is a hot hot topic. Now. There's a lot more firms transitioning to this, but how did you get started?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, so when I was a baby accountant, I worked at PricewaterhouseCoopers and I did tax returns and that was not my gifting. I did not love that. And so then I went and worked with a pharmaceutical company for about 10 years and had amazing experiences, traveled the world and did lots of different things, and that's really where I got my finance chops. So working at Price Waterhouse it's very historical, right, you're always like one year behind and that's great. All that information has to be good, but forecasting and cash flow management. I really saw the other side of that when I was working for the large pharmaceutical company and I decided in 2015 to leave there.

Speaker 3:

At that time they were small, but I have two children. They're now older and traveling the world is really hard with small children and so I went and worked with a small family owned business for about 18 months. I knew that it wasn't going to necessarily be my long term, but it's just kind of a landing spot. And that is when I was like what in the world is going on here? They had lines of credit and different accounts and you had to move things to make payroll, and when you're used to working for a really large company, you never worry about if your payroll is going to be made Like you're just as an employee. It's just going to show up and it's going to happen. And so it was that experience and they were a great company.

Speaker 3:

But there was just so much happening that was intense and they were so small and they hadn't had a professional at my level before and I'm like, hey, I think we need to call a timeout, like what's the budget?

Speaker 3:

And they're like, oh, we've never made a budget before or we've never had a forecast, and I'm really kind of bringing the maturity of their accounting to the next level. And when I decided to leave there, I said, well, there's gotta be other organizations that also they don't have the resources to hire a full-time person and they don't really need a full-time person, but they need someone. And so that was really in 2018 is when I launched Web CFO. That was before the pandemic and people were like, oh, you were, you called it web because you're all you know, it's all virtual. And I'm like, well, that's also my last name. So that was really how we got started and just really seeing a need in my community of really great small businesses, but they didn't have the financial maturity to be forward looking every. They just did their tax return and they thought that was enough, for you know accounting, if you will.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, Very cool. That's a interesting play on words. Did you? Were you thinking about?

Speaker 3:

No, I wasn't thinking no, I wasn't thinking about that. I was just like, oh, let's just, this is my last name, this is what I'm going to do. You know, there, we, there, we have it, it's done.

Speaker 2:

Cool, that is something we see so much of. What you just touched on is business owners. They yeah, I have a bookkeeper, I have an accountant, we're all set, yeah, but you're getting a lot of things that have happened in the past taken care of. There's no one on your side with the forward thinking and doing your future projections. How do you communicate that message and that value to new prospects that you're hoping to sign on as clients?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, I think the value conversation is. You know, look, that historical data is incredibly important. You have to have it accurate, and that is helpful to make forward-looking decisions. You have to have your tax return done. Your bookkeeping and accounting needs to be up to date, but that's the boring stuff, and I want to work with people who are into the fun stuff, and the fun stuff for me is that growth. What are you going to do with that information? How is that going to change your business? Or what are you struggling with? Because you've told me you want to pay yourself more, or you've told me you need another new hire, but that's not what your numbers are telling me, and so let's have this actual conversation of this is what's happening in reality and this is what you want to do, and, as the CFO, I'm going to either work to make a plan to connect those or I'm going to reset your reality and we're going to reset some goals.

Speaker 2:

It's so important because, yeah, businesses are missing the mark on that and there's such a huge demand and need for what you're doing and I think, just too many business owners right now they just don't know what they don't know and unfortunately it can be a bit of a challenge communicating that value over to people. Flipping the script a little bit when you first got started, how were you finding new businesses to work?

Speaker 3:

with. I have some smaller businesses that we still work with. That were some of our very first clients and it was word of mouth and it was this business owner, oh, sarah, was able to help me with this and I was like, okay, and I would. Even at that time, at the beginning, yes, I was virtual, I did not have an office, but for some clients I would go to their site once a week and so that was very centric to where you know the radius of where I live. I can only go so far.

Speaker 3:

But through that, through some of those great experiences and my network at the pharmaceutical company I had, once I started doing it and posting on LinkedIn about a little bit more about what I was doing, I had some of my previous contacts reach out to me and they're like, hey, like I know that I'm in Michigan, but I kind of actually need some help. And I'm like, okay, well, that I mean, yes, I'm in Texas, that's okay. Do you use Zoom? Do you have cloud-based accounting? And they're like, yeah, and I'm like, okay, so for a lot of times, for our clients who are out of state, we will do some initial onboarding in person or I'll go there every six months, you know, for one or two day strategy sessions, because there is so much value of meeting in person but a lot of it is, you know, let's meet and then we go back and work on something, and so that that was really my initial connections, just being an accountant and people knowing like, oh, she's taking on people or she's helped me. That was how it started.

Speaker 3:

And then now, you know, because we are working with clients across the country and primarily in the physician space, you know they're like, oh, they go to national meetings or their state meetings and they're like, oh, I don't have to worry about my cashflow, I get, I have web CFO. So every Thursday I get a list of what's going to be paid. Like, I don't, I don't lose any sleep about that. And you know the other doctor is like, oh, my gosh, what, like? Who is this person? And so we have a great referral network, we have great clients, we have a no-jerk policy, so we filter out people that just aren't a good fit for us. And you know, our clients want to refer us because they feel so much more confident in their finances and they see their peers and their friends and they want that for them too.

Speaker 2:

That's great. That's great Is referral. Are you strictly referral based or do you have some other hooks in the water?

Speaker 3:

We're developing some other hooks in the water. I am I've been appointed to like a practice management National Committee of Practice Management for certain types of physicians, and so I'm now speaking more and leaving my house more, but you know it is still primarily referral based. We've got some hooks on some other things. Most of the referrals that come directly through our website. You know they're not a good fit for us, but we love we have a. You know we have other accountants that we like working with and, depending on their size or their industry, we're able to refer those out to other great people as well. So we do. We do get some inflow. We haven't seen a lot of great. They're not always a good fit, right. It's part of the selection process and it's almost like dating. You know it's a matching process and so we're trying to match where our expertise is but also what the client that's so important that you also vetting who you want to work with.

Speaker 2:

Not just they have a credit card and they said they need our service. But I'm guessing it, it may have not always been like that, where when you're first getting started, you know cash is really important to run a business. It's the lifeline. So at what point in your business were you able to get over that hump where you're like you know what? We actually have a lot of control. Now we can choose who we want to be working with.

Speaker 3:

Yep. So, like I said, in 2018 is when I started and I did everything you needed. I have a hair salon, I have an auto repair shop. They wouldn't be our ideal clients today, but we love working with them and they know they're not our specialty, but we just have such a great relationship. We keep working with them. But yes, that was probably 2022, 2023.

Speaker 3:

So four to five years in, I mean, again, we were going through a pandemic and there was a lot of uncertainty. So at that beginning, 2018, 2019, it really was like I'll just do anything. 2020 was like I just need to survive and help my clients get through all of these different programs. 2021, we became a little bit more selective, but really in 2022, if you weren't fitting certain categories or willing to make a monthly investment of a certain amount, then we helped you find someone else.

Speaker 3:

But at that very beginning stage, my goal was to make some money. I needed to work. I needed to make X amount of money per week. That meant I needed to work this many hours. That means I met this many clients and I and I just had these like micro goals of okay, this is what it's going to be every single week and in that first year I started kind of in March or April and I don't do tax returns, so March and April is kind of a weird time to start. But everyone was mad at their tax preparer or their bookkeeper because they didn't have complete financial. So that was a good time to get started. But by the end of that first year I had two employees and so there were three of us within a nine month period.

Speaker 2:

That's awesome. That's really cool. Sarah, what are some of the biggest lessons you've learned as an entrepreneur over the last six or so years that have really shaped your business and who you are now?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, I think you know, dealing with people is hard. I always say business would be easy if we didn't deal with people, and that includes clients and employees. I mean I've worked with some clients in some really difficult circumstances. There's been fraud, there's been bankruptcy, there's been divorce and there's, you know, even though it's business, it's been fraud, there's been bankruptcy, there's been divorce and there's, you know, even though it's business, it's still personal, like I still, you know I know my client's name, I know which dog is barking on, zoom. I know their kids, like I'm in relationship with people and so, even though we're doing their finances, it's still very personal. And for a lot of our clients being, I mean, they have to be honest with me because I'm going to find it and basically audit them Right, I'm going to be like what is going on here? You know it's a it's a very trusting and open relationship because I can see what's happening, like you really can't hide a lot of what's going on. So I think that is just.

Speaker 3:

I worry for our clients, like when they're not doing well financially or they're not meeting their goals. I've really had to set some boundaries and sometimes I have to repeat to myself their problems are not your problems and like because I care so deeply about their performance and on the employee side, it's hard. It's, it's hard. I call it the web way because I haven't come up with anything else clever. I'm like, okay, well, the web way of doing this is every bill has an attachment. You know, like you think you do all this training and you have all these programs and I don't know written SOPs, but it's still hard to, as a business owner, to let go of that and trust other people to do that. But also building a mechanism of how do you check that they're actually doing what they're supposed to be doing without auditing them or going over every single transaction? So I mean people, people on both sides, it's just.

Speaker 2:

I think it's human nature. Yeah, that's. That's interesting. I think you're onto something with the web way. I don't know what the W could be, but every bill you know, then there's the B at the end, so you might have a good acronym to work with the web way. It's so true, though, that, yeah, business would be way easier if it was, you know, just yourself, and you would do the thing and you didn't have to interact with anyone, but that's, that's not how business works. What, what? Have been some good learning lessons for you that you have? I mean, obviously, you're successful. You've been doing this for over six years now, so you have had to deal with clients. You have had to deal with team members. Is there anything you can share to those who are listening, who might be going through some of those struggles right now that you've already been through that ditch?

Speaker 3:

I tell myself I'm paid quote the big bucks right To have the difficult conversations and I try to prepare for those and that's with the clients and employees and whatever the situation. More than a decade, maybe two decades ago, I went through the training called Crucial Conversations and I still reference the book. I still implement a lot of those things and I try to have a conversation. I try to prepare for the difficult conversations and sometimes maybe you're in the heat of the moment and you're not as prepared as you want to be, so I try to draw that back.

Speaker 3:

I think delay, send or save to draft is like a thing that everyone should use. When I'm in the heat of the moment, I'm really angry about something, whatever it is, I really try to like get that out on paper and then hit save. I don't, don't put the person's name in the toolbox, don't even put it there, because you'll accidentally hit send and then come back to it the next day. I really try to check. I really try to check my emotions, because I don't want to overreact or underreact. I want to be calm and thoughtful about things and I think you know that's contributing to a drama-free workplace and really being a trusted advisor for our clients.

Speaker 2:

That's so wise to hit. You know, save and draft first and check your emotions. The first guest we had on the show, william Attaway, my mindset and leadership coach. He always says you know, emotions are great, but they're a great passenger in the car and if you let them drive it, you know you're going to hit more ditches. So that sounds like you're implementing that exact thing Hit, save, look at it again. Is this the message I really want to communicate? And if so, then hit, send. I really like that.

Speaker 3:

Well, and I mean I, I last week I got so angry over something, I had to take a walk and I came back and I was like, I think I'm just hungry or I need some water, like there are cases where I'm like, ok, I, if I had responded to that in the moment, I would have been in the wrong, because it really wasn't that big a deal.

Speaker 2:

That's that's also so important to get up and go for a walk. I've learned the hard way and repeated the same mistake over and over more times than I care to admit, that I should have just got up and left the desk before hitting enter or send on that message. And I'm better now, but I'm definitely not where I know I need to be. But it's, it's getting better.

Speaker 3:

We're all on a journey. I mean, yeah, I don't think we're ever going to have it perfected.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, 100%, something I try to ask a lot of guests who come on the show, sarah, and you don't have to give away all of your secrets, but how do you determine pricing for new prospects you're speaking to? We've heard a couple of different strategies from people, but I'm curious you know how it works at web?

Speaker 3:

Well, the web way. So what we? For the first 90 days, we're always on an hourly basis. There's just too much cleanup, there's too much uncertainty. A lot of times our clients think they're in decent shape and they're not, or it's even worse than they think that it is. And so we just we we do not work on a fixed fee during the first 90 days. After the 90 days, if you're in a good spot and sometimes it goes to 120, but like you feel, like you're clean up, we know what's happening, we know what you need we will pause and determine a fixed fee.

Speaker 3:

Some of our clients love a fixed fee, so they know exactly what that is.

Speaker 3:

And then some of our clients they're going through so much growth they're adding new entities, adding more employees, adding more transactions that we mutually agree to keep them on an hourly basis.

Speaker 3:

We give them a range like this is what we think that the budget is going to be on a monthly basis, and if we get out of whack we're definitely going to talk to you. But we're really working with high growth companies. I have one client it's like they're entering a new state. It feels like every six weeks, and so we work on a registration and I just decided you know everyone is wanting to be value priced slash fixed fee on a monthly basis and that does work for some of our clients, but a majority of them are in just such high growth phase that that's that's not a good fit for them or for us. I will say most of our clients are spending in excess of $5,000 a month with us, so they're not a $500 bookkeeping client. You know they're working on some really big great things and you know those again, those are the exciting things to be working on.

Speaker 2:

That's really cool. Appreciate you sharing that. Yeah, are you doing all of the sales for the company right now?

Speaker 3:

I'm doing a majority of the sales. We've tested some of that. One of our managers wants to get out there and do things and she's had some success and that is awesome, but she also has some health conditions and things that are limiting her right now. So primarily I am the salesperson. But I do find that if I'm able to bring our managers on either in the first or second call with pitching or introducing to the client, I'm not having to deliver near as much work as I used to because I'm bringing in that trusted partner right away and we have great managers. There's generally nothing that I'm doing that they can't do. It is hard to transition if I don't introduce them right away because they're like you're our person, I'm like well, actually this other teammate has been doing it all along and I wasn't giving them the credit maybe that I should. So I do think that was really 2020 and 2021 where I really tucked that manager in with us much earlier in the conversations and the relationship.

Speaker 2:

The handoff is so important. I've done a lot of the sales for our company as well, and for the longest time, very similar to you, I shied away from handing the client off to other team members. So now I'm doing a better job with that transition to our head of client success and it's great because now you know there's a lot more time for you, for me. I can focus on other things as well, and I do love the sales conversations with new clients, but I'm so happy that I finally got over that hump of, yeah, someone else can help with this and they can probably do a better job than I was doing before, but it is uncomfortable when you first do that.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, maybe there's going to be a few failures. I I view business really. Business is just a big experiment, like what is working and what, what doesn't. And because I've been doing this for six years, right Like at the beginning, I don't want to say desperate, but you're just so focused on getting those first few clients. Now we have we have more bandwidth and we have more capacity to experiment a little bit more where we didn't at the beginning, and so sometimes things don't work out, and that's okay too. Sometimes on those sales calls I'm like, darn it, I really wanted to work with that person and they might come back a year later or six months later. The rate of selling CFO services is not the same as selling a tax return or monthly bookkeeping. It's a different relationship and so it's a higher price, right, so there's more decision making. It's not just this turnkey product.

Speaker 2:

Is there any single piece of advice you can give everyone who's listening for selling $5,000 a month services? Because I'm assuming a handful of people listening might feel intimidated by that price point, but ultimately sales doesn't really change depending on what the number is. But I'm curious if you have any one piece or a couple of pieces of advice that would stand out.

Speaker 3:

I think a piece of advice that was given to me is you know, sell a thousand dollar package, oh, wow, that that actually wasn't as hard as I thought it was. And I have high confidence in my value that we're delivering to clients. We change people's lives and we we have testimonies and we have stories and we can. We can, literally we. Yes, we're expensive, but we are making that money three and four fold of what we're delivering to the client, and so I feel very confident in that. That is hard to get confident in. And so to me I'm like, okay, I'm going to sell that $1,000 package, oh gosh, wow, that was, that was easy, you know. Then I said, okay, it's going to be $2,500, you know, and I'm delivering that value and kind of inching, inching it up.

Speaker 3:

And so I think I think, starting small, like you're not going to go from a $500 bookkeeping package to $5,000 a month, but look at what you can offer. You know, do you need to be meeting with the client more regularly? Give, give them value, which you're, honestly, for most accountants, you're giving them that value already, like you're already you know that 15 minute call that saved them 50,000 on something. You're already giving away that value. You just need to be able to capture it in. However you bill, whether that's hourly or packages, or you know you're already doing it You're already doing a lot of the work. Whether you just need to be able, it needs to be visible to your client and have them also understand the value of that.

Speaker 2:

Perfect. That's sound advice, Sarah, for those listening. How can they get in touch with you?

Speaker 3:

no-transcript. If you're looking for people in the medical or legal space, I'd love to connect because we love to pass those off to other great peoples. We love working with other great providers.

Speaker 2:

Perfect. I'll make sure your website gets in the in the show description. Sarah, thank you so much for coming on today and sharing all of this knowledge in your story.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, absolutely Thank you for having me and sharing all of this knowledge in your story. Yeah, absolutely Thank you for having me.

Speaker 1:

Thanks for listening to CFO Chronicles the secrets behind success. We hope today's episode provided valuable strategies to help you attract more high paying clients. Be sure to subscribe, follow and share with fellow professionals. Connect with us on LinkedIn and leave a review or comment to join the conversation. Your feedback helps us bring you the best insights in finance and marketing. Until next time, keep striving for success and unlocking your business's potential.