For the second week in a row Ron and Ed welcomed practitioners who are changing their business models. This week they spoke with Susan Bryant and Janet Haston, principals of The MB Group about their jettisoning the billable hour in January of this year. The conversation provided insight into the effects on the firm, particularly the relationships with customers and among the team members at The MB Group.
Before we get to the show notes, here is a bit more about both Susan and Janet…
Susan Bryant's passion is to transform businesses and the lives of their owners by professionalizing the finance function in their organizations. This looks different for every business/owner and can encompass everything from designing and implementing efficient, effective and disciplined accounting processes to developing highly-customized strategic tax plans as well as the many, many things in between. She works with business owners whose mindset is focused on building the company of their dreams and they do that by leveraging the knowledge, expertise and resources at the firm to propel their organizations forward.
Raised by two teachers, Janet approaches every client’s individual tax needs with the heart of an educator. Her goal is to ensure each client has the insight and confidence to make the best financial decisions for their business or family. At MBG, she oversees all tax services as well as providing tax consulting when complex issues arise. Presenting creative tax solutions is one of Janet's favorite ways to help her clients succeed. Away from work, Janet loves spending time with her husband, children, and grandchildren.
Here are the show notes. Use them to follow along with the audio.
Susan and Janet trashed their timesheet as of 2022. How is it going? Great! There are some complexities with abandoning the traditional firm mindset.
“It’s kind of liberating because we don’t have to account for every 15 minutes of the day.” —Susan and Janet
We’ve completely eliminated what was a mind boggling amount of time. We’ve simplified it, streamlined it, and really gotten back some of our time.
Not having to track time has forced us to think about what we are really doing for our clients. We are more thoughtful and intentional about the work we are trying to create for the client.
What has been the reaction from the staff at MB Group after ditching the timesheet? Two words. “Thank you.”
Susan and Janet can think of one person for which the billable hour was difficult to walk away from. The rest of the MB Group staff understood that there were some things to figure out and that training would be needed. Overall, it was absolutely a net positive (see the prior tweets today).
Regarding the billable hour: We can go back to 2012 and see what I was doing down to the 15 minute interval. That’s crazy! What other job makes you do that?
From marketing to internal auditing to public accounting. That’s quite a path for Susan!
Janet didn’t start her career until in her 30s. She started with a big four and it was a very natural transition for her.
“One advantage of trashing time sheets: Humanizing work” — That’s the title of the INC Magazine article written about Susan, Janet, and the MB Group! https://www.inc.com/magazine/202205/lindsay-blakely/the-mb-group-employee-benefits.html
Susan felt quite a bit of microagression and talked about it in the INC article: “I've been in situations where the partners wouldn't even look at me or introduce me to the clients," Bryant says. "You don't exist."
Susan is listening to a book right now called “Machiavelli for Women” — link is here https://www.amazon.com/Machiavelli-Women-Playbook-Getting-Ahead/dp/1982121750
“We just want to give an opportunity to everyone based on the opportunities we did NOT have.” —Susan and Janet
At one point, someone was spending 10 hours a week at MB Group tracking PTO. Now Susan and Janet have “flex PTO” which is effectively unlimited PTO.
Susan and Janet’s path towards value pricing all started with a podcast. Help the ones you love who are stuck in a billable hour relationship and tell them about The Soul of Enterprise.
Standardizing on packages is the way that MB Group pitches clients now. They talk about what is included and what is not included. But they don’t talk about hours anymore.
The original podcast that turned Susan and Janet on to value pricing was from Ryan Lazanis, a former TSOE guest! https://www.thesoulofenterprise.com/tsoe/lazanis
“They care about our business and they care about us as people.” That is how customers view MB Group now because they have moved into a more trusted role.
How do you know if you are making any money on this customer without timesheets? Susan and Janet refer to The Firm of The Future for their business metrics. https://www.amazon.com/Firm-Future-Accountants-Professional-Services/dp/0471264245
What does the future hold for MB Group? They are figuring out who they work best with and avoiding the things that are outside of what they are great at.
What other KPIs do you look at that are non-financial? Susan and Janet take a look at the number of times they are interacting with their customers.
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