In this episode, Talila Kroy, Wayne Findlay, and Ian Aldridge tackle the profit squeeze facing accounting firms head-on. Since COVID, professional services have seen a relentless race to the bottom, with clients shopping purely on price. Discover how strategic partnerships offer accountants a path to escape price competition, attract better clients, and future-proof their practices against AI disruption.

1. Why the last five years have seen a race to the bottom in professional services and how to escape it
2. Why price-shopping clients are your worst clients and how to avoid attracting them
3. How to use partnership marketing through workshops, events, and shared databases
4. Why clients referred by partners are far less likely to haggle over fees
5. How AI will create another race to the bottom and why partnerships protect you
6. How offshoring creates capacity for senior staff to focus on high-value advisory work
7. Why personal partnerships are essential for surviving the next 5-10 years of disruption

1. Clients referred by trusted partners are far less likely to negotiate fees because trust has been transferred
2. Partnership marketing through workshops and events gives you access to thousands of targeted prospects at minimal cost
3. AI will create another wave of price competition, making personal partnerships even more critical for protection
4. Offshoring lower-level work creates capacity for senior accountants to focus on high-value advisory services
5. Having 20-50 businesses continually referring work provides stability that marketing alone cannot deliver

"The more personal partnerships we can create, the more we've got a chance of not just surviving the next five to 10 years, but also thriving." - Ian Aldridge

"If you're an accountant and you want to stand out, have a workshop and use your partners to promote that workshop on your behalf." - Wayne Findlay

"Our job is to be the very best, to provide the very highest quality of service and to showcase that to our partners so that they're so delighted with the results that we get their clients, that they just keep giving us clients." - Talila Kroy

"The clients that we've found that have come through from referral partners are far less likely to haggle over fees. They've been told by their accountant, 'Hey, you need to go and see Ian and get this stuff done,' and they just go ahead and do it." - Ian Aldridge

"If you're getting referrals because you're the lowest price, then you need to talk to the people that are referring to you and say, 'Don't send me those people.'" - Wayne Findlay

1. The Back Room Growth Calculator (thebackroomop.com) - helps firms design their future based on compliance versus advisory mix