Provide the complete experience to grow
Joe and his team work with small and growing businesses as well as freelancers. They especially get excited about working with new companies that are looking to scale because we want to grow with those companies and provide a really integrated accounting experience.
About Avalon Accounting
Right now, Avalon has about 30 customers. It's just Paul and me so far, but we are looking to hire soon. I am here at head office in Victoria (haha) and Paul's in Hamilton with plans to move back to Victoria next year. We have been around just over 2 years and have been focusing on our processes during that time.
We want to offer a great experience to our customers, so this has been our focus. I work in a co-working space in Victoria, which has been an unbelievable experience. Co-working is now a part of Avalon's DNA. We will keep co-working as long as we can. It has given us flexibility for remote working, but also holding space for us to come together to work as well. Plus, we get to work with so many great people who are not involved in accounting in any way.
Avalon Accounting before Ignition
Before using Ignition, I had only put together about 2 proposals with word and pdf. I thought there just had to be another way - and there was! I was an early adopter of Ignition and never looked back. It was just so much better than clunky Word. Now, I develop the proposal with my potential customer in real time. They can build a few different options with me which really drives some great conversation.
Avalon Accounting meets Ignition
Ignition really helped me break down the services that I offer. I was forced to understand that this service is different (and additional) to that one, etc. This has come in really handy for understanding my own business and preventing scope creep.
I now have a consistent feel throughout my onboarding process. I am able to present a proposal that looks good, is clear, and is easy to accept.
What’s Next
Our plan is to be a smaller firm servicing around 150 great customers. Ignition encourages us to have a robust conversation with our customers once per year about the services we offer and what value we are bringing. I think this will serve us well as we won't be ostriches to our shortcomings, but can meet them head on and be better.