From bottlenecks to breakthroughs: How Steadfast Bookkeeping streamlined client engagement and efficiency

Steadfast Bookkeeping provides comprehensive financial services to businesses and individuals. Specializing in bookkeeping, tax preparation, and accounting, the firm is committed to delivering high-quality financial management solutions that keep clients compliant and financially secure.

Founded and led by Andrea MacDonald and Jeremy Wells, the firm has expanded into a growing team of dedicated professionals, including experts in tax compliance, bookkeeping, technology, and client success. This structure ensures that every client receives specialized support and a seamless financial experience.

Before Ignition, Andrea and Jeremy spent hours creating proposals manually. “I used to prepare proposals in Word, customizing each one, converting it to a PDF, and sending it through a separate signature software,” Andrea recalls. “It was a tedious, manual process.”

Jeremy had a similar experience when he started his firm. “I was using a Word template for engagement letters— It worked, but it wasn’t efficient,” he explains.

As the firm grew, scalability became a challenge. Without a centralized engagement process, keeping track of proposals, contracts, and client approvals became increasingly difficult.

Beyond proposals, billing was a major hurdle. For Andrea, collecting payments—especially credit card details—was cumbersome and lacked security. “ACH payments were fine, but credit card collection was difficult,” she says.

Jeremy initially relied on his mentor’s firm for payment processing, which worked well in the early stages of his business. However, as his client base expanded, he recognized the need for a more scalable and secure solution.

Andrea first heard about Ignition through the accounting community. “At conferences and industry events, I kept hearing about Ignition from my peers,” she says. “It was the clear leader when it came to engagement and payment automation.”

For Jeremy, Ignition’s impact was even more direct. His first experience with Ignition was as a client himself receiving a proposal from another accounting firm. “It was so seamless,” he recalls. “That was my lightbulb moment. I knew I wanted to provide my clients with that same effortless experience.”

Before Ignition, proposals often sat in draft form for weeks before being sent out. Now, proposals are completed within minutes, keeping potential clients engaged and preventing deals from going cold.

Even after increasing their prices, the firm maintains an 80% conversion rate on proposals.

With Ignition’s tracking capabilities, the team can see when a proposal has been opened, viewed, or revisited, allowing for better follow-up strategies. “We don’t have to dig through emails anymore,” Jeremy says. “With the Ignition dashboard, we have a real-time view of proposal statuses, whether they’re drafts, sent, accepted, or lost.”

By automating proposals and payments, the team has dramatically reduced the time spent on administrative tasks. “Now, proposals go out immediately after a discovery call,” Andrea says. “It keeps the momentum going and makes a great first impression.”

For Jeremy, Ignition was like hiring an admin assistant he couldn’t afford when he first started. “Before tax season, I knew I needed to make this investment, or I was going to be in a world of hurt,” he says. “Now, Ignition is an essential system in our business.”

Andrea appreciates how Ignition helps Steadfast Bookkeeping project the right image to clients. “It allows us to show that we actually care about our clients,” she explains. “We respond quickly, we’re proactive, and we make things easy for them.”

As Steadfast Bookkeeping continues to grow, Ignition remains a key part of their workflow. The firm is working on:

• Further refining service bundles – Creating standardized packages so that in the future, a dedicated salesperson can quickly generate proposals without manual adjustments.
• Maximizing automation – Leveraging Ignition’s new features to continually improve efficiency and client engagement.
• Enhancing the client experience – Providing an even more seamless onboarding process for new clients.

For Jeremy, Ignition transformed his workflow at a critical moment. “It gave me the structure and efficiency I needed when scaling my firm—like hiring an admin assistant without the overhead.”

Andrea values the seamless client experience it enables. “Ignition ensures our clients feel valued from the start. The ability to send a proposal immediately after a discovery call reinforces that we’re proactive, responsive, and invested in their success.”

With Ignition, Steadfast Bookkeeping isn’t just saving time—they’re building stronger client relationships and growing with confidence.