5 Ways to Get the Most Out Of Your Service Providers

Jordan Buckner: [00:00:00] As you're building your CPG brand, you're invariably going to work with a number of partners and service providers along the way, and it's really important to build successful relationships and partnerships with them to actually meet your goals. Unfortunately, I hear from both founders and service providers across the board who end up in unhappy, Partnerships and relationships, and it comes down to three major areas, and we're going to talk about those today for this conversation.

I've invited on Brad Ebenhoeh, who's the founder, CEO of Accountfully and outsource accounting and financial firm for CBG brands. He's been doing this for years and has a lot of experience. You know, good and and not so great and working with brands. And I think it's important to kind of have that conversation both from, you know, the founder's side and perspective as a brand, I can share that perspective.

And then for Brad from the service provider side, Brad, welcome. 

Brad Ebenhoeh: Thanks, Jordan. Thanks for having me. Looking forward to chatting about this topic. I think it's very key. You know, [00:01:00] yes, I'm a service provider to the CPG brands, but also I use service providers as well for my business. So, you know, I'm also a customer as well.

So I can understand kind of a lot of these topics that we're going to touch on today as well.

Jordan Buckner: I love it. So what are those three big areas? And for me, when I was thinking about this, it really comes down to These three core things. The first is alignment, the second is expectations, and the third is communication.

And when you have a clear view on all three of those areas, then it leads to having more successful relationships. And so we're going to break down each one of those. So for alignment, for me that's really Understanding what specifically it is you want to be done as a customer going to a provider, and then, understanding from a provider standpoint, what is it that you can reasonably expect to deliver for that brand, to make sure that it's even a good fit from the beginning.

Brad, I'm kinda curious from your perspective, both as a, Customer and service provider, how have those usually worked out when someone's coming and saying, Hey, [00:02:00] I want X, Y, and Z. Is it always a perfect fit or what are those conversations like to ensure alignment from the beginning? 

Brad Ebenhoeh: Yeah, it's interesting because alignment is so key.

I mean to be frank on our side of the things, there's nothing more frustrating than. Getting a client signed, get them ready to go, getting kicked off in two weeks in the engagement. They're like, this isn't going to work out because of X, Y, and Z. So, and a lot of that time it can just be alignment of, Hey, I'm looking for this specific service.

And then they sign on to this other service. Didn't read the contract. Didn't read the engagement letter. Didn't listen during the sales process. Right? So when you're coming to the table, To look for a service provider, whether it's an accountant, whether it's a lawyer, whether it's an agency, whether it's a general contractor on your renovation of your house, understanding what your needs are.

Timeline needs, expectations of quality et cetera, et cetera. Going into that conversation. At a high level, you don't need no details, but understanding that that's going to help you explain to that person what you need, and then that person should be able to explain back to you if it's something that they can hit or not.

Right. So the service provider, you have to be careful, right? Sometimes they oversell their services. Sometimes they don't, right. It [00:03:00] depends upon that, but coming to the table as a customer, looking for a service provider, having a high level of alignment, understanding what your needs are is going to help that conversation and then help your decision moving forward.

Jordan Buckner: How clearly do customers come to you knowing exactly what they want? 

Brad Ebenhoeh: That's a great question. It's across the spectrum, right? You know, our core service is outsourced accounting for small businesses. Our biggest niche is emerging CPG, right? That's why we're in this conversation. I think with the education of consumer, the specific in nature industry, like today with you guys at Foodbevy and everything you're doing, and the other ones that are out there, right.

That at the communities, the Slack channels, I think more and more people understand or have a summit they've talked to about, like, what do I need? How do I need it? So specifically on the outsourced accounting, like bookkeeping side, I think it's better than it's ever been to be frank. Then it was like five, six years ago, just because of that kind of knowledge.

There's a lot of times some people come in and like, Hey, I just opened up a business and I need tax work. Okay. So, so we do taxes. So as well, that's the start. I mean, taxes are confusing for me. So I understand that's where there's a ton of like, I have no idea what I [00:04:00] need. Can you guys come and help me?

And then, you know, having those conversations when they come to the table, like I have no idea what I need. I don't even know if I incorporated or not or did whatever. That's going to distract on that conversation. 

Jordan Buckner: I don't know if I can say I need tax and you're like, okay, the, do your taxes. You have to have an accounting system and have that be accurate.

Right. And they're like, Oh wait, that's extra. And like, that's a whole year process. Like it's a much different service that they also need to get the tax done. 

Brad Ebenhoeh: A hundred percent. A hundred percent. So I think it's like, I think a big part of this conversation is if you're in a first time, like entrepreneur or founder of a business, you need to like identify several people that you can just talk to that have done it before.

I'm like, Hey, I'm thinking about accounting. I'm thinking about marketing. I'm thinking about this and just get some feedback from them of like, What's expected, what do I need, what do I need to think about versus just like, Oh, Accountfully cool. Let's go ahead. Let's sign the document. Cause in two weeks, you're probably gonna be frustrated.

Cause you had no idea of the fee structure of how much work's involved of what we're going to do. And those types of things. Same thing with anybody again, right? So I just think doing your due diligence and investigation upfront is [00:05:00] going to really help you be successful as successful as you can in a relationship long term.

Jordan Buckner: Yeah, you know, I think one thing in another area too, I see a lot of people approaching sales brokers and thinking like, Hey, I'm going to hire this sales broker and they're going to do all the work to get me into X, Y, and Z store and I basically have to just sit back and let them do all the work and all those Relationships that start off that way fail because usually the founders be very involved and in their mind, they're thinking, Oh, I can be hands off with the sales process and do other stuff.

And if you talk to brokers, they're like, Oh, no, no, no. Like you have to be there, like in meetings, pitching and emailing with buyers as well. And like, we'll help with the paperwork and the introductions, but you have to do all this work continuously as well. And they're like, wait, isn't that why I'm hiring you?

And they're like, no, that's not what I, so there's all these conversations that I hear back and forth. And understanding just like what it is that they can expect, from that provider and not understanding how they work. 

Brad Ebenhoeh: Yes that's a big part of some of our onboarding delays that we have when a client comes on board.

Oh, I had no idea I had to be on three hours of calls this week. Well, yeah, we need to get access to this. [00:06:00] We need to, you have to walk through your business. You needed walk through like, well, what's happened in the past? Like you need to be some level of engaged to understand. So I think level of engagement, understanding that up front is huge, right?

if you don't want to do anything in the sales side, on the accounting side, you need to hire somebody and then hopefully you hire the right person and then do all this and report back. Right. That's risky in itself. Right. 

Jordan Buckner: So a lot of times at the beginning, you can't even hire someone if you don't have your process, a proven process that were documented, if you're like, Hey, I'm just going to bring someone in to invent the process, rarely does that work in a small business.

Brad Ebenhoeh: Well, and to be frank, being involved in this stuff that you're not familiar with. Is actually a long term value add to yourself because you get, Oh, what does accounting mean? What does this mean? Wait, how did these sales meetings go? Good for me to be involved. Good to know. So then maybe you start educating yourself within that specific function of the business or whatever to then, you know, enhance your knowledge and that'll help your business long term.

I mean I don't know how many times some of our best clients are those that came to us that had a. Operations person that literally they're like, talk to her, talk [00:07:00] to her, talk to her. And literally we're talking to her constantly and she's in and out and all of a sudden she's like, I quit. Cause they basically made her do everything.

And then the two founders have to be like, Oh my gosh, I have to be engaged. They actually come in and they're like, Oh yeah, by the way, these are the six things in my head that I never told her that I should tell you. And all of a sudden they see the value. They're like, Oh great. Now they're more engaged in the financial reporting process, the just accounting tax process.

And all of a sudden I feel like. Their knowledge went from here to here, even though that first 30 days was a huge pain for them. So just understanding that. And at the end of the day, it's time, like it's your business. Nobody's going to care about your business as much as like a partner isn't going to.

So you have to be engaged and understand that. 

Jordan Buckner: Yeah, I think that's a perfect lead into number two, which is aligning on expectations. So once you kind of know generally like what the service is that you want them to provide, you need to get into the details. So when you're thinking about expectations from like a partnership, what are the things that you want to make sure they clearly communicate on in terms of like, you know, timeline is one, like what does the process look like, or price, what are some of the other areas?

Brad Ebenhoeh: [00:08:00] Yeah, I would say timeline price is great, deliverables, when to expect deliverables level of engagement, you know, upfront that I need to be the consistency of it. All that type of stuff. I think the more you can define in advance as you go into a relationship, the better, right? So for example, when you work with us, we have a service level agreement that specifies what we're going to be doing month over month, week over week, when we're going to do it.

The same thing on the, on the client side, what's expected of the client. There's also like a. Engagement and communication protocol sections like, Hey, we expect a response within two business days of this, we will respond to you with the next business days of this, right? So it's understanding that aspect there because having that in place great aligned expectations or more understanding of expectations, but then also from a service provider standpoint, to be frank, If delays happen and delays happen, delays happen.

It's like, look, I have talked to you about this. Here it is. You signed the document. We walked through on the kickoff call. I don't know what else to do. I can't get your financials out. Cause you haven't responded to an email in 10 days. Additionally, you haven't paid my deposit invoice. Right. So understanding what's expected you from a communication timeline or responsiveness, a timeline of [00:09:00] fee payment, all that type of stuff that is huge to the relationship.

Jordan Buckner: Yeah. I think a lot of founders go in kind of with my brokers and we'll like not understanding how much time they should commit. I think it's very smart that you like outline that. And a lot of times, even though they'll read it, they're like, Oh yeah, yeah. That makes sense. But then when they look at their calendar to actually plan it, they're like, Oh, I actually don't know.

I have to, like, I have to make time by removing something else. And I think that's really tough. You mentioned also paying on time. I've heard that from a lot of service providers because there's this narrative out there with Businesses being cash strapped now of saying like, Hey, maybe you can slow pay your service providers or ingredient suppliers to get a little bit more time.

And I see that negatively affecting a lot of other small businesses who think like, Hey, look, like I understand if things are tough, but if you're agreeing on paying me, then I expect you to do that in order for us to deliver our service and it negatively affecting that relationship going on.

Brad Ebenhoeh: mean, if you don't pay me it's delayed and consistently delayed, you go to the lowest [00:10:00] priority.

Right. Cause we're like, we may not get paid from them. So if you expect a high level of service and you consistently delay in payment or never pay, you're going to get the lowest priority of that service provider and you're not going to get the service you expect. So it needs, it goes back to the partnership model, right?

You need to be partners. You need to align When we look at you eyes to eyes, it's not like, Oh, I'm better than you because I'm the client. Right. Right. No, like if you want to really have a great mutually beneficial relationship and you trust this person as an expert in their field and you're hiring and that if you respect them and treat them and abide by the terms of the contract, right?

I'm not saying if the terms of the contract are net 30 based upon the invoice date to pay him a day one. No, you can pay him day 30. Day 25, whatever, but still you're in the window, right? Don't pay him in day 90. Because by the way, what happens on our clients, a lot of our clients get frustrated when their customers don't pay them on time, so it's a never ending circle.

Right? It's the chicken or the egg. So I understand cash is king. Cash can be tight. Things can happen. Guess what? Communication, like communication goes a long way. Most people are willing to work with you. Don't ghost [00:11:00] people. That's when people get 

Jordan Buckner: frustrated. I think the other thing within there as well is there's talk about expectations an understanding of when services are actually reasonable to be delivered and in what I call like that initial value.

And as a story, I hired a broker that was selling food service accounts for TeaSquares. And they were talking about like, Hey, we'll be pitching these types of accounts. And these, I think I have like a couple that we're going to start. And so we were like, great, sign the agreement, start working with them.

And then once we got started, realized they said like, Oh, you know, it's going to take us. At least three months of you paying retainer before you can see any progress because we have to email start those conversations as if they're from scratch. And oh, by the way, the key buying time is actually six months from now.

So work with us for six months before seeing any potential result. And as a founder of small, I Was Selectively hurt the vision of what could happen now Versus the reality of when things would take and after two months when there [00:12:00] wasn't any Tangible results. I honestly I was like I pulled out cuz like oh I was expecting Results now or like something when in their mind they were expecting results in six months because they're like, we can't get anything done for that long.

And so part of it was just a miscommunication and miss expectation alignment because essentially I needed those sales to pay for their services. Otherwise, we couldn't actually have afforded them. And so that was a lesson to like, be very clear and specific to say, Hey, Okay. If this is what you're delivering like what specifically is it, you know, is it for the broker example, is it an introduction to a buyer or is it a purchase order?

And if I'm expecting a purchase order and they're expecting to deliver an introduction, there's a misalignment there. What's actually going to result 

Brad Ebenhoeh: though. True. So true. It's, you know, timing of when they can expect, you know, just from, from our perspective, timing of when they can expect their financials, right.

Hey, let's get started. During onboarding. Will you have my financials in two weeks from now? Well, I have to clean up the entire calendar year of [00:13:00] 2024. Probably not. Like we're, you know, per our conversation, I said, this is our kind of average timeline. We'll specify it during onboarding when we actually get into the details.

And then they're like, well, this is ridiculous. I need to get it done. But then guess what? On top of that, they don't even give you the four things you need to get it done. Right? So timeline is so huge in terms of it. It goes back to building a house, renovating a house. I need to know what the timeline is, the expectation, when I owe you money, when my ROI, when I actually get the product back, whatever is, is big in that whole conversation.

Jordan Buckner: I think the other thing that happens in DC is really hiring a service provider and then going against their recommendations or like what they say. So tell me more about like, you know, being able to really trust in the people that you're hiring. 

Brad Ebenhoeh: Yeah. I mean, if you don't trust the person in terms of if they're an expert, like in a specific function, then you shouldn't hire them.

Right. We have a lot of folks that come on board that are like, this is great, but I need to do these four things. And It's like, okay, that's great, but it's inefficient. There's a different report to look at. Let's restructure the chart of accounts. We do this for, you know, 200 plus CPG clients annually, you know, [00:14:00] yada, yada, yada.

I understand there's an aspect of, Hey, I look at these three things every month, can I get that? Sure. If that's what you'd like to see, then that's fine. But like the process, the workflow, the efficiency, the the chart of accounts, the different ways to do things goes a long way into it. So if you're going to pay somebody to hire them, trust them and let them go.

Like don't micromanage them. The whole part of outsourcing is to basically hire people, engage in the way you have to do, give them the information, let them go execute, and then there's this great partnership involved where you're getting ROI and whatever you're paying for. Right. But you're letting them go and doing their thing.

If you want to micromanage somebody, do yourself or hire an employee. Right. So it's trusting them, understanding what they're doing, asking the right questions. Right. But at the end of the day, you should trust how they operate. Otherwise there's really no reason you should hire them. 

Jordan Buckner: Wrapping all of these things together is the third point, which is really around communication both ways as a brand or customer communicating with the service provider, all of these things in your head as a service provider, clearly communicating back all those expectations and alignment to make sure that you're in the [00:15:00] same place when it comes to communication, what stands out in terms of what makes effective communication for customer service provider relationship?

Brad Ebenhoeh: Yeah, I think number one I have several items here, communication, I think on the service provider side, if you say you're going to do something, whether it's like at a deliverable, whether it's an actual, like project management update, if you're going to say, you're going to do it, do it, or email them that you're not going to hit that mark or don't say you're going to do it.

Right. So set your expectations to a point where you can hit. I think that that's a big thing. And then communicate accordingly, if you can't hit, right. Like that's a big time part of the aspect, but also in the service provider side. Communicating progress is huge. Like again, whether it is that you don't need to do progress daily or maybe weekly, but twice a month, you know, especially if it's on a project basis, right?

Or a sales broker, a situation like every two weeks you should email, Hey, I had these calls, I'm here. Like, here's this, here's that. So you understand there's some progress going on in the engagement. I think that that's huge in the communication side. 

Jordan Buckner: that too, one thing I always stress is at that very beginning of the relationship.[00:16:00] 

And I always recommend scheduling a set meeting Usually weekly at the beginning to make sure that things are aligned and that you're not a too much time goes on without those expectations and deliverables separating right gives you time to actually on the service provider side, like make sure you're following up your delivering early and delivering that value and for the customer that you understand and know what's going on because like you said, and talk about progress.

If you don't know what they are doing, then you start filling in. In your head, what you think they're doing, and then whether or not it's misaligned. And you're like, Oh, I thought you would do this, this and this. And I'm like, why? And so like having that early communication, I think is key. 

Brad Ebenhoeh: And I think we're all busy and having things on the calendar just makes it easier to get things done.

A lot of times I tell our onboarding team, I'm like, can we just get like consistent weekly meetings with this person or twice a week for the next couple of weeks on the calendar? Cause that's when they're actually engaged. They're not going to reuse their emails. So that's it. There, I think a huge thing on the customer side is communication and changes, legal changes, tax [00:17:00] changes Operational changes new sales channels, new skews. I'm raising money. I just raised money. Like, I can't tell you how many people don't tell their offices are coming from anything of what they went on, what's going on with their business that should impact accounting, right?

Like there's a couple of times a year where we have. Clients that are LLC partnerships that are transitioning to a C corporation for tax purposes and different reasons that all of a sudden we don't know until after the fact. And it's like, by the way, we do your taxes and we're doing your books. You couldn't elude us in this conversation just so we ensure we're aligned.

Plus maybe our tax director can provide some advisory to help. The situation, you know, end up better or dapper. So I think communication in advance on a lot of topics can help out a lot of things. Especially when you are the person who knows what the changes are. I think that that's a big part of it.

Jordan Buckner: I love that. I think along with that is that communication in advance and then when you actually have calls come prepared. So I know a lot of people with their being busy and doing multiple. Jobs, multiple hats, a lot of times founders or customers don't come in with the work done, I think [00:18:00] honestly.

Right. And then like, Oh, I was supposed to do X, Y, and Z for the meeting. The meeting comes to like, I didn't do it. 

Brad Ebenhoeh: Yeah. I think a couple other things of communication. Feedback. Feedback's good, right? Good feedback and bad feedback. Clearly, there's a time and a place for everything. Like, you shouldn't just spew your mouth on bad feedback every week of the month.

Like, but, when there comes a time and a place, like, go to the person that will absorb the feedback. Say, hey, this experience has been awesome. Or, hey, everything's been great with these three things. Is there a way we can improve on this? Or whatever. Again, it's a partnership. So sometimes, you know, anything in communication where you have two ears, in one mouth, right?

So people you're supposed to listen versus hearing. So sometimes your perception of what you're saying or your situate of the situation may be wrong or may be misaligned with the other part. And so sometimes whether it's a service provider or client, you to come together and have a conversation and be like, this is what I thought, what's going on, like you told me this and that, and so like, that's going to create a tighter relationship there on that.

So feedback and proactive communication is great. The last thing communication I'll say is. Asking the service provider what other services they have and what other things that you can take advantage of, right? Like, hey, [00:19:00] be communicative on the pain points of your business. Hey, I'm having issues with cash.

I'd really love a cash forecast. Hey I really don't like my tax person. Do you have taxes? Hey, this and this and this, right? By the way, Accountfully for your service provider. What are the services you have that I can, you know, take advantage of if I need it, right? Understanding that and listening, that can go a long way versus going to hire a contract CFO for a lot more money when we could do this service for you.

And it's a much easier streamline process for you. 

Jordan Buckner: Yeah, I love that. I think wrapping all this together, if you start off with alignment, understand if they're going to be a good fit, set those expectations and then communicate in both ways, that will then take this transactional relationship into being a partnership where you're actually working together towards a common goal, sharing information back and forth and supportively, you know, helping each other's other's businesses.

I think that's the ultimate goal for working with any type of partner. 

Brad Ebenhoeh: And I would say last thing, and I've been, uh, you know, guilty of this on my side, when I'm hiring service providers, when you go to the relationship or go to the [00:20:00] conversation and your number one priority is fee, that's not going to work out right.

Like I'm a business owner, costs fees are very important to me. Like clearly I'm an accountant, I get it. But if you're just number one of like. Hey, I'm looking for a marketing firm and I had this, it's not going to work out. I would vet the marketing firms, understanding the price points there before you go in, but then understanding the services, get an idea and then say, Hey, this is my budget, right?

Based upon that information, go at it with an open mind and understanding, but when you just start with fee, you're going to end up probably with the wrong person as well because of everything. 

Jordan Buckner: I love that. And what I hope for everyone listening is that you can take all these tips and advise implement them with your existing partnerships and with new ones so that you can have successful relationships.

Brad, thanks so much for being on and talking about this. 

Brad Ebenhoeh: Yeah, Jordan. Thanks again so much. I love supporting Foodbevy I love this part you have for Accountfully. I love it. Happy holidays. 

Jordan Buckner: Thanks, and if anyone needs help with their outsourced accounting and wants to want to learn more and put the info for Accountfully in the show notes, get in touch with their team and they will the team will [00:21:00] be happy to help 

Brad Ebenhoeh: members year on time for taxes, 

cleaning everything up 

that good accumulated all year, right?

Or cats. Yeah.