From throwing spaghetti on the wall to a 95% close rate

How two firm owners built a sales engine that scales

Recently, I sat down with Rachel Ratliff, EA, CTC, owner of Ratliff Accounting & Tax LLC in Tinley Park, Illinois, and Justin Streeter, CPA, CTC, owner of Causey Streeter CPAs, LLC in Atlanta, Georgia. Rachel and Justin, graduates of my 8-week sales mastery course, Abundant Accountant’s sales mastery program, share how they went from overworked, undercharging, and stuck, to building structured sales process that brought in better clients, higher revenue, and real work-life balance.

Before having a sales process: spaghetti, free lunches, and hamster wheels

Michelle Weinstain: Rachel, take us back to before we worked together. What did your sales process look like and how were those conversations going?

Rachel Ratliff: I didn’t have a sales process. I bought my firm from my father-in-law, so it came inherited, and I had a lot of pricing issues right out of the gate—everything was too low and needed to be raised. When it came to bringing on new clients, I was basically throwing spaghetti at the wall and hoping it would stick. Since taking your class, my sales process is much more structured. I go in with more information about the person I’m talking to ahead of time, so I can speak specifically to what they need.

Now, I close 95% of the people I meet with,  and I’ve already filtered out a lot of the wrong-fit prospects before we even get to that point.

Michelle: Justin, what about for you? What did things look like before we started working together?

Justin Streeter: When my wife Leah and I reached out, we were kind of at our wits’ end, really. We were feeling depressed, overworked and a little scared because we kept borrowing just to keep the hamster wheel going. One of the things you helped us do was narrow our focus. I love being a CPA because I get to be technical and deal with people, but there has to be a value exchange in there somewhere. You can’t just give away a free lunch and expect a successful business.

As a recovering people pleaser, I was giving away full-course meals. I’d meet with a prospect, give them everything, and then at the end of the meeting try to tell them they were going to pay me for all the food they just ate. After taking your class, you helped us collect over $90,000 in accounts receivable in less than a month.

Recognizing the real problem: sales vs. marketing

Michelle: I hear this from a lot of firm owners: They say their biggest challenge is needing more leads or more referrals. How did each of you realize you actually had a sales problem, not a marketing problem?

Rachel: When I would talk to people, they’d seem excited and on board, but then I’d never hear from them again. I didn’t know how to close. I didn’t know the next steps. I could have a great referral sitting in front of me and still lose them because I didn’t have the skill to bring them across the finish line. I had also just moved my firm from South Carolina to Illinois and didn’t know anyone. I was trying to break into a brand-new market without the tools to do it.

Justin: I thought the solution was just to keep working harder. More hours, more effort. It just became a cycle of working harder to work harder, instead of working smarter. A sales process gives you tracks to run on with steps to follow. That’s what I was missing.

The cost of not fixing it sooner

Michelle: Justin, beyond the cash flow issues, what other problems did you have by not having a sales system?

Justin: You end up taking all comers. You’re so desperate for cash flow that you put all of your chips in the middle of the table with every client who walks in, not necessarily the right ones. I had acquired a couple of CPA firms, but those legacy clients weren’t a good fit. You’re so fearful of letting clients go that you can’t break the cycle. It just becomes a whirlwind you can’t get out of.

Michelle: Rachel, what was the cost for you?

Rachel: A lot of it was just me holding myself back. I had about 50 clients and was just staying stagnant, not losing anyone, but not growing either. What happens if a client retires or closes their business and you have nothing to replace that income? I was my own biggest obstacle.

Building the system: data-first, process-driven

Michelle: Justin, you use Intuit® Lacerte® Tax Planner for scenario planning. How is that similar to the sales process you’ve built?

Justin: Before, I was so desperate that I’d meet with anyone who could fog a mirror. Now we don’t meet with prospects until we have all their data. One of the hard lines we’ve drawn is to get the data first, then go into Lacerte, look at a couple of different scenarios, and come up with some ideas, but share them vaguely enough that they actually hire us first. We’re not giving out the full course meal at the consultation anymore.

Michelle: Rachel, you use Intuit ProConnect™ Tax for tax planning. How has that paralleled the sales system you built?

Rachel: They’re very similar in that I have a very specific, step-by-step way I do things. If a client reaches out about tax planning, they have to fill out a pro-forma intake form through my CRM before anything happens. Then I make sure they’ve actually given me everything I asked for. If they don’t respond or won’t give me the information, I’ll just say, “I’m not a good fit for you, have a great day,” because I work best with people who communicate and are responsive. Once I have what I need, I can go into those scenarios in ProConnect, talk through what’s coming up for them—maybe a big income event on the horizon—and work through it methodically. Then I share the results with my client once they’ve paid me.

Getting better clients, not just more clients

Michelle: Someone reading this might say, “I just need more clients.” What would you say to that, Rachel?

Rachel: I’d reframe the question. It’s not “How do I get more clients,” it’s “How do I get better clients?” My revenue has doubled, but I haven’t doubled my client count. I raised my prices for the first time since 2018 and lost the clients who weren’t willing to invest in real service. What replaced them were better clients who actually value what I do. The number that matters isn’t how many clients you have; it’s the quality.

Justin: We actually did addition by subtraction. We reduced our client base from 700 clients to 400 clients, and still increased revenue by $300,000. People will tell you that you can’t raise prices in this economy. You can. There’s an accountant shortage, and when you demand your worth, clients will either respond or they’ll choose another path—and that’s okay.

Michelle: Rachel, how do you attract better clients?

Rachel: Through relationship building and consistent in-person networking. I’m active in four chambers of commerce and actually show up to regular meetings, after-hours events, ribbon cuttings, and other events. People notice when you show up for your community. They’ll choose you over the other accountant who only appears when they need more business. I end my 30-second pitch the same way every time: “You’ll want to call me over somebody else because I answer my phone.” It sticks.

Justin: Rachel’s exactly right. People trust what they see consistently. If you show up to a networking group and immediately ask where your clients are, then disappear for a month. nobody’s going to give you referrals. Repetition builds trust.

The results, and life on the other side after completing the sales mastery course

Michelle: What measurable results have you seen since implementing your sales process that you built in the 8-Week Sales Mastery Course?

Justin: We collected the $80,000-plus in accounts receivable, reduced the client base by 300 to 400 clients, and increased revenue by $300,000. We also went from roughly 800 to 900 clients down to about 390,  which is exactly where I want to be.

Rachel: I started at about 40 clients when we worked together. I’m at 93 now, with a goal of 110 to 120 before I either max out or bring on another tax preparer. My revenue went from $65,000 to $150,000, and I’m on track to double again. I also went from just me to soon being a team of three.

Michelle: How has life changed personally?

Rachel: I don’t work weekends, even during tax season. I have clear deadlines and boundaries: if clients want their return done on time, I need everything in my hands three weeks ahead; otherwise they’re automatically extended. We went to Iceland for our anniversary, didn’t bring my work phone, and completely disconnected for 7 days. I saw the Northern Lights. I never would have done that before because I would have had a laptop with me.

Justin: Just having that shift in mindset, where it has to be a win-win between you and the client, has freed up so much mental space. No more waking up in a cold sweat at midnight wondering what slipped through the cracks. It’s a more manageable workload, and it makes you a nicer person. Not worrying about where paychecks for your employees are coming from—that’s huge.

What they’d tell their younger selves

Michelle: Now that you’ve experienced the before and after and now having a step-by-step sale process, what would you tell another firm owner or your younger self?

Justin: Most CPAs are still running the playbook from the ‘90s: Work harder to work harder. Client expectations are out of whack, there aren’t enough hours in the day, and grinding through it doesn’t work. If you’re at that point where you think taking every $160 tax return is the answer because you’re afraid to say “no,” there’s a better world out there. Sometimes we’re too close to our own problems to see them clearly. That’s why you need a second set of eyes. And when you get that outside perspective, trust the process and be open to it, even the tough love parts.

Rachel: If someone else has already written the playbook like your course, why wouldn’t you take advantage of it? I spent $6,000 on expensive tax planning courses hoping they’d fill the gap. Most of it just taught me things I already knew and none of it addressed sales. The moment I finally invested in myself the same way I invested in my education, everything changed. My business almost doubled the year after taking the course, and I’m already on pace to double again. Get over yourself and just do it.

Michelle: Thanks to you both!