A few weeks ago, I wrote a First Look feature about 'Figured,' a cloud-based agribusiness software app that works with QuickBooks Online or Xero. You might recall that I gave it a definite thumb-up, saying it was "pretty perfect for farming and ranching."
I also interviewed the Figured team at last Fall's QuickBooks Connect conference at Las Vegas. I was extremely excited about their app because they could answer all my questions about tracking cattle.
Well, today, I want to tell you about the Figured Partner Program. Since the beginning of Insightful Accountant, we have offered our 'Advisor Alliance' features to software and app developers with programs that give you, our ProAdvisor, Accounting, and Bookkeeping community, opportunities to gain more business.
Advisor Alliance is one way we here at Insightful Accountant can assist you in improving your business related to the various apps and software offerings we write about. In many cases, working with these developers can discount your cost or the cost to your clients, earn you more revenues through promotional assets and opportunities, and give you increased confidence in using, recommending, and integrating their products with your clients' software by providing training and possibly product certification.
So, once again, we hope to summarize some of the critical details of the alliance you can build with 'Figured' by becoming part of the Figured Partner Program.
The Figured Partner Program acts as an enabler to help accounting firms who use the Figured Platform to position themselves as leaders in their field (ag accounting/advisory) unlock advisory opportunities no matter where they are in their advisory journey (e.g., Establishing, Scaling, Optimizing), and drive growth for their business.
As part of the Figured Partner Program, firms gain access to a wide range of benefits, from product education and training to ICP/CVP, Service Design, and marketing support.
What the Partnership Provides
Education and training: Regular content and initiatives that provide training to staff and their farming clients to maximize the value they receive from using the Figured platform.
Community: Initiatives that make Figured partners feel part of a network and community of leading agriculture advisors, where they can lean on and learn from one another.
Business growth and retention: Content and support are provided to partners to co-market their enhanced service capabilities and Figured's products to their clients and prospects. Essentially, it helps them commercialize the advisory opportunity that Figured enables.
Data: Top-tier Figured partners receive insights from Figured in the form of app usage, industry benchmark data, etc., to drive advisory conversations and use them in their marketing efforts.
Recognition: Helping position Figured Partners as leaders in agriculture accounting through branding, events, awards, partner status/tiers, etc.
Partner Incentives and Opportunities
One of readers' most commonly asked questions about all our 'Advisor Alliance' features is, "What monetary or revenue opportunities exist?"
The Figured Partner Program currently provides no direct monetary incentives or revenue-sharing opportunities as part of its offering; however, that doesn't mean it can't be a 'money maker' for you.
You know me; I tend to "think outside the box a lot." So, in reviewing the Figured Partner program and also in considering how this app provides a unique opportunity for ProAdvisors, Accountants, and Bookkeepers to build a niche specialization built on agribusiness with an emphasis on being a trusted advisor, I see two ways that the Partner Program can benefit you.
The Traditional Partnership: Currently, most Figured Partners use Figured within their accounting or bookkeeping practice on behalf of the farming clients in a reporting and advisory capacity. These partners benefit financially by using the software to benefit their clients, and they bundle the benefits of Figured into the services they perform on behalf of those clients. In other words, Figured enhances and expands the billable services you provide.
Thinking Outside of the Box: I see an alternative that could be just as lucrative, if not more so. Another possible revenue stream would occur when ProAdvisors, accountants, or bookkeepers advocate and evangelize the Figured app to foster leads and potential product sales among the clients they support who need more than QuickBooks or Xero alone. While Figured doesn't offer revenue sharing related to this type of partnership, professionals using this opportunity can enhance their service offerings to their existing and future clients who need ongoing assistance when working with Figured and their accounting software. Figured's training and certification for partners means you will know the product better than your clients. And because you already know and understand every financial aspect of your client's business, you will be in the best position to help them understand the implications of the financial data that Figured renders.
If you know their business and finances and you're using Figured, you can be the "Agribusiness advisor" they genuinely need.
Either way, you will be a better Agribusiness Trusted Advisor whether you provide Figured as part of your service package or support your clients using Figured as part of your consulting services.
Training and Certification
As I mentioned, Figured offers their 'Partners' training and certification. It takes just a few hours to go through the 13-course modules instructing the various aspects of the Figured app and related topics. You then can sit for the certification test and earn your 'Figured Certification upon successful completion.'
There is no cost to join the Partner program, take the training, or get certified. But, since Figured is constantly evolving and new features are added, Certified Partners must be re-certified every 12 months to ensure they are thoroughly familiar with the latest available information and material.
Partner Recognition
Figured has created a pretty elaborate mechanism of recognition for their partners. The first such mechanism is their 'Partner Tiers.'
The Figured Partner Program is currently divided into four tiers (Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum) that recognize different levels of adoption and capability of the Figured platform. 'Figured Insights Partner status' recognizes those firms in the top echelon of Figured Partners who utilize the Figured Insights practice-only solution for firm-wide bench-marking and portfolio modeling (advanced CAS).
In addition to the recognition tiers and partner status, Figured also offers a series of awards that celebrate firms and individuals delivering great work through their use of Figured in supporting their farming clients' businesses. The awards are run quarterly, and submissions for four different awards are open to the Figured Partner Program members. The awards allow firms to promote their service capabilities to existing and prospective clients and further position themselves as leaders in their field.
The awards include Partner of the Quarter, Figured Advisor of the Quarter, Figured Rising Star of the Quarter, and the Figured Quarterly Showcase Award. While these awards are currently only available to 'New Zealand' partners, they will soon be introduced to partners in the United States. Insightful Accountant will let you know when these awards are expanded.
How does Figured and a Figured Partnership fit into 'your' practice?
I know of very few ProAdvisors, Accountants, or Bookkeepers within the U.S. specializing exclusively in farming and ranching. Furthermore, I know of even fewer who have an exclusive 'accounting services practice' with a client base of farmers and ranchers. Even in an agribusiness state like Oklahoma, such firms are few and far between, or non-existent. Things work significantly differently here in the U.S. than in New Zealand, but that doesn't mean that the needs of farmers and ranchers are any different.
Now may be a perfect opportunity to expand or enhance your practice. An agribusiness niche practice may be your thing, especially if you grew up around either farming, ranching or dairy product, but your family said, "Get an accounting degree; you will be better off than working on the farm."
Even with the growth of corporate farming and ranching in the U.S., plenty of family-owned farms and ranchers need you. The problem is they need you to have the right tools to provide them with information in the format they need.
This is why partnering with Figured may be the chance of a lifetime.
Figured is an app designed to make you a better accountant for agribusiness, and it doesn't matter whether you are using it in your own office with your client's data file or if you are advising your agribusiness clients about the data Figured provides when they are keeping their books. If you know their business and finances and you're using Figured, you can be the "Agribusiness advisor" they genuinely need.
Disclosures
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