A practice with stagnant growth led accountant Brian Wolfe to contact Sterling in Glendale, CA.

"In 1997, I became sole owner of my accounting practice. The two founding partners left the firm and I was now the top executive. Although I had no management training, I thought if I attended a management seminar once a year, I would learn how to run the practice. Unfortunately, I was mistaken.

"My practice had serious issues. The biggest issue was our stagnant growth. Some years billings and collections were down, while other years we grew by just 1 to 2%, if that. But the flat growth was just a symptom of the more basic problem: I was letting the staff and clients get the best of me.

"Some of the staff had been at the firm longer than I, and felt they had seniority. “Seniority,” to them, meant less work but more pay. Not being trained in managing staff, I thought they might be right. As a result, I did most of the work myself which added 10 extra hours per week to my schedule.

"The practice was disorganized. Since I had to review everything myself, returns were completed slowly and inefficiently. I was personally handling 90% of all the information coming in and going out of the office. The work was burying me.

"The staff enjoyed the cushy work environment and so they opposed any major changes in the practice. I had one employee who always seemed nice and supportive but did as little as possible. I later discovered her supportive attitude was covering up hostility toward me, the staff and our clients. Since I wasn’t trained as an executive, I was unable to detect this and the damage she was causing.

"Another reason for our flat revenues was collections. We had no procedures for handling delinquent accounts. I was uncomfortable asking clients for payment so they would pay when they wanted to, if at all.

"What I dreaded most was tax season which meant 90-hour workweeks and a backbreaking workload. I was starting a family and had two young sons at home. It was impossible to spend any real time with them and my wife. I didn’t want to miss seeing my boys grow up.

"I was at my breaking point—I had to do something.

"I received a mailing from Sterling and sent away for their free practice management DVD. The section of the DVD which most sparked my interest was managing by statistics. Being an accountant, I like to work with numbers. With statistical management, I could measure staff performance with no opinion involved. I could see if an employee were being productive or not, right there in black and white.

"I was a competent CPA but I needed to know how to run my practice. I signed up for Sterling’s introductory four-day program done at their facilities. On this program, I was introduced to the basics of practice management and could plainly see how getting these processes in place would make a huge difference in my practice. I immediately signed up for Sterling’s Executive Booster Program and there have been a number of very positive changes since.

"I started the program by taking a series of practice management courses which taught me the fundamentals of being an executive, including the laws of organizing, how to make staff more productive, how to delegate and much more. These were the tools I needed to run and grow the practice.

"With Sterling’s help, I implemented the statistical management system. Every employee was assigned a “statistic” which reflected that employee’s personal productivity. All of the statistics were plotted on graphs. I was able to see, at a glance, how each employee was doing, as well as the practice itself, and take the appropriate action.

"My Sterling consultant created an “organizing board” for our practice. The organizing board laid out the proper work flow, defined job functions and what each staff member was expected to produce. This greatly reduced inefficiencies and confusion.

"Since I could now measure productivity, I implemented a bonus system based on performance. For the technical staff, the bonus system was based on billable hours. When billable hours exceeded a certain goal, these staff received cash bonuses. I implemented bonuses for administrative staff, as well, based on the number of new clients and increases in collections. The bonus system definitely increased performance and motivated the staff.

"Sterling also helped us identify and weed out the non-performing employees and hire and train qualified staff. Now we are all on the same page. The staff know what is expected of them and if they exceed their production goals, they get rewarded.

"Before the Sterling program, we never did much marketing. Now we have a formal marketing program which works and gets us new clients.

"As a result of the Sterling program, my practice is growing at a good rate. Billings and collections have increased by 50% and, even better, profitability has increased by 70%.

"Sterling taught me how to run and organize my practice and get others to do their jobs. My 90-hour workweeks are gone and I rarely work on a Sunday. Freeing up my time was imperative so I could spend time with my family and do the other things I love. Now I have time for my family, vacations and to help the community. I even coach basketball, my favorite sport, during tax season. Sterling restored the balance in my life."