Discover key GTM insights from Journey's 2023 success with global Accounting SaaS vendors.
In 2023 we worked with more than 20 vendors. We helped them to execute their GTM strategy in the accounting industry here in Australia, the United Kingdom, South Africa and North America.
Over the last 12 months I saw a lot of things that worked really well. And I saw a lot of things that made me want to bang my head against the wall until the pain went away.
At Journey, we've had a big year of experimentation and strategy refinement.
Today I’m breaking down my key takeaways from 2023 on what worked well for the Accounting SaaS community, or at least for the vendors we were working with.
My goal here, whether you work with Journey or not, is to help you think through all the areas of your GTM strategy, what are you gaps, what is your opportunity and what are you digging into in Q1 of 2024 to get back on track.
Let’s break it down.
It's startling how many businesses overlook this.
Last year, we went the extra mile by asking our clients' customers about their product usage, the problems it solves, and their overall experience.
Our approach was comprehensive. We conducted detailed interviews and surveys, asking pointed questions about how they use our clients' products, the specific problems these products solve, and their overall experience.
This wasn't a superficial exercise; we delved into the nuances of their responses, seeking to understand not just the 'what' but the 'why' behind their usage.
The insights gained from this exercise were eye-opening. We learned that what we thought were the key features of a product weren't always aligned with the customer's perspective.
In some cases, features we considered minor were actually making a significant impact on the customers' day-to-day operations. This revelation was a game-changer in how we approached messaging and positioning for our clients.
You absolutely need to start the year by doing customer research. Write it down.
We offer this as a service and would be more then happy to show you through how we were able to capture over 400 pieces of product feedback in the past few months for our clients.
How often are you engaging with your prospects?
Relying on a single channel for marketing is a strategy that will likely fail. It's important to keep a mix of activities – both big and small – to maintain a healthy and consistent funnel.
Social media alone won't cut it, email marketing alone doesn't cut it, that FaceBook group that had 7 people tag your solution alone doesn't cut it.
The magic happens when these channels work together.
Imagine a potential customer seeing your brand on social media, then receiving a well-crafted email that addresses their specific needs, followed by an invitation to an exclusive webinar.
This approach creates multiple touchpoints, each reinforcing the other, and keeps your brand top-of-mind for prospects. The same happens when you start partnering with other brands that operate in the same channel.
Moreover, this strategy allows for flexibility and adaptability.
Different segments of your audience might prefer different channels, and a multi-channel approach lets you cater to these preferences.
It also enables you to test and learn which combinations of channels and content types work best for different audience segments.
This is a core offering at Journey. This is the majority of work we are rolling out and implementing for our clients at the moment.
The effectiveness of your sales team hinges on their structure and discipline.
We've seen the best results when roles are clearly defined – for instance, separating the responsibilities of SDRs (Sales Development Representatives) and BDMs (Business Development Managers).
Having someone do both the SDR work and BDM work, as in, all the call and all the demos will be ineffective, compared to 2 people splitting the work and focusing on just making calls and/or just doing demos.
This specialisation allows each team member to focus and excel in their area, significantly improving efficiency and deal closures.
Keep it simple and the results will flow. I do a lot of consulting on sales functions and getting this process right.
We’ve seen amazing results with some clients seeing a 206% lift in revenue in 2023 alone after we made changes to their sales and marketing flow.
Customer engagement methods are evolving rapidly.
We've embraced webinars, interactive demos, and other innovative interaction methods to keep our engagements memorable and accessible.
Webinars, for instance, offer a platform not just for education but for prospect interaction.
They allow you to delve into key themes and topics, showcase your expertise, and most importantly, engage in real-time with your audience.
Similarly, interactive website demos have transformed from standard presentations to dynamic, tailored experiences where prospects can see firsthand how your solutions can solve their specific problems straight on the website, before they’ve even spoken to anyone.
Integrating these interactions with your CRM can provide invaluable insights and streamline your sales processes.
We implemented a number of interactive demo’s last year and the results were crazy, in the first month alone, a brand new solution we helped launch had 400 interactions inside the first 30 days, before converting roughly 20% - without even speaking to the on the phone.
A critical yet often neglected aspect is the handover between marketing, sales, and customer success teams.
This transition should be smooth and well-coordinated, with each team understanding their role in the customer journey. Automating these handovers in your CRM can prevent manual errors and ensure a seamless experience.
By automating the process, you eliminate the risk of human error – no more missed emails or forgotten follow-ups.
This automation ensures that every piece of critical information is captured and made available to the right team at the right time.
Furthermore, it allows for a smoother transition of the customer through different phases of their journey, from initial engagement with marketing to sales negotiation, and finally to ongoing support from the customer success team.
Last year, I encountered too many SaaS vendors struggling with disconnected systems. A cohesive CRM system is non-negotiable.
It should be the central hub where your sales and marketing efforts converge and should be well-integrated with your website and other tools.
We’re officially Hubspot implementation partners. This is our weapon of choice but we play nice with all systems. We find Hubspot does an amazing job of bringing visibility and cohesion in your GTM team.
These insights are more than just observations; they are the foundation of a robust GTM strategy.
If your current GTM strategy doesn't align with these points, it's time for a change.
At Journey, we specialise in crafting and refining these strategies to help you scale your sales and marketing efforts.
If you're looking to enhance your approach in 2024, let's have a conversation.
This is what we do
The best SaaS products have control points—features that make switching impossible. Learn how to build and market them to drive retention and growth.
At Journey, we worked with 44 accounting SaaS companies last year, helping them sharpen their positioning, build strategic marketing campaigns, and create stronger connections with their audience. One of the biggest differentiators between SaaS companies that thrive and those that struggle is control points - the unique aspects of a product that make it indispensable to users.
While many SaaS companies focus on new feature releases or competitive pricing, the real power lies in control points - the things that keep customers locked in, drive retention, and ultimately increase lifetime value.
A control point is a feature, integration, or functionality that makes your product a core part of a user’s workflow - something they can’t easily remove without significant disruption. These create stickiness, ensuring that once a customer starts using your software, it becomes incredibly difficult for them to switch to something else.
In the accounting SaaS space, common control points include:
At Journey, we’ve seen the best accounting SaaS companies leverage control points to drive growth, reduce churn, and protect their market position. Some real-world examples include:
ApprovalMax integrates deeply with Xero and QuickBooks, ensuring businesses stay compliant with financial approval processes. Because compliance is not optional, ApprovalMax becomes a key control point for businesses that need structured approval workflows. Once an accountant or bookkeeper builds their approval hierarchy in ApprovalMax, switching away would require recreating an entire compliance framework from scratch - making it unlikely they’ll ever leave.
Pinch payments doesn’t just process payments—it integrates directly into accounting workflows, ensuring recurring payments, direct debits, and reconciliation happen automatically. Because payments are tied to cash flow and client relationships, moving away from Pinch would mean retraining staff, adjusting workflows, and dealing with potential disruptions to billing.
Dext (formerly Receipt Bank) processes invoices, receipts, and bank statements, pushing clean data into accounting systems. Their AI-driven automation, historical transaction data, and workflow dependencies mean that once a firm starts using Dext, switching to a competitor would be a major disruption, requiring staff retraining and risking potential errors.
It’s not enough to simply have control points - you need to market them effectively. Here’s how leading SaaS companies ensure their control points are front and centre in their sales and marketing efforts.
Many SaaS companies focus too much on features rather than the unique value they provide. Your messaging should highlight why your product is essential rather than just "nice to have."
Reinforce that your control points aren’t just a convenience—they’re the expected way of doing business in the industry.
If you’re not already using control points to your advantage, now is the time to start. Here’s a simple framework to assess and leverage them:
At Journey, we’ve seen firsthand how control points can be the deciding factor in whether a SaaS company scales efficiently or struggles with churn. Accounting SaaS companies that build strong control points—through integrations, automation, compliance, and workflow dependencies—will own their space, reduce competition, and create lasting customer relationships.
If you’re an accounting SaaS company, ask yourself: Are you making the most of your control points?
In 2024, Journey helped clients generate $17M in revenue, supported 180% growth for key accounts, and brought 20,000 attendees together across global events.
Year 2 as a business is in the books for Journey. It’s been a huge year of ups and downs and today I’m giving you the Journey WRAP!?
Like everyone else, I’m always motivated for a good wrap-up following my Spotify wrap, which we can all admit is the real OG for end of year reviews.
This year, the Journey team helped accounting SaaS orgs break records, navigate challenges, and achieve incredible milestones. From driving $17 million in client sales to bringing 20,000 people together across all the events and webinars, this has been our most impactful year yet.
When we started Journey, I’ll be honest, we didn’t really know what this was going to be.
I had 15 years of experience at my disposal, a long list of connections who I thought could use my help and an appetite to run something of my own, build it fast and build it big.
It’s a testament to our entire team. Collectively we’ve got 22 real-life humans (and 100s of AI bots) that are absolutely crushing it for our clients and new projects. I’m incredibly proud of everyone's contribution and importantly how much they all give a damn about the work they do.
A huge shout to both our APAC and EMEA teams. Liss, Jordan and I are in awe of the work you do and the fact that you love bringing your all to the business - it’s incredible to see.
We are open to welcoming new clients in 2025 and remain steadfast in our mission to help enable and scale accounting SaaS all over the world to grow revenue, brand and trust with accountants and bookkeepers.
I’ll now take a minute to share the wins, the lessons and the opportunities. If you’re not currently working with us - hopefully you’ll pick up a few things you can take back to your team.
Our team grew significantly in 2024, with 22 talented individuals now spread across the globe. Each new addition brought fresh ideas and skills, enabling us to push boundaries and deliver even more for our clients.
This year, we worked with 44 outstanding brands and companies across the accounting and SaaS industries.
These included global giants like Intuit, FloQast, Constant Contact, Sage, Change GPS, The Access Group, and Experian as well as industry bodies and media partners such as the ACCA, ABN, CAANZ, XU Magazine and AccountantsDaily.
Together, we’ve raised the bar for what’s possible in the accounting tech space and made a huge leap of clients we serve and were able to execute for in market.
Journey played a pivotal role in some of the biggest accounting industry events in 2024. From virtual summits to in-person conferences, our efforts brought together 20,000 attendees across the EMEA, AMER and APAC. These events were well-attended; they were highly engaging, impactful, and full of value for everyone involved.
One of our biggest achievements this year has been helping our clients reach new heights:
We’re incredibly proud of the results we’re getting for clients in market and look forward to bigger challenges to solve in 2025.
Too many brands are expecting sales/growth without putting in the hard yards of earning trust with the accounting community. I mean who do you think you are? These folks are inundated with countless late nights due to government changes, client queries and software updates (not to mention the price rises).
It’s important more then ever that you invest the time to build trust with this audience, add value to the community and showcase how you’re solving key challenges in their business operations.
Trust building comes down to:
This year proved that the right GTM partnerships can make a world of difference. Collaborating with other SaaS brands and accounting thought leaders helped amplify our clients’ reach and credibility.
Creating brand advocates and getting them in front of your customers is still one of my biggest and best recommendations for all accounting tech folks.
Letting customers tell your story is one of the most effective marketing strategies. Their testimonials and success stories drive trust and engagement like nothing else.
Another nod to my comment on brand advocates above.
Video remains one of the most powerful tools in marketing, and we saw this again and again in 2024. From social clips to customer interviews, video content drove strong results across campaigns.
We went hard at tools like Riverside to help bring this content to life and the results and impact as been staggering. With recent changes to Linkedin focusing on more video content, expect to see more of it in 2025.
This year reinforced the importance of clear messaging. Being clever is great, but clarity ensures your message lands effectively. Don’t over complicate, don’t try to be to smart.
Just tell me what the damn thing does and how it will help me, is the short answer.
You can’t rely on just one channel. Success comes from a balanced approach that includes email, word-of-mouth, sales enablement, and even product marketing.
Not enough companies are leveraging in product displays, messages and pop-ups to help communicate with your clients.
We rely so heavily on email marketing that you’re struggling to fit it all in your schedule.
You can’t be emailing clients and prospects 3-4 days per week, you’ll burn them all out.
While 2024 was a strong year, the industry as a whole missed out on a few key opportunities:
Excited to take the lessons from 2024 and build on them for an even bigger year ahead.
To our clients: thank you for trusting us with your goals and allowing us to play a role in your success. To our team: your hard work, creativity, and dedication have been the foundation of everything we’ve accomplished this year.
Here’s to making 2025 even bigger and better—together.
Signing off,
Trent, Liss & Jordan
Founders & Directors @ Journey
Journey announces a strategic partnership with Adfin, an accounts receivable & payments platform designed to help businesses get paid: faster, cheaper, easier.
Journey, the leading go-to-market (GTM) agency for accounting technology, announces a strategic partnership with Adfin, an accounts receivable & payments platform designed to help businesses get paid: faster, cheaper, easier. This partnership will help to launch Adfin’s platform to the market, available for use both by accounting & bookkeeping firms, and their clients.
Getting paid isn’t easy. Late payments, high payment fees, and fragmented systems mean that managing & chasing payments is a time-consuming and expensive exercise for many professional service businesses. Adfin plans to tackle this challenge by providing a single platform containing automated invoice sending, chasing, and reconciling, along with a world-class payment experience consisting of direct debits, card, and open banking payments, providing a complete solution for businesses to manage payments efficiently.
All of this is supported with a simple, no-nonsense, transparent pricing model. No tiers, no monthly fees, just a flat rate that will only ever come down. Read about Adfin’s ‘Transparency Manifesto’ here.
“We’ve been working with Adfin on some early product feedback and all of the signals suggest there is a strong need for this, both with accounting & bookkeeping firms directly and their clients’ businesses,” said Jordan Vickery, Global Director and Head of EMEA at Journey. “It’s an exciting product combining fragmented payment methods together into a single platform with some intelligent workflows for chasing and failed payment options. We’re excited to partner with them on their journey”
Tom Pope, Co-Founder at Adfin, added, “Partnering with Journey is a significant step in expanding our reach and impact within the industry. Their extensive experience and deep understanding of the accounting-tech market will be invaluable.”
Key features of Adfin include:
You can learn more about Adfin and get started here.
