Build an Accounting Channel That Wins Business
Set up your GTM so customers buy - and actually switch on. I've built accounting channels from scratch at Xero, Soldo and Satago, so I work the whole job: winning the deal and getting the product used.
The gap costs more than you think.
Most accounting channel problems come back to two things. Partners who signed up and went quiet. And a sales team that hasn't made the shift from transactional to strategic.
The Stalled Majority
A large percentage of your signed partner base never completes onboarding or actively rolls out the software to their clients.
The Path of Least Resistance
Accountants default to legacy habits for complex work. They use new software for basic tasks, leaving your most valuable features untouched.
The Internal Alignment Gap
Sales teams are incentivised to hand over partners quickly. Customer success teams are left managing accounts that were never ready to grow.
The Resource Trap
You cannot afford white-glove service for everyone. Attempting to scale personalised training with limited headcount leads to inconsistent adoption and high churn.
Every hero needs a map.
From first suspicion to measurable results, in four steps. Diagnose, review, audit, intervene. Start free, commit only when the evidence says you should.
He came in with a clear-eyed view of the gap we had between firms connecting their accounts and actually doing something meaningful with their clients. Leigh brings genuine sector experience - he's lived these exact adoption challenges before. I'd recommend him to any founder in the accounting tech space who wants an honest, experienced perspective on where they're leaving growth on the table.Owen Burley, Co-Founder, AppVentory
High Impact
Channel build and GTM
I build accounting partner channels from scratch - positioning, structure, sales motions and the enablement to win business. I have done exactly this inside Xero, Soldo and Satago.
Activation and behaviour design
Winning the deal is half the job. I design the onboarding architecture, behaviour change and account management that get partners actually using the product - the part most vendors miss.
Ways to engage.
Every engagement starts with understanding what is actually going wrong. From there, you choose the level of involvement that fits the work.
Diagnostics
Every engagement starts with a diagnostic that finds your revenue leaks and tells you what to fix first. Three levels of depth:
- Channel Review - £500 + VAT
- Channel Audit - from £7,500 + VAT
- Channel Audit (Enterprise) - from £15,000 + VAT
Sales Enablement Partnership
For vendors whose channel team needs to sell more strategically. I embed alongside your SDRs and BDMs. I provide call listening, coaching, frameworks, and direct support, embedded in your team.
Implementation Projects
After your audit, you'll always have the choice to execute on the recommendations yourself, but you can also engage my expert team and carefully selected partners to deliver on the proposed interventions for you.
My range of services include:
- Process Design
- Behavioural Design
- Team Training or Coaching
- Direct Intervention with Key Accounts
- Development of Digital Assets
- Sales Enablement
Channel Intervention
If we both enjoy working with each other - and there's enough work to do - there is the option to work together more deeply through a regular, retained engagement.
This allows me to integrate deeper into your team and processes - as well as monitor our interventions and adopt a mindset of continuous improvement.
Some example use cases for this engagement are:
- Fractional Head of Accounting Partnerships
- Scaled Video Execution
- Continuous Optimisation
What people say.
Feedback from people who have worked with us directly.
“Not many people can sit in a room with accountants and immediately earn their trust. Leigh can. I carried his approach with me to Pleo, where it underpinned how we built a network of over a thousand partner firms. If you're a software vendor trying to get it right in the UK accountancy market, Leigh is who you need.”
“What stood out most was his ability to coach rather than simply manage. Leigh helped me unlock how to serve customers effectively and developed my confidence in customer conversations. Practical guidance that really helped me grow.”
Questions, answered.
What is partner activation for accounting software?
Partner activation is the work of getting accounting firms that have signed up as partners from keen at sign-up to actually using and recommending your product to their clients. It is distinct from recruitment - signing partners is easy; getting them live and active is where most channel revenue is won or lost.
Why do signed partners go quiet after onboarding?
Because signing up is a decision and rolling the software out to clients is a behaviour change, and the second does not follow automatically. Firms get busy, onboarding stalls, and your product slips down the priority list. It is rarely a product problem - it is a people and change problem, and it needs designing for, not hoping for.
What does a go-to-market consultant for accounting tech do?
For an accounting tech vendor, I build and fix the partner channel end to end - positioning, sales motion and enablement to win the business, plus the onboarding and behaviour design that get the product actually used. I have done exactly this inside Xero, Soldo and Satago.
How do you measure accounting software adoption in a partner channel?
By tracking how far signed partners get down the path from onboarded, to actively using the product, to rolling it out across their client base and recommending it - not just how many partners you have recruited. The gap between sign-ups and active, recommending partners is usually where the lost revenue sits.
We sell directly to accounting firms, not through partners. Can you still help?
Yes. Whether you sell through accountants as partners or directly to firms as your customers, it is still a channel into practices, and the same wedge applies: understanding how accountants think and buy, and bringing your commercial reality to it. The activation gap shows up in both motions.
Ready to accelerate your accounting channel?
Whether you are diagnosing a stalled partner base or building on a channel that is already performing, every engagement starts with understanding what is actually happening.
Book a Discovery CallNot ready for a call?
Drag yourself to the statement that fits best and we'll point you to the right next step.
A Channel Review is a focused, paid diagnostic that gets to the bottom of what is really going on, and where the biggest opportunity sits.
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