A Canadian partner shares his journey from zero to gold partner

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To help us countdown to Xero Roadshow Canada, we’ve asked some of our partners to share experiences of their first Xero roadshow, recommendations for like-minded advisors, and their journey to becoming a Xero gold partner.

This post was authored by Mark Lelievre, CPB and partner at McEvoy Lelievre & Associates.

Xero Roadshow is a must-attend event for my firm. It’s the perfect event to gain new insights about technology and solutions you can immediately implement, and you’ll get a chance to connect with peers and other cloud accounting leaders. For anyone who’s considering whether Xero is the right platform for your practice I wanted to share my first Xero Roadshow experience and how the event has helped our firm become a Xero gold partner 18 months later.

Starting the Xero journey

My journey with Xero began back in the fall of 2017 when we initially met with the local Toronto area team to learn about Xero and the benefits it could add to the firm my partner and I had recently started. We were extremely impressed by the presentation Teddy Sullivan and Ben Richmond put on and the care they took as they walked us through the product. While we were a bit nervous, we made the decision to move our own books onto the Xero platform in the fall of 2017.

After testing the tools and features that were important to us on our own company, we began onboarding clients in January 2018. To start the move, we held an initial consultation with each client and then moved forward to learn together as we transferred more and more accounts into Xero. Our clients loved the new visibility into their business finances, and we’ve experienced more frequent and meaningful collaboration with our clients than ever before. I would not be doing Xero credit if I didn’t mention how they were by our side through the entire transition and beyond. We continue to work with our account manager and the partner consultant team on a regular basis, and my business partner, Kris McEvoy, has even worked with the Xero team to provide suggestions for how to improve the product further for the Canadian market.

Our first Xero Roadshow experience

When we were asked to go to our first Xero Roadshow, Teddy approached us and wanted to feature our firm in one of his presentations at the event. At that moment, I knew Xero was the way to go and wanted all of our clients on the same program. Since that roadshow, we moved to the silver partner level and now, 18 months after my first entry in Xero, we are gold partners! We feel strongly about our achievement and the support we receive.

Where to get started with Xero

If I can offer advice to any other forward-thinking accountants and bookkeepers in Canada, it would be to embrace technology and promote it with your clients. The Xero Roadshow events are the perfect place to see the newest market and tech trends, all packed into a convenient half-day session. For anyone just getting started on bringing the cloud into your organization, you need everyone on board and to be forward-thinking in their mindset. Since the events are free to attend, what better way to get your entire team on the same page.

While we didn’t start our relationship with Xero from attending a roadshow event, we had the opportunity to connect and provide our personal experience moving our business on to Xero with hundreds of accountants and bookkeepers this past fall. If you are a believer like we are in everything Xero has to offer, then you can make others believers too.

Xero Roadshow will provide you with more tips and tricks for wherever you are in your Xero journey. The Xero Roadshow is coming to 13 cities across Canada starting in October. For event dates, locations, and to sign up for free, visit xero.com/ca/events/roadshow. The McEvoy Lelievre & Associates team looks forward to connecting with you there!

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