The Two Moves

01 · What you do

Two moves. Both work alone. Together they compound.

Buyers pay for predictable, transferable revenue. These two moves build it.

Move 01

Win-Back Engine

Work the book you already have.

Dormant clients, lost deals, ghosted inquiries. Your best pipeline, sitting untouched. Worked right, a real slice turns into recurring revenue at zero cost.

Why PE cares

Highest-margin revenue, zero CAC

Window

4-6 months

See how to deploy →

Move 02

Partner Flywheel

Turn adjacent providers into deal flow.

Wealth advisors, attorneys, bankers, fractional CFOs. They serve your clients and send work worth more than any cold lead. Premium firms have dozens, not a handful.

Why PE cares

System-driven deal flow

Window

6-12 months

See how to deploy →

02 · What it could mean

Understand the levers against your numbers.

Three inputs. Rough ranges to pressure-test each move. Planning, not a promise.

Your firm

Annual revenue

$

EBITDA margin

%

Current state

Specialization

Illustrative current range

$6.6M - $8.3M

At 6.0-7.5x EBITDA of $1.1M

Win-Back impact

+$190K-$360K

EBITDA contribution

Partner impact

+0.8-1.8x

Multiple shift

Illustrative range, post-deployment

$9.2M - $14.0M

At 6.8-8.5x EBITDA of $1.3M-$1.5M

Ranges from lower-middle-market accounting deals. For planning, not a forecast.

03 · Market context

Where firms transact across the spectrum.

Where firms trade in lower-middle-market accounting. The market buyers play in:

Firm profile	EBITDA multiple	Typical buyer
Generalist mid-market accounting	3.5 - 5.5x	Strategics, IBR firms
Generalist with strong CAS practice	5.0 - 7.0x	PE-backed roll-ups
Vertical specialist, founder-led	6.0 - 7.5x	Specialist roll-ups
Vertical specialist, channel-formalized	7.5 - 9.5x	PE platforms
Top-quartile (channels + retention + scale)	9.0 - 12.0x	Premium PE, growth equity

04 · How to deploy

The playbook. Take it and run it yourself.

Each move, step by step. Tools and scripts included.

Move 01 · Win-Back Engine

Work the book you already have

4-6 month deployment · 7-14% reply rates typical on warm segments · First impact in month 3

Steps

1

Audit the book

Pull dormant clients, lost deals, ghosted inquiries into one list. Sort by value. The top 200-500 is the work.

2

Find the upsell paths

Active clients: reprice, add advisory, bundle CFO work. Graduate the accounts that drain you.

3

Validate and enrich the data

Verify every email. Add phone and LinkedIn for the high-value names.

4

Build a real offer

Be specific. "We added X." "Want Y off your plate?" The offer is what lands.

5

Run it multi-channel

Email first. SMS the top 50. Call the top tier. Partners close, they don't chase.

6

Track and iterate weekly

Track replies, calls, closes by segment. Kill losers fast. Most lift hits weeks 4-12.

Tools you'll need

Your CRM

Karbon, HubSpot, Salesforce, whatever holds the book

Email validation

NeverBounce, Million Verifier, Zerobounce

Sending infrastructure

Smartlead or Instantly, proper deliverability stack

Phone enrichment

LeadMagic, Datagma, for SMS / dial

SMS platform

Twilio-based or salesmsg for higher-ACV outreach

Tracking dashboard

A simple sheet works, reply rate by segment, weekly

Example: the one-liner script

SMS · high-value tier Hey [FirstName], quick one. Is this still the best number for you on the [their inquiry]? We added [new service] recently and wanted to make sure you saw it before we close out the quarter. Worth 10 min?

Email · dormant client Hey [FirstName],
Realized we haven't talked in a while. We added [specific new service] this year, [one-line outcome it produces].

Wanted to check before year-end: still the best person on [topic], or has someone else picked it up?

[Sender first name]

Move 02 · Partner Flywheel

Turn adjacent providers into deal flow

6-12 month deployment · Compounding monthly · Defensible deal flow at scale

Steps

1

List adjacent provider types

Who serves your clients from another angle? Wealth advisors, attorneys, bankers, fractional CFOs.

2

Build the list (lookalike, not industry filter)

Seed one partner you trust. Find 30-60 lookalikes. Fifty great names beat five thousand weak ones.

3

Find the decision makers

Founder, partner, owner. Not associates. Get direct email and mobile.

4

Reach out relationship-first

Skip "we help with X." Try: "Same market, different angle, referral partnership?" Short and human.

5

Define incentives clearly

Two-way or revenue share. A number gets work sent. 10-15% of year one is standard.

6

Nurture monthly, track quarterly

Monthly check-ins. Quarterly reviews both ways. Your top 5 send 80%, reward them.

Tools you'll need

Lookalike list builder

DiscoLike, Clay, seed with one good partner

Enrichment

Clay or Apollo, direct emails for principals

Sending infrastructure

Smartlead or Instantly, 1:1 personalized cadence

CRM partner pipeline

Track which partners send which deals

Revenue tracking

Tie closed revenue back to source partner

Monthly nurture template

Short note, one win, one market data point, one intro offer

Example: the partnership email

Email · first touch Hey [FirstName],
Saw you work with [their ICP] from the [their angle] side.

We serve the same market from a different angle, [your specific angle, one line].

Curious if there's an opportunity to set up a simple referral partnership here. Two-way, or revenue share if that's easier.

Open to a quick call next week?

[Sender]

For Badger CPA

What buyers pay a premium for.

The two moves separate a firm that sells from a firm that sells well, built the way acquirers value a practice long before the term sheet.

Run the math

James · Krew

Prepared for Badger CPA

Questions on any of the numbers? james@krew.com