01 · The Challenge
Before Anchor, the accounting team relied on QuickBooks as its primary invoicing and payment tool. Invoices were pushed to clients manually, and payment collection depended on clients acknowledging and acting on those invoices. When clients did not, the follow-up cycle began.
"We were looking for a solution that really understood professional services as a category, so accounting, HR, consulting. We found that the invoicing tool and ability to communicate on the platform was really a good fit for our industry.”
Brian Luciani, Chief Growth Officer, SMB Franchising
The firm's billing workflow required manual intervention at every step. Invoices went out through QuickBooks, but payment did not follow automatically. When clients did not pay promptly, someone on the team had to follow up. That meant the back-office staff spent consistent time each month chasing outstanding balances, handling reconciliation, and managing journal entries.
The problem extended beyond the accounting team. When AR follow-up volume built up, the firm had to re-engage its sales team to reach out to clients directly. That pulled salespeople away from winning new business and redirected their time toward resolving billing issues with existing accounts.
The firm estimates this combination of AR follow-up, manual reconciliation, and information intake consumed roughly 10 hours per month across key team members, and there was no single view to track where every client stood at any given point.
"It would force us to reengage the sales team to reach out to clients. Instead of going to win new business, they were having to deal with old business.”
Brian Luciani, Chief Growth Officer, SMB Franchising
02 · The SolutionWhy Anchor
SMB Franchising Advisors came to Anchor through a referral from another professional services firm. Before making a decision, the team evaluated several AR tools. Most of the options they reviewed were built to do too much, bundling project management, account management, and billing into platforms the firm had no need for.
Anchor stood out because it was purpose-built for professional services workflows. The focus on AR specifically, without requiring a broader platform adoption, matched what the firm was looking for. The platform's fit for accounting, HR, and consulting firms gave the team confidence it was the right choice.
"A lot of tools that are out there are trying to do everything from account management to project management to billing management. But we really only needed something focused on AR, and that's why Anchor came to the top.”
Brian Luciani, Chief Growth Officer, SMB Franchising
Implementation
After moving to Anchor, the firm migrated its client base to the platform. Because clients connect a payment method when they sign an agreement, they do not need to take action each time an invoice is due. Clients who migrated reported a positive experience. The addition of credit card as a payment option also offered flexibility that the firm's previous QuickBooks setup could not provide.
"Clients who we migrated over to Anchor have all had a positive experience because they don't have to think about it either.”
Brian Luciani, Chief Growth Officer, SMB Franchising
03 · The Results
Direct Saving
The impact was concrete and spread across the team. Three outcomes stood out:
* Approximately 10 hours saved per month, based on the firm's own estimate, across AR follow-up, manual reconciliation, and information intake
* AR now resolves within the first week of each month. Any outstanding items are addressed early rather than carrying forward unpredictably.
* Uncollected AR dropped to near zero. What had been a persistent, institution-wide collections problem no longer exists.
"We're getting paid faster, we're getting paid directly, and it's all at a very reasonable cost.”
Brian Luciani, Chief Growth Officer, SMB Franchising
Anchor's QuickBooks integration eliminated manual reconciliation and journal entry work. Payments collect automatically, tied to the signed client agreement, and sync to QuickBooks without manual re-entry. The Anchor dashboard gives the team a real-time snapshot of where every client stands, making it straightforward to manage a large and active book of clients.
The benefit extended to the sales team as well. With the back-office staff handling client payment communication directly, salespeople regained time that had previously been diverted to collections. That time now goes toward winning new business. The firm has the bandwidth to take on additional clients as a direct result.
"If you're thinking about trying Anchor, I would say do it. The team has been on multiple support calls, especially as some unique billing situations came up or as we change relationships with clients. Really having that support team as we build out our client onboarding strategy has made it very worthwhile.”
Brian Luciani, Chief Growth Officer, SMB Franchising
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