MD
"We closed 8 different clients in a single month, which we'd never done before."
Matt Dybing
CEO, Accounting Forward
Case study / Financial services
How we helped Accounting Forward sign 8 new clients in a single month
A fractional CFO firm built for 7-figure restaurant operators. $200K+ closed and 8 new clients signed in a single month.
$200K+
In closed deals
8+
Clients · 1 month
5X
Return on investment
Fractional CFO services for 7-figure restaurant operators.
Industry
Financial services
Headquarters
Minnesota, USA
Company size
2 to 10 employees
// The challenge
Growth tied to luck, not a system.
Accounting Forward had a strong reputation in restaurant finance, but every new client came from a referral or a partnership. There was no engine.
01
Pipeline depended on warm intros
Every new client traced back to a referral or partnership. Growth slowed every time word of mouth slowed.
02
No dedicated outbound function
The team was great at delivery but had never built a system for proactive client acquisition. Outbound was a blank page.
03
Saturated, generalist market
Restaurants get pitched by every accounting firm in the country. Standing out required precision targeting and a sharper message.
// The approach
Three layers of engineered outbound.
Infrastructure, data, and messaging built specifically for one tightly defined ICP: 7-figure independent restaurant operators.
// 01
Setup & deliverability
- Multi-provider sending stack across Google, Outlook, and dedicated SMTP
- Domain warm-up and inbox monitoring via HyperTide and AeroSend
- SPF, DKIM, DMARC and BIMI configured for every sending domain
- Daily inbox placement testing across 12 seed accounts
// 02
Data & targeting
- Built ICP filters in Clay layered with Serper.dev signal scraping
- Restaurant operator search across Yelp, Google Maps, and review platforms
- Revenue triangulation using employee count, location count, and POS signals
- Multi-source email and direct phone enrichment with Prospeo, Icypeas and Hunter
// 03
Messaging & personalization
- 20 plus copy variants tied to operator profile and restaurant type
- AI personalization at the first line, not just the subject line
- Language tuned to restaurant pain points: cost of goods, labor, prime cost
- Rapid iteration on opens, replies and meetings booked every two weeks
// The results
Five months of compounding outbound.
Repeatable performance, predictable meetings, and a clear ROI on every dollar spent on the program.
3 to 5
Qualified meetings booked per week
8+
New clients signed in a single month
5%
Average reply rate across campaigns
125+
Qualified leads generated
$150,000+
In new revenue closed
5X
Return on investment
// The outcome
From referral roulette to a predictable engine.
The 5 month program rebuilt how Accounting Forward acquires customers.
- Eight new restaurant clients signed inside a single month at peak
- Over $150,000 in new annual revenue committed
- 3 to 5 qualified meetings landing on the calendar every week
- A repeatable Clay enrichment workflow now owned by the team
- An always-on outbound channel running alongside referrals
- Founder time reclaimed from chasing intros to closing deals
// Key takeaways
What made this work.
// 01
Infrastructure first, copy second
Multi-provider deliverability and warm-up came before a single message was sent. Volume without inbox placement is just noise.
// 02
Targeting beats personalization
Clay plus Serper.dev let us isolate 7-figure independent restaurant operators with surgical precision. The right list closed before the right line did.
// 03
Iteration weekly, not quarterly
Reply rate, meeting rate and qualified lead rate were reviewed every Monday. Underperforming variants were killed within 14 days.
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