The USP Light

A peer mentoring group for growth focused accountants.

Monthly mentoring is a great start for those who need ongoing support as you take your own journey of firm growth.

The great thing is that you will be surrounded by other firms in a similar position to you, and there's no tie-in so once you've got what you need, you can come-and-go as you want.  

We want to make the group as accessible as possible for whatever stage you are in your firm's development.  The cost of being part of the USP Light Mentoring Group is just £99 a month for this very reason.

The Upward Spiral Professionals is a global community of progressively minded accounting firms who wish to benefit from best practice in developing a 21st-century practice from both each other and the members of USP’s Expert Partners.

USP benefits from the unique experience of a seasoned and massively experience consultant to the profession with an unenviable track record in Will and Martin together with the first-hand experience of their combined expertise and knowledge of starting, growing and scaling a digital accounting firm.  This mix is largely unrivalled anywhere in the world.

We would welcome the chance to discuss USP and how we are helping firms grow revenues and profitability as well as provide them with a global network for cross border referrals.

How USP Light Works

What's included in the mentoring?

  • Insight from Will and Martin

    Members will join a monthly interactive session and gain insight from the combined experience of over 30+ years of working within the global accounting profession.

  • Get Your Questions Answered

    Each month, you will submit questions to be tackled and discussed as a group with the added benefit of Will's and Martin's experience to help you progress through your growth journey.

  • Share Experiences

    You will be part of a closed community of firms, in a safe place, to openly discuss topics with the peer group who will be learning and who are at a similar stage in their firm's growth.

How The Mentoring Group Works

USP Light is a structured group approach with monthly mentoring which is invaluable when you need ongoing support as you tackle growth of your accounting firm. It's an opportunity to ask questions, discuss any challenges you are facing and learn from both Will's and Martin's experiences of other firms in a similar position to you. The group involves:

  • Meeting once-a-month on a zoom open mic group webinar. Each call will last around 90-minutes.

  • The first 45-minutes of the session will be used to share insights and to talk about a particular issue.

  • There will be the opportunity to submit questions which we'll tackle and discuss with the group on the call.

  • During the month, you will be able to ask questions or get email advice on challenges you are facing right now in your firm.

  • Access to a closed community group to share experiences and get advice from Will, Martin and your fellow members

  • There's absolutely no-tie in so if you join and get what you need, you can come-and-go as you want.

Meet Martin Bissett

Founder of USP

Martin Bissett is the founder of the Upward Spiral Partnership (USP), the international consulting firm that specialises in enabling the accounting profession to win higher-end clients, create leaders from their ranks and save lives.

His professional purpose is to alert the accounting profession to the profound outcomes that their advisory expertise can create in the lives of their clients.

At the same time, he also alerts the accounting profession to the profound difficulties that can arise in the lives of their clients when they choose not to educate their clients about the impact that their advisory expertise can have.

The Upward Spiral Partnership is the 4th business Martin has played a key role in building and the first of his own. 

In the first 5 years of USP, Martin has: 

  • Been engaged/retained by 4 of the World's Top 10 Accounting associations and 6 of the Top 10 in the UK. 
  • Authored 9 books including Passport to Partnership, content from which has been adopted into the curriculum of AAT Level 3 courses, and taught in selected UK colleges and US CPA Societies.  
  • Been retained by Accountingweb as a judge of their prestigious practice excellence awards for three years in a row. 
  • Been highlighted as ‘one to watch’ in AccountingToday’s Top 100 Most Influential countdown for 2 years running. 
  • Spoken on 4 continents. 
  • Created several trademarked items of intellectual property including the ACCOUNTS™ system and ‘Martin’s Relationship Pricing™’ Model. 
  • Written for several professional publications including AccountingToday, AccountingWeb, CPA Practice Advisor and Chartered One. 
  • Sat on many international expert panels and guested on professional podcasts in the US, UK, and Australia. 
  • Sits on a parliamentary steering committee tasked with bringing advisory services to the fore in the accounting profession. 


The outcome of Martin’s work is profitable new business for the practices he is engaged by, alongside the fine-tuning of teams of partners and emerging leaders who can develop new business by increasing their commercial awareness for themselves, without significant ongoing third party assistance. 

Previously, Martin served 10 years as a director (appointed at age 26) on the board of a marketing consultancy firm serving the accounting profession. There, he held the responsibility for the growth of the client base including six of the U.K.’s top 30 accountancy firms. 

He now coaches, mentors, speaks, trains and consults with accounting firms worldwide.

In total, he has worked with over 1800 firms of accountants and found it unnecessary to keep track of his contributions to the new business growth of those firms once it surpassed £500m collectively. 

Meet Will Farnell

USP Regional Partner in the UK,
Founder of Farnell Clarke

Record shop owner and band manager through B2B sales is not the usual route to qualified accountant and business consultant but then Will is not your typical accountant. 

Will is the founder of Farnell Clarke, an innovative and pioneering accounting firm based in East Anglia and London, UK. He set up Farnell Clarke in 2007 having previously worked within a Big Four firm advising predominantly public sector bodies on efficiency and process improvement. From day one he had a desire for Farnell Clarke to be a different kind of accounting firm. 

Farnell Clarke has seen consistent growth averaging 36% year on year for over 10 years. The firm has been named Best Independent Firm (East of England) three times at the British Accountancy Awards, including in 2019, UK’s Most Innovate firm in 2016 and was awarded Medium Firm of the Year award at the Accounting Excellence awards in 2019. 

Back in 2008, Will saw an opportunity to utilise technology to drive efficiency and change the way accounting services could be delivered to clients. Farnell Clarke was one of the first 100%-cloud practices globally and the way Will deployed technology in the firm was a significant catalyst in the firm’s growth.

Will now uses the experiences acquired over the last 10 years as a tech-driven firm to support other firms in moving to a digital-based strategy. He’s regarded as one of the UK’s foremost thought leaders and speakers on accounting tech and the changing landscape and environment currently driving the accounting profession. 

Will is author of ‘The Digital Firm’, a blueprint for digital transformation within an accounting firm and is a regular engaging speaker and advocate for some of the leading UK and global accounting tech brands.


The Peer Mentoring Group for Accountants

Be part of a safe community of accounting professionals

  • Get over 30 years of insight and experience from Will and Martin working in the accounting profession
  • Get all of your questions answered on the monthly live calls
  • Be part of a closed community of firms and share best practice
  • Support on tap as your firm grows
    • £99 / per month

    What's Included?

    Additional Resources Included

    • 1

      Frequently Asked Questions

      • Frequently Asked Questions - An Introduction

      • Episode 1: What is the best way to follow up the first meeting?

      • Episode 2: How can I avoid coming across as 'pushy'?

      • Episode 3: What effective language & strategies can I use when meeting a new prospect?

      • Episode 4: Is there a specific sales funnel to convert leads into clients?

      • Episode 5: How do we best discuss pricing?

      • Episode 6: What is the best way of identifying prospects?

      • Episode 7: What’s the best way to market to prospects?

      • Episode 8: How much detail is needed with a prospect?

      • Episode 9: When is a lead dead?

      • Episode 10: The psychological approach of working with a potential client

      • Episode 11: How to get website enquiries to yield higher fees

      • Episode 12: How do accountancy practices frame what they sell?
    • 2

      New Clients NOW!

      • Episode 9 - Pipeline Building

      • Episode 10 - A.C.C.O.U.N.T.S.
    • 3

      Expert Interview

      • Paul Dunn - Giving Clients What They Want

    • 4

      The Practice Growth Checklist

      • The Practice Growth Checklist

    • 5

      Culture

      • USP Principle: Culture

      • Culture and Its Place in Your Accounting Firm

      • Farnell Clarke Personality Book

    • 6

      Stories from the Road

      • Episode 3 - Better Quality Appointments

      • Episode 8 - Gaining the Trust of a Potential Client

    FAQ

    • Does USP Light count towards CPD?

      USP's communities are designed to deliver value from decades of practitioner and consultant experience to firms all around the world.

      USP Light is a premium product and tends not to attract those who are in the market for CPD, especially cheap CPD, as these firms tend to be more concerned with box-ticking than with developing and growing.

      On that basis, an executive decision was taken to not offer CPD as part of an attempt to attract the right type of firm to USP.

    • Do you offer a guarantee?

      Communities and their learning content, of course, have one rate-determining step, which is the learner themselves. We cannot influence the learner's behaviours, we can only provide the content that is proven to work.

      Therefore, we can guarantee that our content when implemented works, but we don't offer a guarantee that you're going to implement it.

    • How much is USP Light?

      USB light is £99 per month without any time period.

    • How do you take payments?

      Through this website, we take payments via Stripe.

    • Is this a time-limited membership?

      There is no set time period for USP membership. We want members who want to be there and if they don't want to be there, we encourage them to leave.

      With that said, we do always like to see firms who want to commit to their own development and therefore, we offer a 10% discount in exchange for an annual membership being paid in advance. Please select which option you prefer when joining via this website.

    • Who else is in the group?

      The group is made up of professionals ranging from sole practitioners at 5-figures through to established firms at mid 6-figures who are looking to develop themselves, their team and their practice alike.

    • What type of firms are members and where are they based?

      USP Light is a blend of globally located firms with senior leaders and partners who are at the decision-making level, and who specialise in certain niche areas but also run general practices.

    USP Light Mentoring for Accountants

    Get the experience and support you need to support your firm's growth.

    £99 / per month