As a growing accountancy practice, Cheshire based Carter Clear Accounting is focused on delivering professional, transparent services to their clients, and this includes clear and transparent pricing.
Founder, Caroline Carter, shares how Socket has helped their practice bring consistency to pricing, made proposals clearer for both their team and their clients, and removed their proposal bottleneck.
Why Carter Clear Accounting Made the Move to Socket
Before switching to Socket, the team at Carter Clear relied on an Excel pricing calculator alongside another proposal tool, but the setup was not quite the right fit for the team, meaning all proposal activities landed on Caroline’s shoulders.
“We were tired of juggling between our own Excel calculator and the Ignition platform, which was both expensive, inflexible, and overly complex. It just felt like we were paying too much for something that wasn’t quite right for how we work.”
“I was the only one who could actually pull a proposal together, which meant it all bottlenecked with me”
Fixing the Bottleneck and Empowering the Team
Caroline shared that with Socket, proposal creation became a shared responsibility for the Carter Clear team. The platform’s pricing logic and service drivers allowed the team to reassess their pricing, and build consistency and transparency into every proposal.
“The pricing logic and drivers have been the standout features for us. They’ve made it so much easier to create proposals that are consistent, scalable, and transparent.”
“Now that our pricing and service drivers are built directly into Socket, everything is more consistent. It’s taken the guesswork out of pricing, which makes things fairer for clients and easier for the team.”
Socket’s pricing functionality has helped Caroline tighten up her pricing methodology, and start to handover these tasks to other team members. The fit is natural and Socket will now become a key part of team onboarding.
“Now, we’ve got another team member confidently preparing and sending proposals, and a second one about to start. That’s three out of five of us who can handle it, meaning I can actually take a day off without the whole thing grinding to a halt.”
“We’re planning to build Socket training straight into our onboarding. With the new Approval Workflow feature, any team member can now confidently use the platform, so it’s become a core part of how we work, not just something only I touch.”
Carter Clear’s Results:
Time saved & capacity gained
Caroline shares that proposal preparation no longer depends on one person, freeing up hours of her time every month. Plus proposals can now be created in minutes, or even in front of the client live in a meeting.
“It’s saved us a lot of time on proposals and completely removed the bottleneck we had before, which has freed up hours each month. Proposals used to take us around 30 minutes to pull together. Now, we can create them live during a proposal meeting if we want to.”
Accuracy improved
Socket has helped Caroline to reduce errors and missed opportunities while improving conversion rates.
“In the past, we’d occasionally make errors or miss out on income in proposals. The way Socket lays everything out in clear sections forces us to properly review each area, which has improved accuracy. Our conversion rate has gone up slightly too, and we’re getting far fewer follow-up questions, Socket makes everything crystal clear for the prospect.”
Client clarity
Carter Clear’s clients now see exactly what they’re paying for and why.
“Clients much prefer it to our old system, it looks more professional, it’s clearer, and it speeds everything up.”
Final thoughts
Caroline is happy with the switch - not only are proposals faster, more accurate, and crystal-clear for clients, but with Socket’s pricing logic as a safety net, Carter Clear can stand by their fees with confidence and transparency.
“I was one of those accountants who moans about being undervalued and underpaid, so I’m saying this from experience. Socket has genuinely helped with that. Having a solid pricing logic in place means I’m not pulling numbers out of thin air anymore.”
“It becomes your safety net. When someone questions the price, I can go back and say, “Here’s the breakdown, what do you want to take out?” Every detail’s there. It gives you confidence to stand by your fees, without the awkwardness or second-guessing.”
Curious how Socket can work for your practice?
See it in action here.
