Milestone Delivers Impactful Partnership; Reduces Days-To-Pay by 63% For Professional Services Firm Blind Zebra

“The biggest impact the relationship with Milestone provides for me is complete peace of mind. Even if we hired a full-time accounting team, I can’t imagine they’d do more for us than Milestone does right now.” Stephanie Neale, CEO of Blind Zebra

Situation

As a young and growing company, Blind Zebra needed experts in the accounting function. They had slow days-to-pay, inefficient practices, and a lack of financial visibility. 

Solution

Milestone implemented a best practices approach and new tech stack designed to increase operational efficiencies and improve the flow of information.  They also worked closely with the Blind Zebra team to design a customized reporting package and financial forecast.  

Outcome

Milestone delivered efficient processes and meaningful data that have translated into better cash flow, increased visibility and better overall decision-making. Blind Zebra’s days-to-pay has reduced from an average of 40 days-to-pay to 15. CEO Stephanie Neale describes the result of working with Milestone as “complete peace of mind.”

Blind Zebra is a sales and client success coaching firm based in Indianapolis. They have a national client base of over 130 clients. They help their clients improve their sales results, discipline, and hygiene through their coaching and sales operating system. Blind Zebra offers online training, in-person, situational, and custom training programs. 

CEO Stephanie Neale noted thatBlind Zebra was initially looking for help with bookkeeping and higher-level accounting. She stated, “We were really fortunate to find Milestone because we knew we didn’t have the knowledge or the bandwidth to manage our accounting function.”

Milestone has been able to grow with the Blind Zebra team. Since starting with Milestone, Blind Zebra has tripled their revenue and expanded from 1 to 11 coaches. Milestone’s infrastructure has been able to support this growth. Stephanie advises entrepreneurs to outsource those functions that are time consuming or not core to the business.  

“I see a lot of new businesses struggling with all the things that come with starting a new business. Offloading something like your accounting frees up so much mental space to put toward something else. Think about the missed opportunity cost of you, the CEO, learning and executing bookkeeping then focusing on propelling the business forward. I recommend finding an expert like Milestone, that has helped hundreds of businesses like yours.” Stephanie Neale,  CEO of Blind Zebra. 

Blind Zebra’s days-to-pay metric highlights Milestone’s impact on the business. Milestone’s implementation of best-in-class technology and proven best practices has reduced days-to-pay from 40 days to 15 days on average. Neale emphasized how this improvement made a signficant difference in the overall cash flow of the business. 

Milestone’s forecasting and technology have also allowed Neale and the Blind Zebra team to have constant insight into their cash flow. “Milestone’s technology has been extremely helpful.  We have a powerful forecasting tool the provides real-time visibility into my cash flow and even allows me to toggle between different financial simulations,” said Neale. 

Neale also pointed out that Milestone’s Controller is a part of her team. In Neale’s eyes, she is a Blind Zebra employee, too, and even gets invited to the Blind Zebra’s Christmas party. “Milestone and its employees value your business as if it’s their own.”