stop devaluing yourself and the profession.
by martin bissett
passport to partnership
the thing about accountants is that they occupy, should they wish to, a unique position in the minds of their clients. we know it as most trusted advisor.
more on the passport to partnership: how to create an upward spiral | it’s not the challenge, it’s your response | what challenges really mean for partners | commitment: your view and your firm’s | businesses place value on expertise | what conversion really means for partners | communication: it’s not about you
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simply put, if you are a trusted advisor, you’re supposed to
- be good at what you do,
- run your own business successfully and
- be well worth your fee.
on the presumption that all of the above are true, please, for me, can we please stop?
- the needless discounting and lowballing of quotes as if you wouldn’t get the engagement if it were priced correctly and so prefer to create a false and detrimental impression of your worth right from the outset.
- discounting when a new piece of work is required by a client. if we’re asked to do extra work, the client presumably rates us for the work already done. reflect that value in the fee.
- discounting when a client disputes the bill. did you set realistic expectations at the start? good, charge full value. what are they going to do, leave? if you’ve sprung the bill on them, no wonder they’re annoyed, in which case discount and feel lucky to have kept them. don’t make that mistake again.
- saying accountants are boring in an ironic self-acknowledgment of the commonly held myth surrounding the profession. you’re not boring and by trying to curry favor by employing self-deprecating humor we’re just perpetuating the myth. don’t perpetuate it, disprove it.
- hiring marketing support staff who know nothing about professional services and have no track record. it’s unlikely that what worked in their last role in wine retail will work for “trusted advisors.” the appointment will cost money, not create it.
- taking six weeks to get back to a potential new client after the initial meeting. the excuse “we’re so busy” doesn’t tell the client that our firm is in demand; it tells them that they are likely to receive a service as crappy as the one they are getting when they are supposed to be in this “courting” phase with us.
- saying you convert 95 percent of opportunities once your foot is in the door. you’re talking about referrals and we all
convert 95 percent of those. marketing brings about non-referred opportunities, ones that we have to sweat to get but would’ve been unlikely to have gotten any other way. twenty-five percent of those converted is good going initially. - claiming low client attrition rates as a barometer of great service. no one moves accountants unless they need to and very few know why they need to because they are not educated very well by competing firms. our clients are perpetually at risk; minimize the liability with actual good service as in, what the clients values about us rather than what we think is good about us.
- the political infighting with your peer-level colleagues. this is a team game.
and now that i’ve got that off my chest…
please start understanding, valuing and respecting your own value in the marketplace with clients who could not reach their goals without you. businesses are in need, sometimes desperate need of your technical expertise and caring approach. take that to them instead because, speaking as one who is looked after well myself, we love it and we are
prepared to pay a premium without ever asking for discounts.
one response to “9 things to stop doing now”
jenny lau
bravo! my exact sentiment. thanks for writing this piece. we need to band together like doctors and attorneys do in their professions. demand our worth from clients and stop whoring ourselves to low fees.