by sandi smith leyva
the accountant’s accelerator
here’s a quick exercise: choose any person in your work life or personal life. now think back to last few interactions you had with that person. recall what was said and classify your list into two groups.
what interactions, comments and questions did you have with your chosen person that were negative? here are some examples of things that are in the “negative” group: read more →
what’s on accountants’ cpe agendas this year? join the survey; get the answers.
by sandi smith leyva
the accountant’s accelerator
attending and learning from conferences can be amazing opportunities for your career or your business. they can also be huge money drains. it’s easy to take a look at the conference registration and make a quick decision about whether we can afford it – or even worse – whether it will clear our credit card limit or not. read more →
and how to set bold new goals for the next year.
by sandi smith leyva
the accountant’s accelerator
think back to this day one year ago for just a minute. where were you in your business? what were your revenues, salary and profits at that time? what were your clients like? what were your biggest issues?
if we don’t occasionally look back to take a snapshot at a point in our history, we may not realize how much we’ve accomplished in such a short time. i’m not much for dwelling in the past, but this exercise is tremendously useful for a couple of reasons: read more →
becoming a ‘trusted advisor.’
by sandi smith leyva
the accountant’s accelerator
here’s a question: what portion of your revenues are derived from compliance work – e.g., tax preparation and irs representation; bookkeeping; quickbooks setup, cleanup and training; payroll; and audit work – versus value-added work, e.g., revenue improvement, business consulting, profit margin analysis and workflow improvement projects?
if you answered 100 percent compliance work and no value-added services, you’re not alone. there’s a lot of lip service about moving from compliance services to becoming a “trusted advisor.” there’s an equal amount of confusion in how to get started.
here are a few tips to help those of you who want to move in that direction. read more →
what brain science tells us about how to work better together.
by sandi smith leyva
the accountant’s accelerator
we need to acknowledge that in the tax and accounting workplace, women do not understand men, and men do not understand women. it happens in dating, so it should not be a surprise when it happens at work.
this isn’t a new topic. but what we’re doing now is not working, or it’s working at a glacial pace. we actually lost ground during the recession years and are now going backwards. the statistics are even worse in small firms, where 80 percent of the talent pool are women but only 12 percent are partners.
luckily, we now know dozens of reasons why and have hundreds of tools and skill builders to help.
here are just a few revelations from emerging brain science: read more →
2015 is another opportunity to fine-tune your business.
what are you planning? join the survey; see what accountants are saying.
by sandi smith leyva
i was drawn to reading howard buffett’s new book because i am completely intrigued by huge social problems and figuring out ways to solve them. for buffett, who is a farmer at heart, the challenge is how to tackle world hunger.
one of the stories in the book (which is 40 chances: finding hope in a hungry world) has buffett listening to a lecture for farmers on how to improve their yield year after year. buffett recalls the speaker saying that one farmer, on average, will have a 40-year career from the time he or she starts working the land to the time to retire. on average it will be 40 harvests and 40 plantings. read more →
by sandi smith leyva
the accountant’s accelerator
if you don’t already have a domain name for your website (or you’ve never liked the one you have), here are eight tips on how to choose the best domain name that will help your site get found and help you get more business. read more →
…but only if you’ve done everything else first.
by sandi smith leyva the accountant’s accelerator
it’s likely your friends and peers are urging you to get on the social media bandwagon. hearing about social media is unavoidable these days. we have many clients who feel stressed about the whole topic. the stress or guilt comes in when they don’t really want to do it but their friends keep urging them to.
more on small-firm growth strategies: 5 ways to attract higher-quality clients | 6 biz dev metrics accountants should measure | 5 areas to improve client acquisition success | are accountants newsworthy? you bet! | when accountants don’t know they don’t know | seven hot lead generation methods for accountants | what stage of business are you in? | 8 essential ingredients for your new client welcome kit | 4 ways small firms can surpass larger firms | rebuttal: the 3 most unused marketing methods for accountants
i like to take a contrarian view with social media: i believe it’s not a cost-effective marketing tool for a majority of accountants. nevertheless, there are some very important exceptions where it can pay off big. here are some ideas just in case you can’t resist getting started in social media.
finding the sweet-spot for your target client.
by sandi smith leyva
the accountant’s accelerator
many accountants serve clients with extremely small businesses that gross six figures a year or even less. these clients are prone to being price-sensitive and often struggle with budgets and cash flow. if you’re serving these clients, you’re definitely meeting an important need in the marketplace, but you may also start to question your own prices, or worse, under-price your services. read more →
yes, you can do marketing with a spreadsheet and a checklist.
by sandi smith leyva
the accountant’s accelerator
one way to help accountants embrace marketing is to fill training sessions with spreadsheets and numbers, things that most accountants love working on. there’s a lot of insecurity around learning marketing, but when accountants hear they need to do some spreadsheets first, they dive right in.
more on small-firm growth strategies: 5 areas to improve client acquisition success | are accountants newsworthy? you bet! | when accountants don’t know they don’t know | seven hot lead generation methods for accountants | what stage of business are you in? | 8 essential ingredients for your new client welcome kit | 4 ways small firms can surpass larger firms | rebuttal: the 3 most unused marketing methods for accountants
here are six numbers we suggest you track: read more →
don’t bother with #5 if you don’t do #1, #2, #3 and #4 first.
by sandi smith leyva
the accountant’s accelerator
if getting new clients is a bit of a struggle for your business and you’re not reaching the revenue levels you desire due to too few clients, then the first step is to find out where the process is breaking down.
there are five main places: read more →
10 triggers for free publicity.
by sandi smith leyva
the accountant’s accelerator
as a marketing channel, public relations is one of my personal favorites. it includes getting mentioned in news or trade media and publications, having an article you wrote published or reprinted, applying for and winning awards, or otherwise being in the public eye for one reason or another. read more →
by sandi smith leyva
the accountant’s accelerator
early in my career, one of my favorite things to teach was maslow’s four stages of learning. i still think it’s one of the most valuable and profound pieces of information i have come across in my learning.
maybe you recall, too:
here’s how it applies to accountants: read more →