today’s bissett bullet: “‘businesses like what we have to say, they just don’t want to change their accountant.’ really? then why were they talking to you?”
by martin bissett
so often we make excuses for why we did not win work and why we did not have the guts to go through with actually asking for the business. i get told so often that a prospect does not want to change their accountant.
there are only two possibilities here:
1. either they were wasting your time, unlikely, or
2. they did not have a strong enough case for changing, likely.
if that is the case, revisit exactly what is involved in your conversation with the prospective client because you were not there for the sake of their health. you were there to discuss them coming to work with you. if they do not want to change, ask yourself why not?
today’s to-do:
if you were to be honest with yourself, how many prospective clients really do not want to change their accountant, and how many just did not see the reason to? now, on that basis with that reality confronted, be stronger in your next meeting with a prospective client.
if you’ve spent any time at all in business talking with prospects on the phone or in person, then you probably have a list of benefits or advantages that you like to mention about your company to every prospect. you may have a very structured way of going about this, and you may not.
in any case, building a prospect kit will help you become even more consistent in the presentation of your company’s strong points to prospects. and, it’s absolutely essential as you move into larger and larger business deals.
today’s bissett bullet: “we talk a lot about what we could do for clients. we talk a lot about what we should do for clients and what we would do for prospects. what we don’t often talk about is what they need right now.”
by martin bissett
what if you found out what challenges they face now, what they want to achieve now and how you could help immediately to help them really accelerate their business? the “now” accountant is one who deals with fast fixes that make a huge impact for that client.
today’s to-do:
do you know of anything your clients are facing right now for which you could offer a quick and effective solution? let them know about it. if you do not already offer a solution, what new value could be created to meet that immediate need?
your firm’s value proposition is not what you say. it is what your clients and prospects perceive. perception is reality. here are some proven ways to identify your firm’s real marketable value.
ask your clients: it is not so easy to “be in the customers’ shoes.” you will be surprised how you can gain immense insights from your clients – about how they perceive and experience your service and how they feel; what they find of value and what they feel frustrated about. don’t guess, don’t assume, just ask them. it is easy to conduct customer surveys online (e.g., surveymonkey has a free version that allows you to collect 100 responses; google forms are also free to use). identify the most common positives and negatives that emerge from survey data to be able to improve your marketing and customer experience.
while most accountants and consultants struggle with trying to sell their services to the next new client, there are two ways to get new and additional business without moving too far out of your comfort zone.
one way is cross-selling and the other is upselling. cross-selling is persuading a client to buy other products or services to complement a purchase. upselling encourages a buyer to purchase a higher-end, more expensive product or service. read more →
editor’s note: 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 was privileged to have a long relationship with bruce w. marcus, who was ahead of his time in his thinking and practice in marketing for accounting. we are publishing some of the late expert’s evergreen work, which retains wisdom for the present.
there’s a wonderful cartoon in which a guy in a business suit is looking over the shoulder of an artist at his canvas. the caption, spoken by the artist, is “i used to dabble a bit in accounting, too.”
then there’s the guy who said to me, “if you’re smart enough to be a lawyer, then you’re smart enough to do your own advertising.” to which i replied, “yes that’s true. you’re also smart enough to be a nuclear physicist – but it doesn’t make you one.”
there’s the guy who read a book about tightrope walking. he knew everything about tightrope walking – except how to do it.
the point is that while marketing may not be nuclear physics, it does have its craft, its artistry, its techniques, its experiences and its history. and if you’re not within the realm of all those things and more, you don’t know much about marketing. marketing mythology doesn’t count for much. read more →
today’s bissett bullet: “we all use the same technology and the offer is very consistent so what sets us apart is our people.”
by martin bissett
if the tech is the same as our competitors, then it is our identity, the culture in our firm that sets us apart. you can have the best strategy in the world, but without the culture that engages people to deliver on your vision, it won’t work.
take a look at the culture of your business. does it reflect your vision and values? do your people know what the vision and value are and how do they reflect them? have you created an environment where they are happy to spend up to half of their waking life?
a happy, engaged, loyal team who understand what you want to be known for and are motivated to deliver that will result in greater retention, reduced recruitment cost and outstanding client experiences.
today’s to-do:
ask a team member at random what it is they think you most want your firm to be known for. do they know? do you know?
over the years, many partners have told me about their struggles to grow their firms proactively, the main one being that they feel they must sell, which goes against the grain for them. have you ever felt that way?
perhaps you’ve never had to sell before, and it is taking you way out of your comfort zone. you are entering into unfamiliar territory, that alien landscape called “selling.” read more →
karen reyburn wants accountants to stop thinking “about marketing as this one-off thing where you tick little boxes,” but instead about the ways you can use your marketing to connect to the human experience. her company, the profitable firm, or pf for short, has been helping accountants with their marketing since 2012.
in reyburn’s view, marketing is closely connected to the business. “if you have a marketing problem, you have a business problem. if you have a business problem, there’s often a marketing solution that can help with it.”
this book springs out of a pf coaching group called the accelerator, where participants were guided through a process of creating a structured approach to content marketing that made their marketing better. reyburn and pf take a collaborative approach to marketing. “we don’t do marketing for people,” she explained. “we do marketing with them.”
we asked about sales and marketing methods as part of the accounting profession’s largest cas survey. among firms offering client accounting services, the chief means for gaining new cas business is “proactively seeking referrals” and the firm’s “website,” each at 48 percent. networking at local/regional/national events follows at 35 percent.
today’s bissett bullet: “some of us are compliance providers only and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that if that’s what you want to do, but beware of what is happening elsewhere.”
by martin bissett
there are no two ways about it, tech is coming for your job if your job is compliance-based. software companies want you to upload data to the cloud so that they can see what it is you do and create ai solutions for your clients. will there still be compliance work out there? of course, but whether or not it will be at a rate you are happy working for is yet to be seen.
this is solely a threat in terms of those clients who only have compliance needs. if you are a firm that is reliant on that work, now is the time to build a pipeline that brings you bigger and better clients. if you are already at the advisory stage then you cannot be replaced by tech. in fact, many firms that already go beyond compliance have written themselves into their clients’ strategic plans for years to come, because they are recognized as critical to that plan and an integral part of the business operation.
today’s to-do:
take a look at your current client base. if you took your compliance-only clients out of the equation, what would you be left with?
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