let’s lose the word ‘image’

it projects an infernal and involuted picture of things manipulated, unreal and untrue.

by bruce marcus
professional services marketing 3.0

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.

some years ago, in a remarkably successful marketing move, a graphic designer specializing in logos, letterheads and the like came up with the concept of the corporate image. a brilliant concept, but more mirage than image.

more: marketing a fixed position in a moving worldaccountants vs. lawyers: who wins the marketing battle? | professional services marketing requires flexibility | how to set marketing objectives | accounting marketing 3.0: new rules | nine fundamentals for a healthy marketing culture in an accounting firm
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

now one of the most successful operations in the marketing business, this company has managed to persuade its clients that corporate image is the key to corporate success. “image,” it seems, is the magic elixir. at many thousands of dollars a dose.
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bissett bullet: 30 years’ experience or 1 year’s experience repeated 30 times?

today’s bissett bullet: ‘is your client paying for the time it takes you to carry out the work, or for the value that your years of experience bring?’

by martin bissett

accountants started the timesheet expectation, not the clients. which other major purchase do we make based on how long it took to produce, rather than the value that it provides to us?

you spent a great deal of time and money developing your skills and gaining experience, so, let’s charge for value delivered rather than how long the work takes.

today’s to-do:

price your next proposal based on what you’d want to charge for it rather than how long it takes to do. is there any difference in the figures?

see more bissett bullets here

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marketing a fixed position in a moving world

three things to keep in mind.

by bruce marcus
professional services marketing 3.0

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 is no great mystique to the marketing concept of positioning. while it’s not as simple as some would make it seem, nor as complex as others would have you believe, it’s still very real.

more: accountants vs. lawyers: who wins the marketing battle? | the risk in not understanding risk | what your marketing program can and can’t do | nine reasons that prospects say yes | how marketing evolved to 3.0 | nine fundamentals for a healthy marketing culture in an accounting firm
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

like so many words used in marketing, positioning has come to be shorthand for some ideas that have come a long way in the pursuit of sound marketing practice. first popularized by ries and trout in their 1981 book, “positioning,” the concept took a basic advertising practice and codified it in a way that made it possible for other marketers to think differently about approaches to the market.
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want better clients? here’s how

five ways to find the sweet spot for your target client.

by sandi leyva
the complete guide to marketing for tax & accounting firms

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, underprice your services.

more: five ways to acquire more clients | get your name in the news | five ideas for more summer revenue | four ways small firms can beat large ones | why you need a link-in-bio tool | five emotional skills for entrepreneurs | transform your marketing with crm | five kinds of small thinking
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

the good news is that, on average, the higher revenues a company earns, the more likely they are to be a higher-quality client for you. owners with larger companies, on average, are less price-sensitive and less emotional about running their businesses. the sweet spot for many small cpa firms and bookkeeping companies is to attract clients from $1 million to $3 million all the way up to about $10 million to $20 million in annual revenues. so how do you get to these higher-quality clients? here are five ideas:
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four ways to prepare for new business development

it’s going to take practice.

by august j. aquila

i have often been asked, “what is the best way to prepare professionals to bring in new business?” i think the people who ask this question are trying to find an easy answer to a more complex issue.

more: ten keys to marketing success
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

unfortunately, there is no single approach that will do the job. now having said that let me offer you the following four approaches.
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accountants vs. lawyers: who wins the marketing battle?

does one size fit all? a slate of experts weighs in.

by bruce marcus
professional services marketing 3.0

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.

it’s not a race, nor are there prizes for the winner. but it has been suggested that the lawyers are light years ahead of the accounting profession in marketing.

more: the risk in not understanding risk | how to build a marketing culture | have you planned how to service your new revenue? | why is change so hard for firms? | why value pricing works | why competition matters most
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

it’s nonsense, of course. is one profession indeed better at marketing than the other? well, no. each profession is different, and to try to make the comparison would be an apples and oranges game. but silly as the idea may be, it opens a vast and intriguing question. are there significant differences between the professions that affect marketing? indeed there are.
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track six figures to test your marketing

it’s time to break out the spreadsheets. hurray!

by sandi leyva
the complete guide to marketing for tax & accounting firms

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: five ways to acquire more clients | get your name in the news | five ideas for more summer revenue | four ways small firms can beat large ones | why you need a link-in-bio tool | five emotional skills for entrepreneurs | transform your marketing with crm
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

here are six numbers we suggest you track:

1. closing ratio

as qualified leads come from your marketing efforts into your sales funnel, it’s a good idea to track how many of these leads you’re able to close into business. your closing ratio is the percentage of successes divided by the total number of qualified leads you make proposals to.
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make marketing more manageable

get the world’s best graphic template tools to create compelling designs.

by beth ziesenis
app of the week

most of us small business folks these days have to do our own marketing… and accounting…and dishwashing…

we’re responsible for a lot!

more apps of the week:  automate captions for videos | can’t read it now? save it for later | don’t lose precious memories: digitize old photos | track your mileage automatically | keep track of your subscriptions | capture testimonials to increase credibility | find an extra set of hands for time-consuming tasks | personalize communication and set yourself apart from competition | waiting to exhale (i.e., can april 19 hurry up?) |
see all: apps of the week here |
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

when it comes to graphic design tools and templates, there are numerous options with hundreds of benefits. however, one platform stands above all the others, in my opinion.

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ten keys to marketing success

target, pie chart, arrowwho is your ideal customer? how will you track your interactions?

by august j. aquila

if you recently passed the cpa exam, bar or other professional designation, congratulations. you put a lot of work and time into learning about the technical aspect of your profession.

more: firms must plan ahead for partner retirement | retiring partners are valuable assets | nine ways to handle partners with strong views | rate managing partners in six areas | five ways to keep your edge as a leader | managing partner: the toughest job in the world | why partners need written goals
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

unfortunately, what they didn’t teach you is how to build a professional practice, gain clients and understand client needs. these talents are just as important as being a good auditor, tax consultant or management consultant.
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the risk in not understanding risk

five steps for better protection.

by bruce marcus
professional services marketing 3.0

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.

risk. it’s amazing that so simple a four-letter word can be so complicated. there are risks with dire consequences and risks with negligible consequences. there is risk in every human enterprise; in every trade or endeavor.

more: how to build a marketing culture | professional services marketing requires flexibility | how to set marketing objectives | accounting marketing 3.0: new rules | nine fundamentals for a healthy marketing culture in an accounting firm
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

we take risks, in varying degrees (and sometimes unwittingly) every day of our lives. there is even risk inherent in getting out of bed in the morning. but what – on any level – does risk really mean? can risk be tamed?
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five ways to acquire more clients

laughing businesswoman talking on the phone in office in front of four monitorsbut don’t bother with #5 if you don’t do #1, #2, #3 and #4 first.

by sandi leyva
the complete guide to marketing for tax & accounting firms

if getting new clients is a bit of a struggle for your business and you’re not reaching the revenue levels you desire because of too few clients, then the first step is to find out where the process is breaking down.

more: get your name in the news | when you don’t know what you don’t know | eight things to give new clients | put your linkedin profile to work | what’s in a (domain) name? plenty | four tips for tough times | nine thoughts on self-marketing for the introvert | three questions for the new year
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

there are five main places:

1. client retention

are you keeping the clients you acquire, or are you experiencing too much churn in your client base? you can measure your retention rate year after year by computing the percent of total annual revenues that is due to repeat clients. if it’s less than 80 percent, then you are either in your first year of business or you have a problem.
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get your name in the news

10 triggers for free publicity.

by sandi leyva
the complete guide to marketing for tax & accounting firms

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.

more: when you don’t know what you don’t know | five stages of any business | five ideas for summer focus | leverage your client list today | need leads? try a quiz | now’s the time to clean up your email list
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

when i started a photography studio several years ago, i sent sample photos of my work along with a letter explaining my business to several news outlets. it was july, and in august, the sunday magazine supplement to the dallas morning news picked up the story and published my samples. they were portraits of cats and dogs, and my phone rang for days. within a week, i was booked through christmas, and my business broke even a year ahead of time because of that one piece of publicity.
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10 can’t-skip steps for business development

young black businessman looking at his reflectionbonus: 10 questions to check your comfort level.

by martin bissett
understanding selling

i’ve been asking you to believe in yourself, to get your potential clients to open up to you, and to demonstrate to them the outcomes that working with you and your firm would create in their personal and professional lives.

more: three things that rich accountants do | make your expertise a new-client magnet | don’t think of it as selling | experts: what it takes to become partner | where is your next money coming from? | your website promises. do you deliver? | five reasons firms don’t thrive | good enough is not enough
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

now here’s a checklist for you to run through before you begin your next business development initiative, and before each new business appointment that you have.
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