marketing & sales

avoid the funhouse mirror effect.

by martin bissett
business development on a budget

there used to be an old exercise used in training sessions about customer relations or selling or leadership that went like this. the trainer would ask the group to think about the color green. a few seconds later he would ask them what type of green they were thinking of, and of course there would be many variations of green.

more: your website promises. do you deliver? | a lesson in customer service and reputation | prioritize your prospects | consistency is key to business development | five questions about your network | seven things that good advisors skip
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the point is that, as the saying goes, perception is reality. whatever each person perceived as green, that would be the reality for them – but it would be different for each person in the room.
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how to use marketing to build for the future.

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.

to put it simply, professional services marketing is a process that’s designed to bring a firm and its prospective clientele together. more than just accumulating clients, the effective marketing program helps shape and secure a practice that’s relevant to the dynamic needs of both the firm and the clients it serves. more than a collection of marketing activities, marketing is a process.

more: why is change so hard for firms? | how marketing in accounting has evolved | how marketing evolved to 3.0 | why value pricing works | accounting marketing 3.0: new rules | accountants don’t sell soap. | why competition matters most | nine fundamentals for a healthy marketing culture in an accounting firm
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the process, essentially, may be perceived in four parts:

1. define the market.
2. define the service to meet the needs of the market.
3. define the tools of marketing to be used to reach and persuade the market.
4. manage the tools.

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if not, undercharging might be to blame.

by martin bissett
business development on a budget

there’s an overall sameness to the majority of accounting firm websites, and typically they make a lot of promises – promises like

• we’re big enough to cope and small enough to care, or
• we are proactive, or
• we’re not just bean counters, or
• we have your best interests at heart, or
• your business is our business.

more: a lesson in customer service and reputation | 10 questions for reconsidering your prices | would you make yourself a partner? | a list is not a pipeline | prepare the next generation now | are you committed to your firm? | nine points to check before hello
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you’ve seen all those, haven’t you? are these or similar promises on your website?
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from the 1.0 of bates to putting the client first.

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.

we live in a dynamic world, in which constant motion of events and social and economic structures continually alter the state of many activities and circumstances. for example, the advent of the personal computer in 1981 changed the way trade and commerce were done. this altered the nature of financial structures, industrial practices and communications. but it also gave rise to new laws and new needs in accounting and finance. it created a new business environment that affected all participants in the cycles.

more: how marketing evolved to 3.0 | why value pricing works | accounting marketing 3.0: new rules | accountants don’t sell soap. | why competition matters most | nine fundamentals for a healthy marketing culture in an accounting firm
exclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

it’s an ongoing cycle that generates new problems and needs in many disciplines, including law and accounting. new financial instruments, new laws and regulations, new technology that accelerates the pace of doing business, growing internationalism, the expanding body of knowledge in so many areas and the rapidity with which it can be organized and retrieved, new demands from client – all substantially change the demands upon lawyers and accountants, and therefore, the structures and practices that professionals must adopt to stay abreast of their own clients.
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… and how to solve them.

by martin bissett
passport to partnership

a big concern in recent years has been how the incoming partners will purchase equity or fund the capital account and exit of a retiring partner.

more: prioritize your prospects | would you make yourself a partner? | a list is not a pipeline | prepare the next generation now | are you committed to your firm? | nine points to check before hello | why clients struggle with growth | nine biz-dev metrics for making partner
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much has been written that examines the mathematical complexities of this topic but the bottom line is simple. would-be partners in the age demographic of 28-42 are part of a generation who are already heavily borrowed in the form of credit card debt, mortgage debt and other forms of personal loans.
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change is a result; evolution is the process.

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 difficult to understand, in this economic environment, why the word change looms so large in professional services dialogue. the nature of the professions, rooted as they are in history and tradition, can be fairly rigid, and resistant to innovation. but the times seem to have accelerated the need for new ideas and structures to cope with new economic and social problems and opportunities.

more: why value pricing works | accounting marketing 3.0: new rules | accountants don’t sell soap. | why competition matters most
exclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

the accounting profession, even as we know it today, is practically prehistoric, and is now so bound by traditions, rules, regulations and laws that any suggestion of serious structural change is seen as a virtual assault on the professions. the codification of laws and the legal profession go back about as far, and are just as resistant to innovation. in both cases, the rigidity in the professions is designed to maintain integrity and probity, as well as efficiency in firm governance. if the nature of products allows for constant and rapid change to match changing tastes and fashions, the nature of professional services requires a measure of uniformity and predictability. but now, there are cracks appearing in the wall. the potential for conflict between the ethical rules and their protection of integrity, and the need for successful competitive marketing, can be intense.
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