marketing & sales

five questions to help forecast your firm growth

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financial graph on blackboard

where is your next money coming from?

by martin bissett
passport to partnership

if i could give you one tip that would assure that you could predict your consistent practice growth, it would be to look at your calendar.

more: four key questions about leadership | does client perception match your firm’s reality? | firm not thriving? five fixes | five questions for grading prospects | health, wealth, stealth: challenges on the path to partnership | don’t let recurring fees kill your practice | rate your personal purpose | five ways to make selling easier | six keys to getting a proposal accepted | tell the world your worth | four surprising keys to communication | culture can’t be ignored | three questions about your competence | 10 can’t-skip steps for business development
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

 

you need to look at what is on your calendar and to look at today’s date and ask, “where is the money coming from this month?” look at what recurring fees you have, look at the value of those fees and what they bring in. then consider what would happen if any of those fees did not recur. look at what would happen if those fees dropped out of the equation and think about how you would replace that income.
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bissett bullet: complacency breeds failure

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today’s bissett bullet: low client attrition rates are not necessarily a barometer of great service.

by martin bissett

never allow your retention rate to lull you into a false sense of security. in truth, no one changes their accountants unless they need to, and very few feel that need because they are not often educated very well by competing firms as to the compelling reasons for change.

however, your clients are perpetually at risk from the advances of your proactive competitors, so minimize the liability with exceptional service. deliver more of whatever it is that they value the most about you rather than what you think your firm does well.

today’s to-do

ask the next 3 clients you speak to what it is they value the most about the service you offer. find out what exceptional service means to them. it may not be what you expect.

see more bissett bullets here

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four key questions about leadership

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businessman bursting through flames and fireworks

think of it as an upward spiral.

by martin bissett
passport to partnership

unhappy and difficult clients help our firms to improve our client management skills and present opportunities to refine our leadership skills.

more: four key questions about leadership | does client perception match your firm’s reality? | firm not thriving? five fixes | five questions for grading prospects | health, wealth, stealth: challenges on the path to partnership | don’t let recurring fees kill your practice | rate your personal purpose | five ways to make selling easier | six keys to getting a proposal accepted | tell the world your worth
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

 

it is tough for us to build a successful firm without difficult clients or internal personnel issues in order to provide learning experiences for us to build a robust and commercially successful infrastructure.
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understand the 10 steps of the buying process

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two men looking at computer screen

how to become a solution magician.

by august j. aquila
price it right: how to value accounting services

closing a business opportunity refers to the process of finalizing and securing an agreement with a prospective client. it involves bringing the negotiation or sales process to a successful conclusion and solidifying the commitment from both parties involved. the closing stage is critical because it marks the point where the decision to move forward with the opportunity is made, and the terms and conditions are agreed upon.

more: market technology services through workshops and training | service quality: the key to client retention | how life cycle changes your marketing | clients buy solutions, not features | make sure you know what you will get from your marketing | three pillars support a successful accounting firm | clients have six reasons for needing you | six ways to market your technology consulting practice
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

 

closing an engagement requires that you not only understand the selling cycle, but also the buying process that clients and prospects go through every time they are deciding to purchase something from you or from someone else. if you want to close more new engagements, it’s important for you to fully understand this.
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bissett bullet: what’s your story?

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today’s bissett bullet: “you need to be able to tell your story in a way that relates to potential future clients, either directly or via your marketing collateral.”

by martin bissett

but what do they want to know? what will convince them that they should work with you and, if the opportunity arose, could you demonstrate that when under pressure?

why is your firm successful? why have your clients chosen you and what major outcomes do you achieve for them?

today’s to-do:

consider the above and write it into just one paragraph. stick to the facts; don’t include cliches such as “big enough to cope, small enough to care.” read this back to yourself until you’ve memorized it and then practice telling your story out loud until it feels natural.

see more bissett bullets here

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does client perception match your firm’s reality?

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black cat statue and white cat statue, nose to nose

don’t know? time to see through their eyes.

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.

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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market technology services through workshops and training

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man training four people in office

eleven questions to help clients explain what they need.

by august j. aquila
price it right: how to value accounting services

there are two keys to developing new business. first, find out what your clients and prospects want and need. second, be able to get in front of them.

more: service quality: the key to client retention | calculate the cost of losing clients | eleven possible pitfalls of mergers | six ways to expand your client services checklist | ten questions to refine your successful marketing plan | four questions for choosing your marketing audit strategies | four steps to a successful email marketing campaign | five reasons to implement change orders | make your practice better
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

 

most accountants and consultants are quite good when they can get in front of them. the problem is creating opportunities to get face to face with clients and prospects. let’s talk about two methods of solving that problem: training and workshops.
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bissett bullet: be intentional

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today’s bissett bullet: “when you reach retirement and look back on your career, how would you like to be remembered?
as a trusted advisor who helped their clients in times of need perhaps?
as a leader who invested in and developed their people?”

by martin bissett

if you can’t define that, your career will be subject to external factors. you will get that promotion only if it is offered. you’ll get that pay raise only if it is offered.

start with the end in mind. your career goals may evolve over time but know this: whatever you decide, they are unlikely to happen unless you are intentional.

today’s to-do:

decide today what you want your career to be remembered for.

see more bissett bullets here

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do you deliver on your website’s promises?

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man viewing desktop computer screen

hint: 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: showing leadership through customer service | firm not thriving? five fixes | five questions for grading prospects | health, wealth, stealth: challenges on the path to partnership | don’t let recurring fees kill your practice | rate your personal purpose | five ways to make selling easier | six keys to getting a proposal accepted | tell the world your worth | four surprising keys to communication | culture can’t be ignored
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

 

you’ve seen all those, haven’t you? are these or similar promises on your website?
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service quality: the key to client retention

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smiling man talking on phone in office

bonus: a list of 10 best practices.

by august j. aquila
price it right: how to value accounting services

in an earlier post, i discussed the cost that firms incur because of poor service. you may recall that the firm in question (a $7 million firm) lost $435,000 because of its poor service quality. once it realized this, it took immediate steps to improve its service quality. here are four things that became more evident to the firm:

more: calculate the cost of losing clients | the secrets of great business developers | dodge the four curses of a production orientation | client acquisition never stops | ‘sales’ is not a four-letter word | maybe what you need is a marketing audit | three types of marketing message, and which is best | why you need progress billing | five tips for cross-selling and upselling | five keys to successful marketing
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

 

  1. the firm realized that when it comes to service quality, there is always room for improvement. the more you give your clients, the more they will expect . don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with this; it’s just a fact of life. the firm started to benchmark the best practices in service quality. a list of the best practices they identified is included at the end of this post.

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bissett bullet: what is your forecast?

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today’s bissett bullet: “what if i told you that if you boil it all down, marketing is nothing more than forecasting?”

by martin bissett

imagine you have a vertical and horizontal axis labeled probability and consistency.

if you decide to engage in a marketing activity that has a high probability of success, but your efforts are inconsistent, you’ll see a rollercoaster effect.

if you engage in more general activity with a lower probability of success with inconsistent effort, you’ve guessed it, you’ll see little to no results.

that same general form of marketing activity, executed consistently and frequently, by the sheer law of averages will generate a trickle of inquiries.

high consistency and high-probability marketing will bring an influx of new inquiries that can become fee-paying clients for your firm.

today’s to-do:

plot your current marketing activity. what is the highest probability method for your firm that you can commit to carrying out the most consistently?

see more bissett bullets here

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six steps to start value pricing

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change is inevitable. value pricing has reached this critical stage.

by jody padar
radical pricing – by the radical cpa

can you remember doing business before cell phones or social media? you really don’t have to be too old to remember because change happens fast. in fact, if you are over 50, you probably remember when every home had a landline, firms advertised in the yellow pages, and accountants charged hourly for mundane compliance tasks.

more: stop selling time | why pricing is so disruptive | the radical pricing model: start with $25k | three critical factors drive the value pricing trend | accounting disruptors are heading your way … with deep pockets | the convergence of trends makes pricing changes imperative | stop looking for talent that does not exist | advisory work must be priced by value, not hours
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

 

it really wasn’t that long ago when the internet was intriguing rather than indispensable.

at some point, change becomes inevitable, and i would argue that value pricing has reached this critical stage.

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calculate the cost of losing clients

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woman and man working with calculator

follow this simple formula.

by august j. aquila
price it right: how to value accounting services

although most of my posts deal with gaining new clients and bringing in new projects, it’s important to remember that the most valuable asset of any professional services firm is its clients.

more: the secrets of great business developers | how life cycle changes your marketing | clients buy solutions, not features | make sure you know what you will get from your marketing | three pillars support a successful accounting firm | clients have six reasons for needing you | six ways to market your technology consulting practice | sixteen marketing activities to try | the four steps of your personal marketing process
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

 

losing clients can be costly, but do you really know how much it can cost you? let’s find out.
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