when resistance is futile

old-fashioned accounting marketing dies slowly in a painful journey to a new era. by bruce w. marcus professional services marketing 3.0 in the years following bates, accounting firms began a long and difficult process of learning how to market. accountants were … continued

a case study in using linkedin

by hitendra patil
pransform

do you feel your social media efforts are not really profiting you the way you expected?

ask the question “what is the one most important thing in the internet world?” and the most common answer you will get is “relevancy.”

let’s take the example of what you are doing right now. you are on the 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 website because you have come to trust that it really gives you relevant actionable intelligence — so you revisit many times to benefit from the fresh insights relevant to you and your profession. read more →

15 reasons why accounting marketing isn’t like selling toothpaste

it’s not the product marketing they teach in college.

by bruce w. marcus
author of professional services marketing 3.0 

accountants have historically not been concerned with the market. they are concerned with being good accountants, and meeting their own personal needs for professionalism. they are concerned with merely getting clients. that was sufficient pre-bates, but not now, because it’s not a competitive approach in a seriously competitive environment. read more →

why now is the perfect time to plan for a most excellent busy season

screen shot 2013-09-21 at 10.10.32 am

by sandi smith leyva, cpa
author of free download:
“10 keys to doubling your revenue”

it’s easy to get sidetracked by politics this year and simply wait to see what’s going to happen in the tax arena.  i hope you don’t fall into that trap, though, because there has never been more opportunity in accounting and tax than right now, and now is the time to start preparing so you can make the most of next year’s busy season. read more →

how to survive as the future unfolds

are you ready for the new age of professional services marketing 3.0?

by bruce w. marcus
professional services marketing 3.0

professional services marketing 3.0? this from someone who has written, spoken, railed against jargon and gimmicks?

well, yes, because in this rapidly changing economic environment, intensely competitive landscape, and highly charged computer age, it’s the best way to define significant evolution from one distinct period to the next. but, that’s exactly what’s happened – and is happening – with cpa firms. and in management practices, business models, and structure as well. read more →

the five essential skills accountants need today

above and beyond accounting, you need business know-how.

by sandi smith leyva, cpa
accountant’s accelerator

we’ve worked super-hard on gaining our accounting, tax, and auditing skills.  those skills alone will keep us working as employees for someone else, but what if we want to go out on our own or grow our business beyond what we have now?

more for soloists and small firms: the seven essential components of a simple marketing plan for accountants  | take six big steps to go beyond compliance services     |     when your business needs to be rebooted  |   two steps to easy cross-sells   |   the hot new tech product for automated data entry   |   five value-add service areas to take you beyond bookkeeping   |   six money-making strategies to take you beyond quickbooks   |   proactive ways to get more referrals   |   the three biggest money leaks in your practice   |   new client opportunities with mobile apps   |   six questions to launch your summer strategy sessions   |   what most accountants miss in the five simple steps to get more clients   |   accountants, do you know your opportunity number? | five ideas to reduce client price-sensitivity | rise to the top with a fresh elevator speech | four ways to practice entrepreneurial perseverance | 5 mistakes to avoid when seeking new clients  | the top 12 business card blunders accountants make | seven tips to keep the clients you have | how to attract clients like a magnet | eleven easy ways to deliver more value to clients

here are five skills to consider adding to your toolbox so you can get ahead faster. how do you rate in each of these areas?

read more →

getting to the next stage

sometimes change is improvement – sometimes it isn’t. but it’s always inevitable. by bruce w. marcus professional services marketing 3.0 the movement to replace hourly billing with value billing is accelerating. firm mergers, consolidations, new boutique firms that bear little … continued

the seven essential components of a simple marketing plan for accountants

start with an excel spreadsheet.

by sandi smith leyva, cpa

it’s quite common for accounting firms — even the regionals — to have no marketing plan in place. the marketing plan might very well be, “get as many referrals as we can.” or it might be a number for each partner — which is not a marketing plan. or it might be, “if it’s not busy season, i’ll go to my networking group.” none of these are plans. they are individual marketing tasks and components.

the number of companies that do not have fully functioning marketing plans is certainly not surprising because marketing by cpas was illegal – and considered quite sleazy — in most u.s. states until about the 1970s. so we are a profession that has always been behind on our marketing skills.

now that most of us need to market, the relief is we can do it on our terms, using excel spreadsheets, with a bunch of numbers, adding in some deadlines, and creating a very organized process, just how we accountants like things.

so here are seven components of the kind of marketing plans i like to create. we start with an excel spreadsheet. read more →

what i’ve learned from my clients

by sandi smith leyva
accountant’s accelerator

i feel extremely fortunate to have such a wonderful set of clients that i have learned much from the last few years.

more for soloists and small firms: take six big steps to go beyond compliance services     |     when your business needs to be rebooted  |   two steps to easy cross-sells   |   the hot new tech product for automated data entry   |   five value-add service areas to take you beyond bookkeeping   |   six money-making strategies to take you beyond quickbooks   |   proactive ways to get more referrals   |   the three biggest money leaks in your practice   |   new client opportunities with mobile apps   |   six questions to launch your summer strategy sessions   |   what most accountants miss in the five simple steps to get more clients   |   accountants, do you know your opportunity number? | five ideas to reduce client price-sensitivity | rise to the top with a fresh elevator speech | four ways to practice entrepreneurial perseverance | 5 mistakes to avoid when seeking new clients  | the top 12 business card blunders accountants make | seven tips to keep the clients you have | how to attract clients like a magnet | eleven easy ways to deliver more value to clients

here is a list of lessons learned that i hope will inspire you to work with your clients in new ways.

read more →

is more publicity better?

or is better publicity better? by bruce w. marcus professional services marketing 3.0 in the early days of publicity, when it was low-down press agentry and not high-blown public relations, the idea was to get your client’s name in the … continued