Archive for the ‘Marketing’ Category
Tuesday, June 18th, 2013
One of the best ways for CPAs to obtain prospective clients is to have current clients recommend them.
Often, clients don’t think to do it and at times it seems rather awkward to bluntly ask them to refer you to others.
Here are four steps to take towards getting new leads.
- Identify your biggest segment (niche) of clients. It might be auto dealers, medical practices, dentists, excavating companies…. whatever.
- Solicit ideas from your partners and employees who serve this niche about the biggest issues and/or challenges the business owner faces in successfully growing or managing their business.
- Develop a brief, maybe 45-minute, webinar presentation that helps them solve their “big” issue.
- Invite them to the webinar and be sure to encourage them to forward the invitation to other business owners who may also be facing this issue.
When non-clients register, you have leads. If nothing else, you have a broader exposure to business owners in that niche.
Always keep in mind my favorite Tom Peters‘ phrase:
W T T M S W
Whoever Tries The Most Stuff Wins.
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We have a strategic plan. It's called "doing things."
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Herb Kelleher
Monday, June 10th, 2013
At the AICPA PSTech and AAM conferences, here in Las Vegas, I see hundreds of CPAs, technology masters and marketing professionals taking it all in. The offerings are amazingly extensive. There are speakers galore and the ideas shared by the participants themselves are eye-opening and enlightening.
In reality, as I work with all of these types of professionals inside accounting firms, the major problem is not that they don’t know what to do. And, during my presentations I certainly don’t divulge anything in the rocket science category. I simply strive to remind them of what they already know. Their major problem is implementation.
Jack Welch says it so well:
“In real life, strategy is actually very straightforward. Pick a general direction and implement like hell.”
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Any fool can know. The point is to understand.
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Albert Einstein
Tuesday, April 30th, 2013
New website and rebranding for Anders made me say, Wow!
I’ve been nagging CPA leaders to “make this your year of website” for several years now. That’s why I am always so thrilled when I see another great firm take the step.
In fact, I often get questions directly from CPA partners. Here is one such conversation not long ago:
Long-time partner in a CPA firm: “Rita, what would you say our firm’s brand is?”
Rita: “I don’t know what your brand is. I can’t tell.”
Partner: “Me either!”
Marketing and design agency Atomicdust has modernized the visual identity of Anders, a St. Louis-based CPA and advisory firm. They helped the firm modernize.
Anders (formerly Anders Minkler & Diehl), is an advisory firm that caters to privately held companies and high-net-worth individuals – much like most of you reading this blog. They hired Atomicdust to create a focused visual identity that would help the Anders brand stand out from the CPA pack.
The story of this project for Anders was featured on Fast Co.Design, Rebranding a CPA Company, Just In Time For April 15.
I liked Atomicdust’s 2-minute video “story” on their home page. Especially this quote from Mike Spakowski, Principal on the topic of how he hires people - When people are passionate about other things it is a benefit for clients.
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So sure, start with a slogan. But don't bother wasting any time on it if you're merely going for catchy. Aim for true instead.
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Seth Godin
Tuesday, April 2nd, 2013
I was checking out of my fellow bloggers over on the AccountingWEB blog site and I noticed one by well-known CPA firm Chief Marketing Officer, Sally Glick, a principal at Sobel & Co. Sally’s posts are always on the money but the title of this one puzzled me.
The title: SWSWSW – What The Heck Does This Mean?
After I read her post, I realized that it sure applies to me. It applied to me as I worked my way up inside a CPA firm for 30 years, trying to get everyone on the same page and open to embracing constant change. It applies to me now as I do my best to help my clients (CPA firms) adapt to change and embrace new trends.
Sally learned from a speaker at a CPA firm marketing event that SWSWSW means…..
“Some will, some won’t, so what – SWSWSW!”
Early on in my career, I was told to “try to get ALL the partners on the same page and behind your initiatives.” Well, that was impossible. So, I adopted a theory and advised others to look at it the same way – - work with the healthy part of your firm. Don’t let one or two partners side-track the entire forward movement of the firm – work around them. In many cases, once they see success, they will jump on the band wagon (then again, maybe they won’t). So what!
After you read this and then you read Sally’s blog post, you might think it sounds like she and I have faced some similar barriers. We have. So what!
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So what do we do? Anything. Something. So long as we just don't sit there. If we screw it up, start over. Try something else. If we wait until we've satisfied all the uncertainties, it may be too late.
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Lee Iacocca
Wednesday, March 27th, 2013
I was following a link to XCM’s “Our News” page and decided to look around at the XCM website.
I like their tagline – “Making life easier for accounting professionals” and how they have specific explanations of their products for the managing partner, firm administrator, partners and staff.
They have a page called Our Partnerships and if you follow it you see a list of company logos for some very prominent CPA profession resources. The thought that crossed my mind was why do so many CPA firms and CPA firm vendors and advisory resources have logos that are blue?
Sure, the color blue says…. authority, dignity, security, faithfulness, trust, reliability, belonging, coolness. Deep blues mean analytical, serious, scholarly, and academic. Pale blues mean calm, fresh, clean – - – so on an so on. How boring!
Perhaps it is because accountants have the blues?
You can tell from this blog page and my logo, I prefer things red hot. The color red says aggressive, assertive, intense, strength, vitality, life-sustaining, passionate, courageous, and insightful.
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When you are courting a nice girl an hour seems like a second. When you sit on a red-hot cinder a second seems like an hour. That's relativity.
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Albert Einstein
Thursday, February 28th, 2013
I see it on website and I hear it from almost every CPA in public practice that I meet.
I ask, “Why should I hire you to be my CPA?”
Most answer, “We have proven experience.” Or, “We were founded in 1933 and have a long history of serving growing businesses.”
Websites say: “Today, after 50 years, we continue to focus on our clients’ needs.” “Providing insight since 1933.” ”Partnering with clients for over 30 years.”
You get the picture and you’ve probably said similar things.
This approach does not work these days. Experience is overrated. So many CPAs have 15 years of experience doing the same thing over and over again on an annual cycle. They might actually have five years of experience three times.
The world (and business world) has changed and is changing daily. Most business owners who might hire you want to know what you can do for them today.
Rather than touting “We are experienced” how about stressing “We are innovative.”
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So what do we do? Anything. Something. So long as we just don't sit there. If we screw it up, start over. Try something else. If we wait until we've satisfied all the uncertainties, it may be too late.
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Lee Iacocca
Wednesday, February 27th, 2013
A while back Seth Godin did a blog post titled, “On Behalf of Yes.”
It struck a cord with me on how many times, inside public accounting firms, partners, managers and even team members lean towards thinking, “No, we can’t.”
While it comes to understanding complex tax laws and changing to comply with those demands and performing audit services with the utmost perfection, CPAs think – “Yes we can, this is our profession and we love this stuff.”
Yet when it comes to taking care of their own business, keeping pace with the times and what is going on in the management world, CPAs think, “No way, I like things just the way they are. It’s worked well for us all these years.”
What have the most successful firms embraced? They have embraced a YES attitude.
- Nearly 30 years ago, most CPAs did not believe an administrative person could plan CPE, select the right people to hire, lead the marketing efforts and help bring the newest technology into the firm. Then they discovered the power of hiring a firm administrator.
- We cannot advertise. It’s not professional and we don’t know how. Yes, we did.
- I remember one of my first “No, we can’t” situations. We can’t possibly do away with our legal size files and move to letter size. Yes, we did.
- No, we cannot let someone work a flexible schedule. Yes, we did.
- No, we simply cannot put a computer on everyone’s desk. Yes, we did.
- No, we cannot go paperless. Yes, we did.
- No, we cannot allow our people access to the internet. Yes, we did.
- No, we cannot get into all of this social media stuff. Yes, we did.
You might not even be aware you are displaying a “No” attitude and demeanor. Become aware! Stop thinking and saying “No” and identifying all the reasons why something cannot be done.
Think of the kid’s show Bob the Builder. His motto: Can we fix it? Yes, we can!
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You can, you should, and if you're brave enough to start, you will.
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Stephen King, on writing
Friday, February 22nd, 2013
I was paging through a magazine last week when I saw an ad for Windex Touch-Up Cleaner. As with most things in life, it made me think of CPAs (yes, I’m weird that way).
Windex has been around for as long as I can remember. It’s one of those brands that people call glass cleaners even if they are another brand. It’s rather like saying, “Make a Xerox copy.” when you aren’t using a Xerox brand machine. “Hand me the Windex” – means almost any glass cleaner.
So, the ad made me realize how creative the people must be at SC Johnson, the makers of Windex. If they can take a widely-accepted, well-known product and keep re-packaging it so that people will buy more, why can’t CPAs do the same?
Watch a 30-second commercial here. Now, consider your agenda for your annual firm day or partner retreat. How could you use your combined creative powers to re-package your firm, your services, or your culture to make your clients keep buying and to make your people keep buying-in to your firm vision?
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We have to continually be jumping off cliffs and developing our wings on the way down.
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Kurt Vonnegut
Tuesday, February 19th, 2013
Roman Kepczyk, Director of Consulting at Xcentric, has an interesting article on the Xcentric blog site – 10 Marketing Technologies That Can Help Your Firm.
Not only has technology improved the way firms produce their client work, it also helps firms improve their image.
Here’s 10 marketing technologies that every firm owner should be aware of. Read a description of each one by following the link, above.
- Packaged websites.
- Niche pages.
- Industry analytics.
- Written expertise.
- Video expertise.
- Social media strategy.
- Recruiting page on website.
- Lobby marketing.
- High-tech gadget exposure.
- PM list management.
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Behavior is the mirror in which everyone shows their image.
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Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Tuesday, February 5th, 2013
Who are you (and your partners) as CPAs?
Now that you have answered that, does your website convey who you are? If you can’t answer that you better call me.
I continually (via this blog, my newsletter, articles and during my presentations) urge you to have a cool website and actually be a cool CPA.
What’s that mean for your website? CPAs are detailed people, they dig deep into challenges, they know their stuff. I find this detailed nature sometimes smothers their message in emails, reports, their marketing materials and certainly on their websites. Strive for a website that is clean, sleek, uncluttered and easy for a potential client to understand exactly what you do.
Here are two examples of unique CPA websites. Their sites say who they are, get their point across and are really cool.
Erin Johnstone – Vivid Numbers – Be sure to watch her short video on the homepage.
Blumer CPAs - Great opening from Jason Blumer…”We sell clarity.”
Okay, so now you have a cool website. What about you? Are you cool as a person…. as a professional…. as a source of knowledge and guidance for your clients and inspiration for your people? Watch for my February newsletter in your mailbox on Friday to learn more.
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Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it.
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Henry David Thoreau
