Archive for the ‘Sales’ Category
Thursday, January 16th, 2020
“What differentiates sellers today is their ability to bring fresh ideas.” – Jill Konrath
In many CPA firms, the most successful rainmakers are still in the baby boomer category. Yet, as we all know, baby boomers are retiring at the rate of 10,000 per day.
Who will replace your top rainmaker(s)? This is a valid concern in many accounting firms. But, times are changing and so is the role of the CPA firm rainmaker.
In an informative article via Accounting Today, written by Lee Frederiksen, he notes that the rainmaker model is beginning to dry up!
Attracting new clients used to be based on the personalities of certain partners. These partners were out and about in the business community and made contacts that led to new business.
Now, a prospective client has checked out the firm, it’s leaders and the services they provide before anyone at the firm has actually met them. Future clients are searching for the firm with the right expertise to solve their specific business challenges. Hopefully, your firm possesses the services and expertise they are looking for and they can find it on your website.
Be sure to read the entire article.
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The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.
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Walt Disney
Monday, December 2nd, 2019
“I’m just a friendly person; that runs in my family.” -Dolly Parton
The person who greets your client and other visitors is so much more than a receptionist. It is such an important role, especially if you, like many firms, have an office where people feel comfortable just stopping by.
Many firms are now titling their receptionist the Director of First Impressions and that is exactly what they are. Visitors to your office, whether they are a client, a prospective client, a delivery person, an interviewee or a person making a sales call, will talk about your firm. Make sure they are saying, “Wow, what a friendly place!”
Little things make the biggest difference in this area. Does your DOFI offer refreshments? Do they hang up the client’s jacket/coat in a cedar-lined closet? Do they have a menu prepared that lists the types of beverages you have available? Do they engage in small talk in an informative, entertaining and helpful manner?
They are truly an ambassador for your firm. It is not a job that should be looked down upon by other people on the admin team.
If you have an all-star in this role, I hope you are paying them a premium. I know a firm that once won a huge client partly because they liked the way they were treated when their executive team visited the firm’s office.
Read this interesting and helpful article by Jeffrey Gitomer called Receptionist Selling.
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We see our customers as invited guests to a party, and we are the hosts. It's our job every day to make every important aspect of the customer experience a little bit better.
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Jeff Bezos
Monday, July 15th, 2019
“Friendship is the only cement that will ever hold the world together.” – Woodrow Wilson
Maybe they didn’t talk about it when you were interviewed for the job. That interview might have been this year, last year or MANY years ago. Sometimes, it is even a big surprise to a Manager in a firm. If you want to be really successful, advance to owner and make a lot of money working in public accounting, you need to bring in new business.
You love accounting and making sense of it all to help clients become successful. You love tax and all the challenges and creativity that advising clients demands. You do NOT love selling.
But wait! It’s easy. The most important aspect of bringing new clients to the firm is liking people and enjoying making new friends.
It is something you should have learned in pre-school or kindergarten, meeting other people and making them your friends.
If you like people, they will like you. If you don’t really like (and enjoy) dealing with people, why are you in PUBLIC accounting?
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Friendship consists in forgetting what one gives and remembering what one receives.
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Alexander Dumas
Tuesday, June 4th, 2019
“Approach each customer with the idea of helping him or her to solve a problem or achieve a goal, not of selling a product or service.” – Brian Tracy.
I have heard it repeated for years and years by accountants of all ages and genders – “I didn’t go into accounting to be a salesperson!”
Get over it. Everyone has something to sell. Sales is a fundamental skill. Selling is not pushing people to buy something they don’t want. Selling is moving somebody else to action. No matter what your role, you are continually selling yourself!
Firm leaders should not wait to introduce young accountants to marketing and sales. Teaching and including them at the very beginning of their career makes it a natural part of their career advancement.
Too many managers have told me that they didn’t realize the importance of marketing/sales until they were almost ready to become a partner.
In an accounting firm, the secret to practice development (bringing in clients) is to simply like people. People are naturally drawn to CPAs because they realize the knowledge you possess. Selling is also all about understanding what you are selling. Do your young accountants know?
Read this article via HBR – How to Improve Your Sales Skills Even If You’re Not a Salesperson by Rebecca Knight. Send a link to all you young accountants
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Keep Your Sales Pipeline Full By Prospecting Continuously. Always Have More People To See Than You Have Time To See Them.
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Brian Tracy
Wednesday, May 22nd, 2019
“The foundation stones for a balanced success are honesty, character, integrity, faith, love and loyalty.” – Zip Ziglar
You had a successful first quarter. Busy season was busy for both tax and audit and you and your team interacted with some wonderful, loyal clients, also known as your fans. They keep coming back year after year because they like you, they trust you and are pleased with the services you provide.
In a recent partner meeting or retreat, you have probably explored ways to land new clients. Lots of good ideas were expressed, new ways to attract exactly the right type of client.
Of course, you should do things to build your brand but don’t forget about the loyal following you already have.
Develop ways to engage devoted clients (your fans) to help you spread the word. A referral from a current client is golden. However, what happens most often with accountants is the fact that they simply don’t ask current clients for their help.
As Seth Godin tells us, “Ideas spread from person to person. Horizontally.” Read his helpful post here.
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I'm as loyal as anyone and will do anything for people I respect. But if you don't give that back to me in return, you're dead to me.
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Eric Weddle
Thursday, April 18th, 2019
“Every contact we have with a customer influences whether or not they’ll come back. We have to be great every time or we’ll lose them.” – Kevin Stirtz
Want to attract new clients? Then make your current clients say, “Wow!” Providing exceptional service is your best marketing activity.
This is from Tom Peters:
There’s a big Bain study I quote: 8% of customers think the service they RECEIVE is “exceptional.” 80% of companies think the service they GIVE is “exceptional.” I call it “the 8-80 chasm.”
If you want your clients to say, “Wow!” you have to do something unique, out of the ordinary. Enlist the help of all your people. What do they think you could do to achieve Wow?
Read more about your clients saying WOW.
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Assumptions are the termites of relationships.
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Henry Winkler
Monday, March 11th, 2019
“If you win the rat race, you’re still a rat.” – Anna Quindlen
It is a common activity in the CPA profession. Firm leaders advise and encourage their managers and younger team members to get out there and network.
Attend every Chamber function. Take part in those non-profit fundraiser events. Don’t stand in a corner and eat or drink. Talk to people and exchange business cards. Add their name to your contact list.
It does rather seem like a merry-go-round. You go round and round and never get anywhere. That’s because gathering contacts is not making friends. Suzy Welch suggests a different approach. Rather than make contacts, make friends.
Meet people, sure. Find a few you actually like and build a friendship over time. People love to do business with friends. Hundreds of contacts rarely turn into friends who will recommend you and refer others to you.
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A friend may be waiting behind a stranger's face.
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Maya Angelou
Wednesday, June 6th, 2018
“You get to choose your customers, not the other way around.” – Seth Godin
Yesterday I wrote about providing too much information and spending too much time with a potential client before you know they are a suitable fit for your firm.
This is a tough issue inside many CPA firms.
Firms are competing heavily for new clients. You need them. So, you add new clients without subjecting them to a rigorous client acceptance process.
Has your firm grown by accepting every client that comes along and keeping them even when they are a collection headache? Is there pressure on your partners to bring in new business so that they can claim their share of the profits during the year-end compensation dance? If these type of actions are in your past, think hard about your future.
Ask your team members about the quality of your client base. They will tell you immediately which ones they would nominate for out-placement.
Even though you really know you should serve clients that fit your mission, clients you like and admire and get rid of those that are poor business people, most of you will continue to work with clients that you really don’t like very much, who treat your people disrespectfully and then don’t pay you.
Seth Godin had a good post on his blog about Choosing Your Customers. Seth says, “Yes, you get to choose them, not the other way around. You choose them with your pricing, your content, your promotion, your outreach and your product line.”
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The essence of strategy is choosing what not to do.
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Michael Porter
Friday, April 20th, 2018
There is a lot of discussion in CPA circles about paying an incentive to team members for assisting in bringing in new business to the firm.
Here’s a flashback post on this topic – Incentive For New Business – Keep It Simple.
Have a great Friday!
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In the Spring, I have counted 136 different kinds of weather inside of 24 hours.
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Mark Twain
Tuesday, February 20th, 2018
“Absorb what is useful, discard what is not, add what is uniquely your own.” – Bruce Lee
I enjoyed attending the CPAFMA Ohio Chapter meeting last week in Columbus. Katie Tolin of CPA Growth Guides enlightened the attendees about the importance of product development, something missing from most CPA firms.
Here are some bullet points from Tolin’s remarks. I hope you find them very thought-provoking!
- For a CPA firm to grow, they need 3 things: marketing, business development, and product management.
- In most firms, product management is missing – you need all three.
- Accounting is a mature profession and compliance work has hit its peak.
- We are in a sea of sameness. Starbucks elevated the cup of coffee. How have we changed the tax return? About the only thing is e-filing, now everyone does it.
- Technology is speeding things up and that kills billing by the hour.
- We have mature products and a mature industry, how do we innovate? It can’t only be about new products (services), we need to innovate things we already do.
- You must always challenge the status quo. Make it part of your culture.
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Employees need to be empowered to please clients. You need two things, happy clients and happy employees.
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Katie Tolin
