Rita Keller, an award-winning and widely respected voice to CPA firm management, is uniquely positioned to help CPAs and their teams face rapid and significant change.
“The best thing to hold onto in life is each other.” – Audrey Hepburn
During these unique times, it is probably to your benefit to remember to say those “three little words” to your family. Since you are marooned at home with them, saying “I love you” could help over-shadow some of the inconveniences you may be facing as a family unit.
Don’t forget your remote workforce. You see them on Zoom, you email a lot and you share work via software applications.
Just because you don’t see them face-to-face doesn’t mean you don’t care and appreciate them.
Here’s a list of three little words you should be communicating to your team members:
You did great
Glad you’re here
Thanks so much
Really good job
You’re so efficient
What an improvement
You are talented
I miss you
Hang in there
You don’t have to give flowery compliments or speeches. Just remember your manners and be kind.
By the way, to all my blog readers, I love you!
Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it.
“The power of visibility can never be underestimated.” – Margaret Cho
You have heard it over and over in recent years, you have to be visible on social media to attract and retain clients.
Yes, I agree with that. But, I ask more of you!
Don’t forget the old fashioned way. You must be visible in your business community – up close and personal.
Each person working at your CPA firm helps build a reputation for the FIRM. Remember those elevator speeches (describing what you do in 30 seconds)? Are you still teaching your newest team members how to do that? Remember, when someone asks you where you work you don’t say, “I work for an accounting firm.” You say, “I work for Acme CPA firm, the fastest-growing, most knowledgeable and progressive CPA firm in town! I am on the tax team.” Each person crafts their own story.
All your partners and managers should be involved in a charitable or community organization and eventually take a leadership position in that organization.
A basic visibility activity that partners sometimes forget – you eat lunch outside the office every day. Eat lunch with a client, a banker, an attorney or with another person from the firm. Dine at the most popular business lunch place in town where you will be seen by clients, bankers, and attorneys.
An on-going motto for the firm – “Let’s get visible!”
A man is not idle because he is absorbed in thought. There is visible labor and there is invisible labor.
“Price is what you pay. Value is what you get.” – Warren Buffett
I hear stories that have a similar theme:
I inherited the firm from a sole proprietor. The clients are just not used to paying what would be a normal fee.
I am working so many hours and need to increase my fees. But, I am afraid I will lose too many clients.
I ask, “How do you describe your fees to clients?” What I usually discover is that the CPAs who have such a great fear of losing clients are not actually talking about fees WITH the client, at all. I also learn that CPAs who charge an appropriate fee don’t talk with clients about the fees either.
My friend, Sarah Johnson Dobek of Inovautus Consulting gives us some excellent advice:
Initiate the conversation
Describe the services you will provide
Present your fees with clarity
Write it down
Don’t be defensive
Read more about each of these points on Sarah’s blog post. Take the time to teach your entire team how to talk about fees with clients.
The price of inaction is far greater than the cost of making a mistake.
“To his dog, every man is Napoleon; hence the constant popularity of dogs.” – Aldous Huxley
Here’s a stress reliever that maybe your firm has not thought of for a Saturday break during busy season. Research tells us that dogs can be a stress reliever. They visit hospitals, etc. Why not accounting firms?
Gray, Gray & Gray arranged a visit by a “pack” of puppies last Saturday. I love this idea – what fun.
I have always believed that the best marketing strategy is how you serve your clients. It’s sort of the the “build it and they will come” mentality.
If your firm wins the reputation for over-the-top client service, your current clients will talk about you and potential clients will seek you out.
This week’s quote from Tom Peters says volumes about the CPA profession:
“Obviously there is a role for marketing, strategy formulation, and the like. But, ultimately, it all boils down to perceived, and appreciated, and consistently delivered service and quality to customers.”
Your competitors can find out what services your offer, what niches you pursue and the names of your employees and rainmakers. They cannot easily judge how you serve your clients. Serve your clients better than your competitors and you will win the race
Service begins with the pursuit of the potential client. It is not about selling to them or “pitching” them, it is a longer process of simply building a relationship.
Jeffrey Gitomer says it so well:
“The relationship is the biggest advantage you have in selling. People want to do business with people they can relate to. Finding out what your customer wants will help you discover your competitive advantage, but this is not as powerful as building a relationship. Coming to work early is a great habit, but may not affect your relationship building skills. The worst scenario is to try to learn a competitive advantage from your competitor. Which came first, the competition or the relationship? The relationship comes first and the sale will follow.” –Jeffrey Gitomer, excerpted from The Little Red Book of Sales Answers
To me, maybe the most important quote for CPAs to take to heart is featured below in my quote of the day section – from Harvey Mackay.
To me, job titles don't matter. Everyone is in sales. It's the only way we stay in business.
I was delighted when the Ohio Society of CPAs asked me to be interviewed for their Spotlight Series. We did a few segments and yesterday they released the one about social media: Social Media & CPAs – How To Get Started & Why.
I hope your firm is taking full advantage of social media:
I have talked about, written about and helped firms implement mentoring programs for years. Still, I am receiving lots of feedback about the lack of dedicated mentoring inside CPA firms.
I contend that mentoring is the foundation of the CPA profession. An older, more experienced accountant guides and teaches a younger, less-experienced accountant. It has been going on for decades. It is how young CPAs have always learned their trade.
Take that basic approach and incorporate more recognition, honest feedback, skilled listening and career advice and you have a mentoring program.
Engaging and retaining talent is a hot topic for the accounting profession. Mentoring can be an important tool.
Experienced CPAs question me…. Where do we meet? How often do we meet? What exactly do I say? What do they expect of me? It will take too much time…. on and on.
Please keep in mind, when it comes to actually implementing a mentoring program, KISS – Keep It Simple Sweetheart. You can actually mentor and guide someone with two words. Here’s how, from a presentation I did for Boomer Consulting:
CPA firms lose so many bright, savvy females because of the long-talked about stigma that when you want to start a family, you cannot work in public accounting.
Too many young female professionals tend to heed the old-fashioned advice that they should work in public accounting for a few years, get their CPA designation and then get a job in a private company so they can then raise a family. Fewer actually become “stay at home” moms because the millennials need two incomes to live the life style they desire.
So, I urge all young women in accounting, stick it out. The accounting profession is becoming more and more flexible all the time. It is a profession that can provide the career development and prestige that you desire.
Don’t feel guilty if you are working and also raising children. Children of working moms actually reap many benefits because they have working mothers.
According to a survey of 1,000 grown children of working mothers, many substantial benefits were identified
Strong Work Ethic – The grown children reported that watching their mothers go to work every day instilled in them a strong work ethic.
Independence – Working mothers know they won’t be there for everything so they have deliberately taught their children to be more independent.
Resilience – The children of working mothers reported being able to solve their own problems and bounce back from tough times better than children of stay-at-home mothers.
Prepared For The Work World – Watching their mothers face the many challenges at work helped the children feel better prepared for the working world. They have a better sense of what to expect when they enter the work world.
Daughters Benefit Most – Harvard found that daughters of working mothers earned 23% more than daughters of stay-at-home mothers.
More and more CPA firms are facing the challenge of how to effectively manage remote workers.
I hear many success stories of being able to retain talented professionals even if they have to relocate to another city or state…. or even country. Remote connectivity for all firm team members has solved that issue. They can actually do the client work no matter where they are sitting.
It’s all the other things that are troublesome. How do we communicate with them? How do we make them feel part of our daily routine? How do we build the camaraderie that people working side-by-side in an office feel? How to we infuse them with our culture?
These challenges will only grow and expand as we move into the future. There are several software solutions to help reinforce communication, teamwork and share work status. That’s just the first step.
Here’s a recent post by Randy Rayess on Fast Company: 3 Tips For Managing Remote Workers. While remote workers is something rather new for the CPA profession, it will be a major factor in the future for the CPA profession.
The 3 tips are:
Just be compassionate
Check in personally – even if you can’t physically
Encourage team members to interact
Follow the link, above, to read more about each of the 3 tips.
To me, teamwork is the beauty of our sport, where you have five acting as one. You become selfless.
For many years now I have maintained a simple email group comprised of people working daily in a CPA firm that I call my unofficial advisory board.
When I am doing research on a certain topic or if one of my clients has a specific challenge they are facing, I send an email inquiry to my valuable group. I call the group: Advisory4Keller
For example, I have a current question before my group about how, exactly, they are handling scheduling. After I receive responses (I give them a few days), I summarize and share the information with all those who replied. I do not over-use this valuable tool – I don’t want increase the workload for the members of the group! For example, in 2013 and 2014 I surveyed the group 6 to 10 times. In 2015, so far it has been 3 times.
If you are a CPA firm administrator, managing partner or other management leader in a firm (HR, marketing, technology, department head, etc.) and would like to be part of the group, simply email me to let me know and I will contact you. The information, about you, that I need is on my contact page.
CPA firms lose so many bright, savvy females because of the long-talked about stigma that when you want to start a family, you cannot work in public accounting.
For many years now I have maintained a simple email group comprised of people 
