Who Owns Product Management in Your Firm?

When it comes to strategically growing a CPA firm, there are three equally important components – marketing, business development support and product management. You can probably name the person(s) who are responsible for marketing in your organization. You know who is responsible for selling. But who owns the product management function? Most people can’t answer that question. Read more

Enhance Your Growth Sustainability

What do top growth leaders do to enhance the sustainability of growth within a firm? While firms are seeing growth organically and through merger and acquisition, it is organic growth that is imperative to long-term success. If you understand what it takes to drive this growth, your firm can achieve year-over-year revenue increases. Read more

Introducing a New Service to the Market

Before you take a new product to market, you need to test it with poten­tial buyers. Companies in many industries conduct beta tests using early adopters; they are just as important in the accounting industry.

An early adopter (a.k.a. guinea pig) is an early tester of a potential offering. In exchange for preferential pricing (often starting at free and increasing from there), your early adopter provides feedback on the offering. You’ll ask them to tell you what they liked, what they didn’t and what they would like to see different. This will allow you to refine your offering until you get it to a stage when you know others will buy it. Read more

Three Elements Imperative to Service Innovation

“Business has only two functions – marketing and innovation.”

That quote by Peter Drucker illustrates the importance of innovation in business. Innovation is what makes the world go around, and it should be part of regular operations. Who in your firm is responsible for innovation? What are you innovating now?

Innovation is imperative when revenue from a service offering has increased to a significant amount while your margin has dropped. To drive additional revenue in this area, you need to change up what you are doing. That may include conceptualizing something entirely new that you want to take to the marketplace. It could also include adopting a service delivery model that that differs from your competitors. Or it could include providing a special feature to every buyer of a specific service. There are many ways to innovate. Read more

10 Strategies that Will Drive Firm Growth in 2016

A revolution is occurring in marketing today. Marketing strategies of the past are not as effective as they once were. And there are new tactics today that didn’t exist just a few years ago. This requires firms take a deep look at what they are doing and open their eyes to new things. Growth does not occur from marketing alone. There are many factors that contribute to firm growth and here’s a look at 10 strategies that will grow in importance in 2016.

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Packaging Your Services

If I say Big Mac, what comes to mind? You probably have an image in your head of two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, and onions on a sesame seed bun. It’s easy to picture since the Big Mac is a tangible item that you can touch, feel, see and even taste.

Now, if I say tax return, what do you think of? Is it a corporate return or a personal return? How long is it? How many schedules are attached? It’s a little more challenging to picture. And you sure don’t want to taste it.

However, clients and prospective clients need to picture the “product” they get from you. They want to be able to walk into your store, pick a service off a shelf and take it to the checkout. That’s how purchases happen in our minds. So how do you take a service and make it appear as if it’s a product? Well, Progressive Insurance made a series of commercials doing just that.

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