Five Ways to Improve Your Pricing…and Profits

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Let Marketing and Business Development Lend a Hand

Price is a component of the buying decision. You aim to make it less of one, but when all things are created equally, price is typically the tie breaker. This leads to spreadsheets with multiple variables, guesstimates on hours and blended hourly rates all with the hope of coming up with a price that makes the prospect happy and satisfies your firm’s realization goals. All of this work is done at the engagement level by a partner or partners who will oversee the engagement. Read more

2017 Trends in Accounting Marketing

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The new year always brings new trends, but in the accounting profession, many of the trends firms will face in 2017 are continuations from this year. Yet, there are some new things on the horizon that you should be thinking about, too.

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Who Owns Product Management in Your Firm?

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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

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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

Use Online Client Feedback to Improve Your Firm

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Does the thought of conducting a client satisfaction survey scare you? You aren’t alone. Many accountants are afraid of getting less than stellar reviews. But guess what? Your clients are giving you feedback whether you asked for it or not – and that feedback is available for all to see online. And there is nothing you can do to stop online sharing, nor should you want to. Read more

Will You Hit Your Growth Goal?

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Planning produces better results

Your firm has come up with a growth goal. It may have stemmed from discussions around client attrition, charge hours and changes in your clients’ businesses. Your partners agree that a 7 percent goal sounds reasonable. So you drop that number into your budget without really looking at how that goal will be achieved. Now what? Read more

Why You Need to Manage Your Personal Brand

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You have a personal brand whether you’ve given any thought to it or not.

In simple terms, a brand is the benefits delivered to your customers. This expands to individuals, as well. Personal branding is about the talents and abilities you have and the way you act, and interact, with others. It’s how you approach the work you do and the people you encounter. Read more

Avoid the Sea of Sameness

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A few years ago at the Association for Accounting Marketing annual summit, a keynote speaker called out the “sea of sameness” she saw amongst CPA firms. She went on to explain that it appeared as if one firm could pick up another firm’s marketing material, put their logo on it and use it.

Guess what? She was right.

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Is There Strategy to Your Content Marketing?

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Content marketing is hot today. It seems as if everyone is doing it. The problem is, not everyone is doing it well. That leaves a lot of disgruntled readers wanting more from what they consume.

How many times have you clicked on an article to read it and less than 200 words in you realize it’s not what you thought it would be? Or that it didn’t add anything to your knowledge base? Make sure you provide something of value to your readers so they keep coming back for more. This is easy to achieve in the accounting industry. After all, content marketing is all about sharing intellectual capital and that’s exactly what we’re selling. Read more

Be Consultative to Grow Revenue & Relationships

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Clients want many things from their CPA, but at the top of that list is usually proactive advice. While it seems like a simple thing, many accountants drop the ball and leave their clients wanting more.

Whenever you have the chance to sit down with your clients to talk about the business, you need to fully understand the company’s obvious needs, but you should also use the opportunity to uncover the not-so-obvious ones. Every business owner is facing a challenge that needs a solution. That’s where consultants help. Read more