Mistakes can teach us a great deal. The lessons can be difficult, even costly, but there’s no better teacher. When the goal is establishing a technology niche, or any new service, I’ve seen a pattern of errors worth identifying and avoiding.
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Why Can’t CPAs Get Traction with New Services?! The Key to Successfully Introducing New Services to the Marketplace
Not so long ago, the business of an accounting firm was as predictable as men’s business attire. Tax preparation and audits were about as far as it went. Unfortunately, as firms have attempted to branch out into an array of related services, their experiences have been hit or miss. More often than not, the reason is that they are unfamiliar with some of the fundamentals in bringing a new service to market, and often incorrectly pattern their efforts after bringing products to market.
More »From Hunter to Organizing the Hunt
The managing partner’s approach to growth drives much of what happens in, and to your firm. When that approach is informed, you can expect a successful hunt. When it isn’t, disappointment and frustration are likely.
More »Pathways to Growth #3: How One CPA Became a Lander of Big Fish
The Long Island-based firm, Grassi & Co. has had much success over the years. But like many firms seeking to drive market share in a constrained economy, they knew that developing larger opportunities is a different game in these days of heavy competition and price wars.
More »Client Opportunity Planning: Because This is Not Your Father’s Book of Business!!
Promising opportunities may not be sporting overalls at your firm, but it’s likely a number of them have successfully camouflaged themselves from you and your partners! Sure, you’re busy these days, but sheer momentum isn’t enough to guarantee long-term sustainable growth. For that you need an orderly approach to opportunity planning.
More »Build Value to Grow Revenue – It’s More Personal Than You Might Think
Remember the theme from Cheers, the TV series about a friendly Boston pub and its memorable ‘regulars?’ The refrain says: “You want to go where everybody knows your name.” Something similar is at work when it comes to building value propositions to grow revenue. To succeed, you’ve got to determine what makes the buyer tick.
More »The Smart Money Is On Opportunity Management! To Create a New, Winning Culture
When it comes to managing your inventory of active opportunities, where you are and where you want to be may not be all that far apart. “Why bother” you say – since most of us have more work than we can handle. Well, just like we’ve built efficiency on the delivery side of the firm in order to optimize our resources, building efficiency on the practice growth side of the firm will also optimize our resources.
More »Landing Multi-Continent, Multi-Firm Opportunities: Getting Your Slice of the Global Pie
The world is flat, according to the best-selling book by Thomas Friedman. He writes about technological changes that are linking people and breaking open business opportunities at warp speed. That’s certainly the case for forward-looking CPAs, especially those in mid-market firms. Just a few years ago it was unthinkable that a mid-size CPA firm could compete and win multi-location opportunities from prospects with operations outside of the U.S.
More »Next Steps versus Missteps: Peel the Onion Back One Layer at a Time
Many CPAs picture the selling cycle something like this: Have a meeting where you identify a need, write a proposal, sit down with the prospect and walk out with the business. I call it the two-call close and it’s often more of a fantasy than a formula.
More »The Opportunity Pipeline: Leverage this Exceptional Business-Building Tool
Reprinted with permission from CPA Practice Management Forum. CPA firms often ask for my top recommendation to help them win large opportunities. Unequivocally, I suggest the development and strategic deployment of the “opportunity pipeline.” Hands down, it is the single best tool to identify and reel in big pieces of business. Sound difficult? It’s not.
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