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Gale's Cornerstone Book
Gale’s book, At the Crossroads: The Remarkable CPA Firm That Nearly Crashed, Then Soared is a delightful parable about a sleepy, uninspired CPA firm that transforms into an accounting powerhouse.
Meet managing partner Joe Abriola who has just learned that his partners are on the verge of mutiny. How does the firm recover and thrive? Spoiler alert—Gale’s growth model swoops in to save the day! The book is an instructive tale that’s filled with valuable insight on achieving growth despite the odds.
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CPAs are not known for cheetah-like speed. But in early 2020, abruptly cut off from the in-person meetings which have been the lifeblood of their client activity, practitioners were required to pivot quickly to digital platforms, or risk being left in the dust.
Part one of this article addressed the power of digital tools and practices to fuel CPA firm growth. Impelled by the constraints of the coronavirus, firms got on board the cyber train in 2020 at varying speeds and with varying levels of success, mostly on the operational side of the firm.
Shortly after James Moore was named the number one accounting firm in the nation for women in 2020, and while COVID was continuing to stretch firm members, managing partner Suzanne Forbes did the obvious. She donned a pink wig and green eyeshades while lip syncing We Are the Champions on a Zoom call with a couple hundred members of the firm.
On email, during live video presentations and (imagine it!) via phone, I’m getting questions from firms about growth. Lots of questions. Among those asking are managing partners who want to know, “Gale, what would you do if you were in my shoes?”
In part one of this article, I offered guidance to help managing partners leverage the relatively good conditions in which many currently find themselves. I warned, however, that, “unless firms act quickly to chart a course for post-pandemic growth, this temporary uptick will remain just that.” Now, in part two, we delve into the principles and tactics involved.
The world of business is simultaneously expanding and contracting. Technology has stretched our horizons, permitting us to connect with anyone at any time. That same inter-connectedness shrinks the playing field, bringing once-distant markets close.
In a change of leadership five years ago, Nashville-based LBMC undertook a rebranding effort that launched longtime Director of Marketing, Leisa Gill into a new position as Director of Client Experience. Leisa shared her successful CE journey with me in a recent conversation.
By now, any CPA not living under a rock has gotten the memo: in order to achieve growth, you need to incorporate consulting into your service suite. Our core compliance services have grown long in the tooth and thinly margined. To provide clients the value they demand, remain relevant and expand, all signs point to consulting, especially in the tech-related offerings clients need now.
To judge by the number of blog posts and articles I’m seeing on the topic of consulting these days, you might think advisory services have been widely embraced by accounting firms.
Deneen Dias of Botkeeper interviews Gale about the missing piece to successfully grow a CAS/CAAS practice.
As we move with cautious optimism into 2021, I’m happy to share a recent dialogue with Guy Gage, owner of PartnersCoach®, a coaching and consulting firm for professionals in private practice. We focused on what COVID has taught us about growth, change and leadership in difficult times.
In recent weeks, I’ve observed a sometimes subtle but significant shift among forward-looking CPA firms, away from filling the pipeline with leads and toward managing the leads coming in the door. In a time of plenty, as today, these firms are wisely focusing internally to assure that the practice growth side of their business is as strong and sophisticated as the delivery side.
Leverage this Exceptional Business-Building Tool 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. In fact, creating…
Dan Hood from Accounting Today interviews Gale about expanding your geography.
Most of us first became aware of blockchain—the distributed, cloud-based general ledger—as a technology associated with Bitcoin. Today blockchain is emerging with extraordinary implications for firm growth. At the most recent AICPA Blockchain Symposium, I talked with three pioneers in the field.
The changes this pandemic has wrought don’t appear to be temporary, as we once imaged. It’s no longer a question of waiting this thing out and returning to yesteryear. That’s why I’m advising my clients to reevaluate their growth strategies.
Once upon a time, it all seemed easier. Didn’t it? CPAs were referred in to do tax returns, audits and accounting. Beans were counted and cocktails were enjoyed at the country club. Today, we are told our “bread and butter” services will be relegated to AI and other technologies.
For many years, only the largest accounting firms had business developers on staff. For smaller organizations, the very idea of “selling” seemed somehow beneath our profession. And with audit and tax nearly the only offerings on the menu, there wasn’t a lot of sizzle to sell.
Read the article on CPA Trendlines.
Dan Hood of Accounting Today talks with Gale about the changes in skill mix needed for today’s forward-thinking firms.