don’t even try. you’ll get flattened.
by bruce w. marcus
professional services marketing 3.0
assuring cpa firm survival in the coming decades starts not with a radical redesign of the traditional firm – that will come of itself – but with six assessments that spring from the old and go to the new. change will not be imposed – it will emerge.
first, there are three factors that should be understood:
- the nature of the cpa firm, static for so many generations, is undergoing radical change. this process is influenced by a vast array of factors, many of which are new, some of which are unforeseeable.
- where once cpas were isolated from marketers and marketing, they are now becoming active participants in the process, and many of them are themselves becoming astute marketers.
- the driving force of this evolutionary process is the need to compete, imaginatively and innovatively. it’s enhanced and accelerated by technology, which itself is in a constant state of innovation and flux.
these factors, then, add up to the reality that if cpas are to compete successfully in today’s marketplace – if they are to function successfully in the changing arena of professional services – there must be a shift in emphasis from the tenets of the old marketing to the realities of the new.
for example:
- all marketing, old and new, begins with the market itself. it begins to dawn on today’s cpa that the heart of the practice is not the cpa, but the client. gone is the day of the cpa who tells, but doesn’t listen. today and tomorrow, a cpa is not an existential entity – he or she is only as he or she does.
- this is further exacerbated by recognizing that a view of the marketplace may begin with history, but must end in the future. not where the market has been in the demand and need for services, but where it is going to be tomorrow. there are new rhythms in the marketplace, and the cpa must be prepared to hear them, and then dance to them.
the sticking point here is the need that both commerce and society continue to have for the objectivity, the independence, the probity of the cpa. but change need not put these factors in jeopardy.
rather, cpas can readily find ways to innovate without losing these important virtues. six examples of what i mean:
1. what must also be re-examined is the structure of the cpa firm itself. no longer is the traditional hierarchical structure of the cpa firm adequate for the needs of the contemporary marketplace. the range of management skills needed to run the contemporary firm has outgrown traditional structures. the partnership structure tends not to make the best uses of management skills, and impedes the pace at which management decisions must be made. the practice group structure, with certain safeguards built in, seems a likely structural path for the near term, but may not be adequate in the long term, as economic changes compound.
2. the cpa firm must now be recognized for what it is – a structure to deal with the market it serves. it must recognize that it no longer exists for itself, but as an instrument to get and sustain clients. public accounting is merely the service provided to fill the channels opened by the needs of the client. a full and comfortable room in the house must be opened for the professional marketer. at the same time, the professional marketer must know more than traditional marketing, if he or she is to adequately serve the cpa. the marketer must understand the cpa, and in ways that surpass the traditional understanding of product.
3. it is astonishing that every cpa knows that livelihood and career growth depend upon the ability to deliver and keep clients. and yet, there is virtually no accounting school that recognizes that there are skills the professional must know to survive. but sink or swim is no longer a viable preparation for any cpa. the elitism of cpas that festers at accountancy schools must be rooted out if the cpa is to thrive in the coming decades.
4. continuing cpa education is no longer a service to the profession alone – it is an obligation to those served by cpas. nor should it be limited to only the skills of the profession. there is too much to be known about commerce and industry and the needs of clients in a dynamic economy. there are too many skills that cpas need to know that they don’t know.
5. the management skills needed to run a cpa firm are a different set of skills from those that are needed to merely sit at the head of a firm. a cpa firm is a business. a cpa firm that competes is a marketing entity. there are new problems in motivation, in hierarchical structuring, in strategic planning, in human resources management, in client relationships and in relationships to a new market. the demands of this new kind of management bring the skills of management to a new realm of artfulness – one for which the traditional cpa is rarely trained.
6. and the ultimate lesson to be learned is that the catalytic element of tomorrow’s cpa marketing is that the relationship that begins with the market – the client – now includes the cpa. as one moves and changes, so too must the other.
the tools of marketing are of themselves immutable. except perhaps for the use of the internet, nothing much has changed in generations. we still have networking, and public relations and speeches and seminars and articles. we still understand the need for fathoming the markets we serve, and the strategy for using the tools to reach that market. but the difficult lesson to learn is that the value of the tools is not in themselves, but in how innovatively, persuasively, imaginatively they are used.
it is only when we understand the changing relationships between the cpa and the client, and the need to nurture one’s ability to function in that relationship with flexibility and agility, that cpas will be able to adapt and survive the coming generations.