today’s top 20 tips for building a growth-driven accounting firm

checklist: the best ideas from the top rainmakers.

by rick telberg
卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间

while most accounting firms do a good job of sustaining revenues through a strong referral system, the best-performing practices put robust systems in place to attract new prospects, cultivate leads, and close new business.

more at 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 on: marketing, practice development, sales, and growth strategies

in a new survey of top accounting firm marketers and rainmakers, 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 finds at least 20 strategies worth sharing:

  1. roo, or return-on-objective, can be a critical milestone on the road to roi (return-on-investment), particularly for the hard to quantify marketing initiatives.
  2. small changes can make big impacts. what changes can you make that will propel and inspire your firm?
  3. use technology as a competitive advantage.
  4. competitive cpa firms are 15 times more likely to follow a written plan. it’s amazing how many firms don’t.
  5. don’t wait to have leadership bestowed upon you by someone else – it never comes that way. take initiative.
  6. what are your client-acceptance procedures and criteria? strong guidelines can increase your profitability dramatically.
  7. firms serious about adopting some simple best practices are 19 times more likely to report superior revenue growth.
  8. creating goals is the easy part. executing goals is the tough part. but it’s not rocket science: meet weekly and hold people accountable.
  9. only 28 percent of cpa firms meet regularly to check their progress against their strategic plan, and they’re 15 times more likely to be more successful.
  10. know what is relevant to your client right now and use that to create new opportunities.
  11. if partners won’t lead the drive for new opportunities, then the initiative must come from the marketing department.
  12. in this economy, there are great opportunities for government contractor practices. look for industry-specific opportunities in this environment.
  13. this is a time to be bold. winners and losers are created in times like these.
  14. facing a cut in the marketing budget? narrow your focus. be more targeted.
  15. social media is not free. time is money.
  16. competitive leaders are twice as likely as laggards to have clients that belong to the firm, not to an individual. it’s the “one-firm” concept and it works.
  17. take time for a personal career “retreat.” evaluate where you are going, and plan without daily job distractions.
  18. track what is being said about you and your firm using google alerts.
  19. bad first impression? it takes seven good experiences to change a negative client opinion to a positive one.
  20. but after a good first impression, it takes five subsequent bad experiences for a client to think “boy they’ve slipped.”

what would you add to the list?