how to create one and what to do next.
by jody padar
from success to significance: the radical cpa guide
at my firm, one of our big personas is a real estate investment firm. they like a one-stop shop. they like our personalized attention. they know that we have a certain amount of practical, specialized tax knowledge that they can use.
more on radicalism: happy tax: why you need to know its name | product management: start with these 6 steps | product management meets strategy | transitioning to radical: how carl famiglietti did it | how to develop productized services | firm product management is the way to the future
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what do they dislike? they dislike the detail, because they’re deal guys, they’re big-picture guys, they just want to know: can they defer the gain, can they not defer the gain, what is the gain? they tell us to take care of the details. hands off, get it done yesterday, keep me out of jail, i hate taxes. i’m sure you know the type.
what are some of the challenges we have with them? they’re hard to track down, they’re somewhat disorganized, they’re reactive, and there are deals flying all over. in fact, you probably have a real estate guy in your firm who looks just like this. we have several of them.
what’s their responsibility? they need to provide us documentation; they need to keep us informed of any deal happening proactively, instead of sending us some closing statements and saying, “okay, i need to make an estimated payment on this.” they may or may not be technical, but they’re business-savvy. they are often in their cars or on the golf course, and they live for sales.
knowing all this, we must think about how we’re going to communicate with them. yet, it’s more than communication; it’s also about data organization and data delivery for them. they live in a transaction-based world, which is very different than operating a small business. who they are and how they do business impacts how we relate to them.
let’s look at another persona, one that i’m sure many of you experience: joe small business. mr. business wants responsive action to his questions, he wants a fair fee, he values what he’s paying for, but he’s concerned about price. he’s not growing, so he feels like the same thing that happened this year is the same thing that happened last year. his biggest goals are probably making sure he is complying and maintaining low taxes. he may or may not want advisory services, or he may or may not be willing to pay for advisory services. he wants access to information. he may try to get away with everything. he sometimes even disagrees with bank statements.
i don’t know if you have a client like that. they get caught up in immaterial issues sometimes, and they have multiple people with different agendas. their skills are usually technical, but it’s very specific to their field. someone on their team usually has limited office knowledge. usually there is an extra person between you and the business owner. maybe they’re that office manager, or the spouse who manages everything.
when you work with them, you’re going to work with them very differently than when you work with your real estate guy. it’s important to know who your customers are as you start to productize your service because that’s going to help you figure out how you’re going to serve them. and, of course, what you are going to sell them.
another persona that we have is a graphic artist. they’re the typical solopreneur. usually, they’re one or two people. they need handholding, they like simple software and minimum involvement, but they’re pretty tech-savvy. sometimes they’re flaky, they may get overwhelmed easily, they’re not responsive, and their follow-up is sometimes terrible. we just let them do invoicing, and we do everything else on the back end. the way we interact with them is very different than how we interact with our joe small business and very different than we act with our real estate guy.
what i’m trying to get at here is, as you start to productize your service, and you determine who you’re serving from a practice management standpoint, it’s going to help you to clarify how you’re going to serve them, what you’re going to sell them and how you’re going to sell it.
you’re no longer going to be selling time for value because you’re going to put something special into the bundle. this is going to help you.
if you can go back through your firm and figure out how you treat certain customers, and what’s important to them, then you can help create products around that, and you can sell via fixed prices or value prices.
how to create a persona
part of changing your business model is knowing whom you’re going to serve.
to discover my firm’s personas, we went through our customer list and grouped them into business-related and “what do they like?” categories.
then we had a meeting and discussed the subsets and asked/responded to the below questions as a group.
we then documented the answers so our whole team would know and understand who we talk to daily.
it was funny that most of our customers fit into a subgrouping that we could define. we enjoyed the experience because it gave us new, organized information that helped us market our firm.
aside from marketing, it’s important to understand who you are communicating with and their point of view so that you can help them understand their solution.
the way we communicate is very different based on subgroups. if your whole team communicates to the right customer in the right way, the relationship stays with the solution, not with the partner.
when you are creating personas, start with these basic questions:
- what is your job role? your job title?
- what is a typical day?
- what skills are required?
- what knowledge and tools do you use?
- who do you report to? who reports to you?
goals
- what are you responsible for?
- what does it mean to be successful in your role?
challenges
- what are your biggest challenges?
- how do you overcome these challenges?
company
- what industry or industries does your company work in?
- what is the size of your company (revenue, employees)?
watering holes
- how do you learn about new information for your job?
- what publications or blogs do you read?
- what associations and social networks do you belong to?
personal background:
- age
- family (single, partnered, children)
- education
shopping preferences:
- how to you prefer to interact with vendors (email, phone, in person)?
- do you use the internet to research vendors or products? if yes, how do you search for information? what types of websites do you use?
and so, it would make sense that the next step is …
create a product your customer loves. seriously. what would make them do cartwheels and/or make their heart explode? i know it seems weird. but think about it: this concept allows for less dependency on relationships because they love the product, not the provider.
this is how we must start thinking about what it is we sell. you must understand the customer’s need. the customer doesn’t know how their product should work or perform. they just know how they feel and what problem the solution solves. and therefore, they fall in love with the result.
this is one of the biggest issues i see in cpa firms today. when you focus on selling time and billing, your focus is on yourself. but when you create productized services, your focus is on your customer. your customer should always come first. cpas typically say that in their marketing materials and pitches, but it’s not true.