are you helping clients achieve their goals?
by august j. aquila
price it right: how to value accounting services
there is only one person who can make your practice better. that person is you if you are a sole practitioner. if you are a multi-partner firm, then it’s up to all the partners and senior staff. let’s explore how you get your firm to the next level.
more: five tips for cross-selling and upselling | the four steps of your personal marketing process | how does your firm measure up? | six questions before asking for all the referrals you deserve | five rules for a marketing orientation | ten keys to marketing success
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do you tolerate mediocrity?
tolerating mediocrity is the death of many good firms. whenever and wherever you see it in your firm, stamp it out fast.
here are some questions to ask yourself and your partners to see if you are hanging on to what’s comfortable rather than stretching yourself and your partners to truly excel:
- are you satisfied with the financial results of your firm? this question should consider billable hours, total working hours, cash collections and realized rate per hour. if you are satisfied, ask yourself why. if you are not, what should your goals for the coming year be?
- how are you addressing performance problems in your firm? do you ignore them? or do you have face-to-face meetings with the “guilty” party and work to resolve the issue or ultimately counsel the individual out of the firm?
does everyone in the firm have specific performance goals?
these would include billable dollars, new business generated by self or with others, collections, training, personal improvement, etc.
how can you become a famous person in your market?
you don’t have to be a big 4 firm to be known in your market. do you have a specialty like succession planning, mergers and acquisitions, wealth management, etc.? do you participate in other professional organizations? do you actively mine your referral base? do you have a social media presence?
how dedicated are you to providing outstanding client service?
if one of your goals isn’t to make your clients more profitable or provide individual clients with tax savings or retirement planning ideas, you need to ask yourself why you are in business. clients hire us to help them achieve their business and personal goals, not just to prepare an annual tax return or financial statements. if you are not concerned about doing this for your clients, what are you concerned about?
how will you change your marketing strategies?
if you are not satisfied with your marketing results, don’t do the same thing year after year. you will only get the same results. maybe you need to refresh your website. maybe you need to conduct a marketing audit. what is your social media strategy?
take a few minutes each day to see how you can become the best there is. everything else is second-best.