prospects are one of the greatest keys to increasing revenue but unfortunately, many accounting firms are struggling to grow their prospect lists. often, this struggle comes from not knowing how to grow a prospect base in a way that generates results.
prospect lists must be permission-based, otherwise, you’ll run the risk of poor outcomes. here are three practical and easy ideas for growing your prospect base and making the most out of your communications. read more →
i have lost count of how many accountants have told me this over the years. but i also learned that what they really mean is that they do not have a well-defined, structured sales process.
this post is not about fundamental sales skills. that is beyond our scope today. this post is more about how to develop and execute your cas sales process, pitch and supporting collaterals that can help get you more cas sales, including:
how to define your cas sales process
four stages necessary for a sale
seven things you need to know about your sales process
you’ve toiled long and hard to build your firm. it’s your life’s work. adding to the anxiety is the element of facing your own mortality. when people contemplate big personal or business decisions, it’s common to need to move through several stages mentally. merging your firm is no exception.
a: absolutely! my feelings are that large a/r balances are your fault. accounting fees are almost never material to a business’ cost structure, but letting fees pile up can make them somewhat material. read more →
success is a perception that varies with individuals. for control freak entrepreneurs, feeling successful is a big deal and if we can help them feel more in control and thus more successful, then we are well on the way to them seeing us as indispensable. read more →
julio gonzalez, founder and ceo of engineered tax services, has been named among the accounting today top 100 most influential people. gonzalez has been a pioneer in bringing specialized engineering tax studies to local cpa firms and mainstream america, which historically had only been available to fortune 500 through national accounting firms. engineered tax services also owns the growth partnership, able: crm for accountants, and inside public accounting.
alas, the 100 percent bonus depreciation rule—the federal tax law under the tax cuts and jobs act (tcja) of 2017 that made it possible for taxpayers to write off a property’s reallocation in the year of acquisition—will begin to sunset at the end of this year.
in its place in 2023, an 80 percent bonus depreciation will be allowed for properties acquired in 2023, scaling down to 60 percent in 2024 (for properties acquired in 2024), 40 percent in 2025 (for properties acquired in 2025), 20 percent in 2026 (for properties acquired in 2026), and then zero percent in 2027 and later years for properties acquired in 2027 and afterward.
it’s important to note for your clients in real estate that bonus depreciation is applied to a property based on the year it was purchased (although there are some exceptions to this rule). and taxpayers can only claim bonus depreciation retroactively within two tax years of the original placed-in-service date. read more →
with a distinct gap between growth rates of the best-performing firms and the rest of the pack it’s no surprise that high-growth accounting firms have a “secret sauce.”
today we’ll identify seven reasons why low-growth cpa firms struggle a bit more than their high-growth counterparts. read more →
editor’s note: this is part i of a series on fixing the irs. part ii will explore medium-term and longer-term solutions. part iii will look at legislative solutions.
everybody gripes about the irs, but nobody does anything about it.
well, almost nobody. on april 21, america’s national tax advocate, erin m. collins, marched into the house of representatives, sat down before the subcommittee on government operations and told them two things:
when your prospects shop for client accounting services, what they find out about pricing methods and trends defines their expectations. if you follow very different approaches to price your cas offering, it will take significant effort on your part to educate the prospects (and existing clients) about why you are pricing cas the way you are.
as they say, it’s easier to ride the horse in the direction it’s going. it is good to first conform to the perceptions of prospects when it comes to your cas pricing. once you ride the horse, you can direct it to the destination you want to take it to. once you conform to the pricing method (not the dollar value) expectations of the prospect, their anxiety and perception of risk (what value will they receive in the price they are willing to pay) reduce. after that, they are more open to evaluating the choices you present to them. read more →
tax grinds are no reason to stop working on your business.
by ira rosenbloom
cpa firms commonly earn the bulk of their revenue from calendar year-end and personal tax work performed during busy season. during this period, the heavy focus on production for tax season takes too many practices away from strong practice management discipline for considerable blocks of time during the winter crunch and the september 15 and october 15 deadlines. practice management best practices are a 365-day-a-year discipline, and those who work it every day see the difference.
keeping your business healthy will go a long way toward improving happiness for your team. maintaining these five best practices will also enhance your firm’s succession options, and give you more leverage in m&a.
before negotiations begin, it is very helpful for merger partners to prepare a one-page, written description of their firms. this advice is for both the buyer and the seller.
at the risk of offending some of you, we have found that when firms initially describe themselves, the person doing the listening does a terrible job taking notes. none of our memories are as good as we think they are. because in almost all cases, each firm will soon be describing the other to their partners, it’s always best to follow up the oral description of your firm with something in writing.
what follows is:
what the written firm description should include (12 items)
get-to-know-you meeting between buyer and seller (the agenda)
sample firm description
the get-to-know-you meeting cheat sheet
key questions for the first meeting (43 items)
20 questions to ask right away
the data needed to evaluate a merger
financial and operating data to exchange (58 items)
i found out many years ago that i cannot spend my clients’ money.
i used to feel that if they did not want to “buy” a service i felt they must have, it meant i did not clearly convey the value to them. i do not feel this way anymore because the value is relative and draws on many issues the client might have and that i am not privy to.
in my earlier days i used to do the work anyway, feeling a responsibility to the client. it took me quite a while to realize that the responsibility is the clients’ and if they did not want to spend their money for it, i should not spend part of my life doing it on a pro bono basis. there were also times i felt the work was so essential to the client that i did it expecting their recognition of the importance and willingness to pay me afterward. stupid! my bad! read more →
mutually agreed transparency, high-quality and considered communication, striving for two-way benefits and correctly framing the relationship will create the desired beneficial outcomes in that relationship. such terminology can appear lacking in empathy, but these factors translate into an improved business and personal relationship. read more →
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some reassignments, perhaps?
