strategy

does your firm need an independent executive committee member?

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handshake at an office meeting7 benefits of an outside perspective.

by domenick j. esposito
8 steps to great

managing partners and other senior management at small and mid-sized cpa firms are known for their entrepreneurial spirit, independent thinking and their desire to call their own shots. at the same time, firm leadership recognizes that they have developed their leadership and management skills from the school of hard knocks and their experiences at firms a good number of them joined directly upon graduation from college.

more on strategic planning: are you attracting the new breed of equity partners? | stay independent but keep looking upward | ineffective partners and how to address them | the dangers of low-hanging fruit | 10 common leadership traps | expand your national and global geographic reach | show clients how to improve working capital
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

while these skills are critically important, they are, in fact, limiting as they draw upon a very narrow knowledge base and don’t draw upon a much broader universe of knowledge that is out there. how often do you hear “i wonder how other firms do this or do that?”
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8 ways to improve firm profits

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because businesses make money, right?

by rob nixon

the purpose of any business is to find and keep customers. so you have a marketing and sales function to find them and then you have great service and services that “wows” them into staying with you.

more on strategy: sales is like workflow management | 4 sales systems and some secret sauce | marketing must generate leads | be an ‘object of interest’ | marketing must be about sales | turn your knowledge into products | 8 ways to build team engagement | is your business by design or default? | the profession disrupted: compliance commoditized
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

that’s all well and good for your clients. what about you? you’ve taken a risk to start/buy your business (it’s not a practice and you need to stop practicing – you’ve been practicing long enough) and you need to be rewarded.
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are you attracting the new breed of equity partners?

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businesswoman shaking hands with someone out of view7 tactics to address the “new normal.”

by domenick j. esposito
8 steps to great

there’s no argument within the accounting profession that today’s economy is anemic, margins are squeezed and talent, particularly tax talent, is very scarce.

more on strategic planning: stay independent but keep looking upward | 10 ways to link compensation and strategy | develop home-grown future leaders | how to capitalize on the trusted business advisor opportunity | leadership must be persistent and consistent
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

on top of that:

  • the philosophies of: (a) finders, minders, grinders and (b) an accounting firm model (principally low-margin compliance services) are no longer sufficient and probably are counterproductive to the perpetuation of a firm.
  • clients have the upper hand in their accounting firm relationships.
  • technology will continue to create a lesser demand on lower-level staff.
  • it is widely believed that google and microsoft will soon become fierce competitors for certain compliance services.

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sales is like workflow management

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four colored arrows in an arc with shadows underneaththe 4 core steps to take.

by rob nixon

most accountants have a workflow system of sorts. you get the information in, you check the information, you manipulate the information, you query it, and you then bind it up and lodge or file it.

more on strategy: 4 sales systems and some secret sauce | 17 killer questions for prospects | growing your client database | niche markets are your best buyers | 8 questions for product creation | how to deliver wow! every day | communicate until it hurts | why a virtual team makes sense
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

it’s a process (simplified, i know) that is like a manufacturing line. the raw materials come in and after a series of steps and people touching the item, a finished product is created and shipped to the customer.
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negotiate for success, not a ‘win’

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5 common mistakes to avoid.

by steven e. sacks

we enter into negotiations every day without realizing it, whether it is on a professional or personal basis.

more on strategy: does your board know its role? | can you recite your mission statement? | your firm’s biggest assets walk out the door every day | can we please refer to accounting as a profession?
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

irrespective of whether it is a contractual transaction between a company and vendor or if a husband and wife are deciding on which couch to buy, each side is seeking to gain something. neither side may get everything it wants because an all-or-nothing-at-all approach will be a barrier to making any progress.
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stay independent but keep looking upward

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businesswoman walking up stairs14 questions to ask.

by domenick j. esposito
8 steps to great

your firm was knocking the cover off the ball pre-financial crisis (circa 2007 and 2008) with a strategy of getting bigger with quality growth, stronger with quality talent, and more profitable but it is increasingly obvious that it has become difficult competing in today’s mid-market space.

more on strategic planning: 10 ways to link compensation and strategy | quality work, quality service not the same thing | who will be the next category killer? | why is strategy execution so difficult? | time running out for succession planning | the benefits of a client situation review | capital markets 101 | how to implement industry practice groups | what is ‘acceptable’ performance? | 6 measures of partner performance | is hr ready for your partner pipeline?
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

the business environment is anemic and organic growth is hard to come by. your challenge is exacerbated when you see an insufficient number of young superstars and rainmakers and your senior partners, mostly baby boomers, don’t have an awful lot of “golf course” left to play.
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4 sales systems and some secret sauce

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businessman sitting behind his desk in the office talking on a mobile phone listening to the conversation with a serious expressionplus 7 rules for telephone meetings.

by rob nixon

i have been actively selling something since the age of 14. that’s 30+ years of selling.

more on strategy: 17 killer questions for prospects | sales is about trust | how to dominate the internet | marketing objectives determine marketing amount | what products should you create? | keep a watchful eye on clients | rewards go far beyond money | people still needed, but in different ways | don’t let technology make you dumber | are your goals big enough? | finding new opportunity in compliance
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

i have been formally trained in courses on how to sell. i have attended more sales seminars than i care to remember. i have read countless books and listened to audio programs on the science of sales. i have sold over the phone, on the shop floor in retail, from a seminar stage, one on one, one to many and via webinars.
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how to fly the automation dragon to your dream practice

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the 11-step plan to winning the war against accounting “bots.” 

by hitendra patil
accountaneur

like a snowball rolling down a hill, the fear that automation and artificial intelligence will replace accountants with robots is rapidly gaining mass and momentum in the accounting profession.

more on entrepreneurial strategy:  3 reasons small firms stay small  | how job titles can rebrand your firm | your clients hold a secret key to your practice growth | seven lessons for accountants from self-driving cars | you don’t think technology helps get new clients? | tax season management: multi-tasking is a myth
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

but accounting is one profession that has always adapted to technological and regulatory evolution over a long period. i am sure accountants will ride the new, so-called fire-spitting-jobs-guzzling automation dragon within no time.

but first, let’s think about the underground shift that will happen because of the automation in accounting. why will automation mean more business for accountants?

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17 killer questions for prospects

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businessman looking at question mark sketch on the wallplus 6 tips for how to ask them.

by rob nixon

i am blessed to be working with the accounting profession for 20+ years. i love the influence that you can make and the difference to a client’s financial position.

more on strategy: sales is about trust | marketing must generate leads | be an ‘object of interest’ | marketing must be about sales | turn your knowledge into products | why clients really stay | 8 ways to build team engagement | how to create 4 new billable hours per day | do you know what clients want? | is your business by design or default? | the world is flat
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

you are very loyal to your clients, your vendors and your team. you are sometimes obstinate on parting with money but that is not the most annoying thing. the most annoying thing in dealing with you is that you don’t ask enough questions. sometimes none at all. it is so frustrating.
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quality work, quality service not the same thing

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quality work, quality service not the same thingcompetence isn’t enough.

by domenick j. esposito
8 steps to great

over the years, i have enjoyed reading and internalizing the insights of david maister, highly regarded author, speaker and practice management consultant.

more on strategic planning: ineffective partners and how to address them | develop home-grown future leaders | how to capitalize on the trusted business advisor opportunity | leadership must be persistent and consistent | using a high-performance business framework | what a client service plan can add | 36 consulting services you might be overlooking | how to drive consistent partner behavior
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

many years ago (circa 1993), maister wrote a professional service firms article titled “quality work doesn’t mean quality service.”
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sales is about trust

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confident businessman sitting in officedon’t tl;dr this one. here are 8 areas to work on.

by rob nixon

there’s an old saying that dogs can smell fear.

more on strategy: marketing must generate leads | growing your client database | niche markets are your best buyers | 8 questions for product creation | how to deliver wow! every day | communicate until it hurts | why a virtual team makes sense
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

it’s the same theory for people who are in a sales role. if your “dog” (person in front of you) can sense that you are not confident then you are not going to make the sale. you will get questions and objections from the prospect/client that you don’t want and ultimately not make the sale.
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