by sandi smith leyva, cpa
accountant’s accelerator
except for the usual tax due dates, this time of year can be slow for some accounting firms and especially some tax firms. but it doesn’t have to be if you know what to do. here are three ideas you can use to boost your revenue, not just this month, but all year long. read more →
by sandi smith, cpa
accountant’s accelerator
i’ve worked with a lot of accountants who do not realize how valuable their skills are in the marketplace. most people can’t do what we do with numbers. we need to shake any self-limiting beliefs we have in this area because it limits our ability to serve more clients.
if you were making resolutions for the accounting industry, what would you suggest? the first resolution i’d make is: read more →
how to focus on value first.
by sandi smith leyva, cpa
accountant’s accelerator
how do you talk to a prospect or client about your fee?
some of the answers i have heard are:
most accountants spill the beans about their rates way too early in a conversation with a future client. so when should you talk rates?
the best answer is: read more →
by sandi smith leyva, cpa
accountant’s accelerator
it’s not uncommon for even the smallest of businesses to have employees and contractors all over the world. right now, i have an employee in the ukraine, two employees in san jose, a virtual admin in orange county, a warehouse team in indiana, a transcriptionist in las vegas, partners in new york, chicago, missouri and atlanta, and a coach in sydney, australia.
in the last few months, i‘ve moved from san jose, calif., to plano, texas, while my team stays put. and it won’t hurt my business one tiny bit. here are five tips to help your virtual team play at their best. read more →
by sandi smith leyva, cpa
author of free download:
“10 keys to doubling your revenue”
it’s easy to get sidetracked by politics this year and simply wait to see what’s going to happen in the tax arena. i hope you don’t fall into that trap, though, because there has never been more opportunity in accounting and tax than right now, and now is the time to start preparing so you can make the most of next year’s busy season. read more →
by sandi smith leyva, cpa
accountant’s accelerator
when you need to expand your team, the good news is there are many options available today:
thousands of people are looking for work, and thousands more are looking for small tasks that they can do on the side. to find the perfect person for you, here’s a list of sites that help match you to the perfect person for your task, project or job. read more →
that’s when you need an “appreciation room.”
by sandi smith leyva, cpa
accountant’s accelerator
most of the time, being an entrepreneur is a delight, an honor and a great way of life. every once awhile, there can be those days where you just need a little moral support for one reason or another.
that’s when it’s useful to create an appreciation room (or even a corner or shelf). right now i have an appreciation cabinet in my home office and an appreciation shelf in my business office.
an appreciation collection can consist of seven items: read more →
going beyond outsourcing and virtual workers.
by sandi smith, cpa
accountant’s accelerator
the days are long gone when the only way to build your business was by hiring full-time employees. now there are so many more choices. many employees are interested in part-time work. some prefer to work virtually, which frees a company up from being limited to local talent. and then there’s crowdsourcing, a whole new way to tap into talented labor on a project-by-project basis.
crowdsourcing is a special way to outsource a task. with outsourcing, you know exactly who will be doing the task. with crowdsourcing, you don’t; people just show up and contribute. wikipedia calls it “distributed problem-solving.” read more →
by sandi smith leyva, cpa
accountant’s accelerator
with labor day closing in, it’s a good time to take stock of where we stand for the year, plus re-group as needed before the 2014 busy season is upon us. with so many changes in software, politics, tax laws, and global standards, it’s pretty easy to feel a little disorganized.
more for soloists and small firms: the five essential skills accountants need today | the seven essential components of a simple marketing plan for accountants | take six big steps to go beyond compliance services | when your business needs to be rebooted | two steps to easy cross-sells | the hot new tech product for automated data entry | five value-add service areas to take you beyond bookkeeping | six money-making strategies to take you beyond quickbooks | proactive ways to get more referrals | the three biggest money leaks in your practice | new client opportunities with mobile apps | six questions to launch your summer strategy sessions | what most accountants miss in the five simple steps to get more clients | accountants, do you know your opportunity number? | five ideas to reduce client price-sensitivity | rise to the top with a fresh elevator speech | four ways to practice entrepreneurial perseverance | 5 mistakes to avoid when seeking new clients | the top 12 business card blunders accountants make | seven tips to keep the clients you have | how to attract clients like a magnet | eleven easy ways to deliver more value to clients
here are three steps to help us take stock of our foundational business goals, re-evaluate our big picture, and get us centered as we enter the next quarter. read more →
above and beyond accounting, you need business know-how.
by sandi smith leyva, cpa
accountant’s accelerator
we’ve worked super-hard on gaining our accounting, tax, and auditing skills. those skills alone will keep us working as employees for someone else, but what if we want to go out on our own or grow our business beyond what we have now?
more for soloists and small firms: the seven essential components of a simple marketing plan for accountants | take six big steps to go beyond compliance services | when your business needs to be rebooted | two steps to easy cross-sells | the hot new tech product for automated data entry | five value-add service areas to take you beyond bookkeeping | six money-making strategies to take you beyond quickbooks | proactive ways to get more referrals | the three biggest money leaks in your practice | new client opportunities with mobile apps | six questions to launch your summer strategy sessions | what most accountants miss in the five simple steps to get more clients | accountants, do you know your opportunity number? | five ideas to reduce client price-sensitivity | rise to the top with a fresh elevator speech | four ways to practice entrepreneurial perseverance | 5 mistakes to avoid when seeking new clients | the top 12 business card blunders accountants make | seven tips to keep the clients you have | how to attract clients like a magnet | eleven easy ways to deliver more value to clients
here are five skills to consider adding to your toolbox so you can get ahead faster. how do you rate in each of these areas?
start with an excel spreadsheet.
by sandi smith leyva, cpa
it’s quite common for accounting firms — even the regionals — to have no marketing plan in place. the marketing plan might very well be, “get as many referrals as we can.” or it might be a number for each partner — which is not a marketing plan. or it might be, “if it’s not busy season, i’ll go to my networking group.” none of these are plans. they are individual marketing tasks and components.
the number of companies that do not have fully functioning marketing plans is certainly not surprising because marketing by cpas was illegal – and considered quite sleazy — in most u.s. states until about the 1970s. so we are a profession that has always been behind on our marketing skills.
now that most of us need to market, the relief is we can do it on our terms, using excel spreadsheets, with a bunch of numbers, adding in some deadlines, and creating a very organized process, just how we accountants like things.
so here are seven components of the kind of marketing plans i like to create. we start with an excel spreadsheet. read more →
by sandi smith leyva
accountant’s accelerator
i feel extremely fortunate to have such a wonderful set of clients that i have learned much from the last few years.
more for soloists and small firms: take six big steps to go beyond compliance services | when your business needs to be rebooted | two steps to easy cross-sells | the hot new tech product for automated data entry | five value-add service areas to take you beyond bookkeeping | six money-making strategies to take you beyond quickbooks | proactive ways to get more referrals | the three biggest money leaks in your practice | new client opportunities with mobile apps | six questions to launch your summer strategy sessions | what most accountants miss in the five simple steps to get more clients | accountants, do you know your opportunity number? | five ideas to reduce client price-sensitivity | rise to the top with a fresh elevator speech | four ways to practice entrepreneurial perseverance | 5 mistakes to avoid when seeking new clients | the top 12 business card blunders accountants make | seven tips to keep the clients you have | how to attract clients like a magnet | eleven easy ways to deliver more value to clients
here is a list of lessons learned that i hope will inspire you to work with your clients in new ways.
beat the billable hour by doing more than just taxes or quickbooks.
by sandi smith, cpa
accountant’s accelerator
as compliance services become more commoditized and automated, accountants are faced with how this affects their practice and their bottom line. they can:
those are pretty much the options available to keep profits from shrinking. but today i want to focus on the third point above, adding new services, and provide you with some ideas on how you may be able to serve your tax compliance clients in new ways.
more for soloists and small firms: when your business needs to be rebooted | two steps to easy cross-sells | the hot new tech product for automated data entry | five value-add service areas to take you beyond bookkeeping | six money-making strategies to take you beyond quickbooks | proactive ways to get more referrals | the three biggest money leaks in your practice | new client opportunities with mobile apps | six questions to launch your summer strategy sessions | what most accountants miss in the five simple steps to get more clients | accountants, do you know your opportunity number? | five ideas to reduce client price-sensitivity | rise to the top with a fresh elevator speech | four ways to practice entrepreneurial perseverance | 5 mistakes to avoid when seeking new clients | the top 12 business card blunders accountants make | seven tips to keep the clients you have | how to attract clients like a magnet | eleven easy ways to deliver more value to clients
even if you don’t do taxes, you will find some ideas for new related services you can think about offering to your clients. (remember, it’s easier to sell to existing clients than to acquire new ones.) read more →
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