include your firm culture and recruiting in your execution.
by august j. aquila
price it right: how to value accounting services
it makes no difference what size practice you have. the following tips apply if you are developing an individual marketing plan, a departmental plan or one for the entire firm.
more: twelve fundamentals of planning | 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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from an overview perspective you will want to consider the following five questions:
- what will be the range of services you offer?
- how will you price these services?
- how will you communicate your talents and capabilities to those who need your services?
- how will you deliver your services?
- why should prospects want to use you (your firm)?
practices that set goals and priorities, and develop strategies and action plans, outperform those that make decisions informally and uncoordinated. start with getting a snapshot of your best clients – their size, geographic location, how buying decisions are made, etc. the best place to find out which of your clients are the ideal ones is to look at the top 20 percent of your client base by revenue. these will generate as much as 80 percent of your fees and profits.
with this information you can begin to position your firm in the marketplace. there are a lot of different ways to do this. some firms claim to be the most expensive or the least expensive, the smallest or the largest, the most aggressive or the most conservative, the most experienced overall or the most experience in a specialized service area. think of your firm as a car. what would it be, a tesla, aston martin, mercedes-benz, volkswagen, buick, toyota?
when you think of marketing don’t just think of the external elements of social media, websites, seminars, etc. consider a firm culture that encourages business development and client relationships. recruit people for their interpersonal skills. it’s easier to develop technical skills than people skills. spend as much as you can on training and developing people in communication and consulting skills. above all, don’t forget to compensate those who produce results in this area. they are putting food on the table for the rest of the team.
if you want your marketing to be truly successful, keep track of results. you would never sit through a basketball, football or baseball game and never know the score. make sure you set benchmarks to evaluate the marketing activities, keep score and report it at least monthly to the entire firm. benchmarks can be the number of firm clients, the number of engagements per client, billable hours and dollars collected.
finally, make sure you write out your goals. a good client once told me, “as it is written, so shall it happen.” a goal should provide you with direction, e.g., position your firm as the premier consulting firm for small business in (blank) city. next, you need to develop measurable objectives. these tell you what you are going to do. for example, “i will develop two new consulting engagements each quarter.” then, you will need to determine how you will achieve the objective. these are your strategic goals. lastly, you need to lay out some action steps. this is what i will do and when i will accomplish it.
the best and last tip i can offer is, “don’t wait any longer to start marketing your practice.”