small firm archives - page 8 of 13 - 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间

how to choose clients right

december 23, 2015

questions to ask, plus a welcome letter for those who make the cut.

by michelle long and sandi leyva
the ultimate accounting virtual conference

you really need to have confidence when you’re discussing your fees with your clients and realize that you may lose some clients. that’s okay because they’re probably not the kind of client you want to have anyway.

more small firm growth strategies: how to handle price sensitivity | how to handle referrals – and how not to | trashing the spreadsheet: best practices in modern expense management | how to find hidden money for your clients | why clients need dashboards | 3 ways to implement value pricing | how small firms can use value pricing | 3 ways to raise your prices | building reputation to build your business | 3 killer lead generation channels | your existing clients are your best leads | need more business? focus on referrals

i had one conference participant say, “many ask about price but i now see it as an opportunity to explain the value i can provide.” that’s great, i like it. someone else suggested saying, “it seems like responding to price is your primary concern.” that puts it back on them to let them explain it and so that’s a good idea as well.
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how to handle price sensitivity

december 10, 2015

by michelle long

“have you ever known anyone to go up to an attorney and say, ‘why do you charge so much?’”

by michelle long and sandi leyva
the ultimate accounting virtual conference

how comfortable do you feel when a potential client asks you how much do you charge?

more small firm growth strategies: how to handle referrals – and how not to | trashing the spreadsheet: best practices in modern expense management | how to find hidden money for your clients | why clients need dashboards | 3 ways to implement value pricing | 3 ways to raise your prices | building reputation to build your business | 3 killer lead generation channels | your existing clients are your best leads

don’t you love that? you answer the phone and the first question is how much do you charge? how do you feel about this? are you very comfortable, somewhat comfortable or somewhat uncomfortable or very uncomfortable?

of our conference participants, 37 percent are somewhat uncomfortable and another 9 percent are very uncomfortable when someone asks about their fees. so that’s almost half of us are uncomfortable discussing our fees. only a fourth of us, 24 percent, are very comfortable.

how to handle referrals – and how not to

december 4, 2015

by michelle long

start with the warm introduction, then thank the source.

by michelle long and sandi leyva
the ultimate accounting virtual conference

we’re talking about client communication and all kinds of different things about communicating with our clients because sometimes as accountants and bookkeepers this is an area we might not be quite that great in.

more small firm growth strategies: trashing the spreadsheet: best practices in modern expense management | how to find hidden money for your clients | why clients need dashboards | 3 ways to implement value pricing | how small firms can use value pricing | 3 ways to raise your prices | building reputation to build your business | 3 killer lead generation channels | your existing clients are your best leads | need more business? focus on referrals

we want to start by talking about the art of a referral. that’s not exactly client communication but it certainly helps us get clients.
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ready for tax season? not so fast

november 28, 2015

by sandi smith leyva

4 resolutions to keep as you prepare for busy season.

by sandi leyva
the 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.

more on small-firm growth strategies: make your services an investment, not an expense | how a spreadsheet can help stop leaks | 9 ways to boost your value (and your fees) | 9 ways accountants throw away profits

if you were making resolutions for the accounting industry, what would you suggest? the first resolution i’d make is:
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trashing the spreadsheet: best practices in modern expense management

november 27, 2015

by michelle long

ushering a new wave: automated solutions. — ushering in a new wave of automated solutions.

how digitizing can benefit clients – and you.

by michelle long and sandi leyva
the ultimate accounting virtual conference

in this session on trashing the spreadsheet, stories in expense automation, we’re going to hear a lot about best practice. we know a lot of you have clients who have expense automation needs.

more small firm growth strategies: how to find hidden money for your clients | why clients need dashboards | 3 ways to implement value pricing | how small firms can use value pricing | 3 ways to raise your prices | building reputation to build your business | 3 killer lead generation channels | your existing clients are your best leads | need more business? focus on referrals

today, we hear from jason mills, director of customer experience at expensify. read more →

make your services an investment, not an expense

november 21, 2015

by sandi smith leyva

5 value-added service areas to suggest.

by sandi leyva
the accountant’s accelerator

every business needs to do some level of bookkeeping for a couple of reasons:

various government agencies require reporting and payments based on the company’s results.
the owner needs a certain amount of information to manage their business and keep it profitable.

more on small-firm growth strategies: want more clients? take these 5 steps | do you want to do compliance your whole career? | 7 ways to get new revenue from old clients | how to work the same hours and make more money | four ways to stop leaving money on the table

many business owners hire us grudgingly for compliance work because they have to. and they consider what they pay us as an overhead expense that is a required cost.

how to find hidden money for your clients

november 19, 2015

by michelle long and sandi leyva

data will lead you to opportunities if you know how to use it.

by michelle long and sandi leyva

we’re talking about using dashboards to make more money with mike milan, the senior vice president of finagraph.

more small firm growth strategies: why clients need dashboards | 3 ways to implement value pricing | how small firms can use value pricing | 3 killer lead generation channels

mike milan:

how do i use this dashboard to talk to an individual? every business may be a little different but you can always start from the same template and then add in or take away.

set fee by focusing on value first

november 14, 2015

by sandi smith leyva

the right time to talk about your fee is not as soon as a potential client calls.

by sandi leyva
the accountant’s accelerator

how do you talk to a prospect or client about your fee?

more on small-firm growth strategies: prospects like a little wooing | 9 ways to boost your value (and your fees) | two daily rituals: focus and measure | how to calculate your ‘opportunity number’

some of the answers i have heard are:

“it depends.”
“tell them and get off the phone as fast as possible.”
“i don’t know.”
“what is your budget?”

most accountants spill the beans about their rates way too early in a conversation with a future client. so when should you talk rates?

why clients need dashboards

november 12, 2015

by michelle long

it’s all about packaging the information they need in an easy-to-digest format.

by michelle long and sandi leyva
the ultimate accounting virtual conference

we were talking about using dashboards to make more money with mike milan, the senior vice president of finagraph.

more small firm growth strategies: 3 ways to implement value pricing | how small firms can use value pricing | 3 ways to raise your prices | building reputation to build your business | 3 killer lead generation channels | your existing clients are your best leads | need more business? focus on referrals

mike has entrepreneurial experience, has created his own businesses and business ventures and helped others as a consultant. he’s known for crafting ideas into million-dollar companies, which is a really great skill to have. here are excerpts from our conversation:

mike milan:

if you look at my background i’ve been part of nine different startups, five different transactions with three on the sales side and two on the buy side. in between doing finagraph and selling my business i did some consulting. and so i had some boots on the ground or life in the trenches that i really would like to impart and share with the group.

want more clients? take these 5 steps

november 5, 2015

by sandi smith leyva

why skipping ahead is costly.

by sandi leyva
the accountant’s accelerator

there are five simple steps to getting more clients. but guess what? most accountants make a big mistake along the way.

more on small-firm growth strategies: prospects like a little wooing | do you want to do compliance your whole career? | 5 skills to grow your practice | is it time to reboot your practice? | how a spreadsheet can help stop leaks | 3 ways to get to ‘yes’ with prospects | design your business around your strengths | two daily rituals: focus and measure | how to work the same hours and make more money

first, here are the five steps to get more clients:

how small firms can use value pricing

november 2, 2015

by michelle long and sandi leyva

step 1: know what your customer values.

by michelle long and sandi leyva
the ultimate accounting virtual conference

value pricing is commonly used with consultants in large firms, but how do we apply it to the very small firms?

what is value pricing? it’s a special type of pricing method that is highly misunderstood in this industry. a lot of people, when they go up on their price, they call it value pricing and that’s not correct. value pricing has nothing to do with cost, it has nothing to do with time or market; it has to do with what the customer vales. that is the only input that goes into value pricing: what the customer values. there is no relation to cost.

more small firm growth strategies: 3 ways to raise your prices | building reputation to build your business | 3 killer lead generation channels | your existing clients are your best leads | need more business? focus on referrals

value pricing is hard because you have to know what the customer values. you have to be really good at putting yourself in the client’s shoes in order to do value pricing. now let me talk about different pricing methods briefly because i think that will help you a little bit.

prospects like a little wooing

october 24, 2015

by sandi smith leyva

7 ways to set yourself apart from the competition.

by sandi leyva
the accountant’s accelerator

as the competition for clients heats up, it’s time to pull out all the stops and make your prospect feel like you’ve rolled out the red carpet.

more on small-firm growth strategies: do you want to do compliance your whole career? | 5 skills to grow your practice | 3 ways to get to ‘yes’ with prospects | 5 cool ways to streamline data sharing | 3 tips for following up with prospects | if you don’t develop your business, who will? | 11 ways to add value for clients | 5 things you know that clients don’t | 8 must-haves for a prospect kit | if you’re a ‘best-kept secret’ cut it out!

how can you do that? here are seven ways to wow your prospect and help them decide you’re the perfect vendor for them.

soloists, small firms must take software seriously

october 18, 2015

by accounting firm operations and technology survey

subscriptions and the cloud may not work for everyone. but proper licensing does.

by randolph p. johnston, leslie garrett, and brian f. tankersley
the accounting firm operations and technology survey

software is the reason that firms make investments in computer hardware, yet many firms seem to avoid upgrades until they are forced to make a change. for example, when asked to identify their preferred word processing application,

more than 50 percent of respondents in both groups are using a version of the software that is over five years old (e.g. office 2010 or earlier), and
a significant number of solo practitioners are using word 2007, which is eight years old as of june 2015.

while we do not think that practitioners should jump the newest version of a product immediately, we also do not think they should be more than two releases behind the current version of their applications for an extended period of time.