{"id":83321,"date":"2021-05-03t15:00:55","date_gmt":"2021-05-03t19:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/48e130086c.nxcli.net\/?p=83321"},"modified":"2022-12-22t00:43:25","modified_gmt":"2022-12-22t05:43:25","slug":"five-marketing-mistakes-to-avoid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/\/www.g005e.com\/2021\/05\/03\/five-marketing-mistakes-to-avoid\/","title":{"rendered":"five marketing mistakes to avoid"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a>be thoughtful about how you seek new clients. by sandi leyva<\/em><\/p>\n as an accounting professional, you\u2019re likely very talented at delivering the service you offer your clients. but when it comes to marketing and selling yourself, many of you didn\u2019t voluntarily sign up for that part. many of you are resisting (kicking and screaming) marketing yourself. if that\u2019s you, that could be why your business is slow or not growing at the rate you\u2019d like it to.<\/p>\n more on small-firm growth strategies:<\/b> spend your time on the most profitable tasks<\/a> | seven performance boosters for your firm<\/a> | why your google ranking is about to tank<\/a> | seven tips to keep the clients you have<\/a> | 12 ways to stress less this busy season<\/a> | six ways to make your own history during women\u2019s history month<\/a> we all hope we will have enough referrals so that we will never have to sell ourselves. but in the last few years, referrals, even for those of us with huge followings, have slowed down. it\u2019s (past) time that we work on more fully developing the marketing and selling function of our businesses. as you do, here are five mistakes to avoid. it\u2019s hard to convince prospects that you are the best at one particular service such as tax returns for corporations doing business outside the u.s.; it\u2019s even harder to convince prospects that you\u2019re the right person for anyone\u2019s payroll, tax return, bookkeeping, management consulting, budgeting and accounts receivable factoring.<\/p>\n plain and simple, it\u2019s better to specialize. it sounds counterintuitive, but here\u2019s an example from my own practice: i sell more websites because i am specialized to serve the accounting profession. i would not sell as many websites if i didn\u2019t have the specialty. the product is niched. the accountants feel like the product is made for them (and it is). coke did not get to be coke by selling coffee, bananas or cake.<\/p>\n 4. not having (or showing) a track record<\/strong><\/p>\n discerning prospects need to know you\u2019ve done business and created results for people just like them. ask for, compile and publish testimonials, client reviews, case studies and other reputation-building tools to show that you\u2019ve produced results for dozens of clients in the past.<\/p>\n 3. overselling<\/strong><\/p>\n selling and marketing are learned skills, just like the skill you learned that you now offer to clients. if you don\u2019t have those skills, people notice. it manifests in overselling, which looks needy; selling to the wrong prospect, which is costly; and most crucially, low confidence, which repels just about everyone around you.<\/p>\n there is no fortune 100 business without a huge division of sales and marketing people who are trained and have degrees in their expertise. what would happen if they tried to wing it with hardly any budget or staff for marketing and selling like accounting firms do?<\/p>\n once you learn the skills of marketing and selling, the payoff is usually immediate. you can practice consultative selling and easily find the people who need what you have.<\/p>\n 2. taking the \u201cfreedom\u201d of being an entrepreneur a little too far<\/strong><\/p>\n as an entrepreneur, you can have it your way. however, that doesn\u2019t mean you can be successful while avoiding pieces of your business just because you don\u2019t have the skill or don\u2019t like doing it. i hated project management so much when i was doing it in corporate that i avoided it in my business for years \u2013 and i suffered great consequences of my avoidance. what if google\u2019s founders said, \u201cno project management allowed here. we don\u2019t like it.\u201d pretty ludicrous, right?<\/p>\n all businesses need a solid marketing and selling function that is professionally executed. the only part that is a choice is whether you do it yourself (assuming you have the skill set your business needs) or hire someone with the right experience and skill set to do it for you.<\/p>\n 1. having the belief that selling and marketing are \u201cdirty\u201d or sleazy, or whatever label you are putting on it<\/strong><\/p>\n there may be some of you (perhaps many of you) out there who have a belief that salespeople are sleazy. you avoid them like the plague when you go into a department store. you think they are pushy even if they just say hello. you would rather die than ever have to cold call, or even ask a current client for something. if this is you, then you might be getting in your own way of your success.<\/p>\n after all, marketing was \u201cillegal\u201d in our profession until the 1970s.<\/p>\n a business today will not succeed without sales and marketing. it simply won\u2019t be heard through all the noise that\u2019s out there, and you will stay the world\u2019s best-kept secret. you will wonder why everyone else is doing better than you, even when your solution is better. does apple say, \u201cselling is sleazy\u201d? no, they\u2019ve made it a beautiful art.<\/p>\n your solution (and only hope) is to undergo a major mindset change. when your business is below its capacity of serving clients, you cheat the world out of the gift and talents you have to offer. start sharing who you really are so more people can benefit from your services.<\/p>\n use this list as a checklist to see if any of these mistakes are holding you back from your full potential.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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