{"id":86232,"date":"2021-08-25t12:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-08-25t16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"\/\/www.g005e.com\/?p=86232"},"modified":"2023-08-28t02:06:15","modified_gmt":"2023-08-28t06:06:15","slug":"your-marketing-sucks-six-reasons-why","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/\/www.g005e.com\/2021\/08\/25\/your-marketing-sucks-six-reasons-why\/","title":{"rendered":"your marketing sucks: six reasons why"},"content":{"rendered":"

want new business? avoid these errors.<\/strong>
\n\"\"<\/p>\n

by bill penczak<\/em><\/p>\n

it\u2019s an understatement to characterize cpas as process-oriented, with prescribed steps for financial statement audits and tax return preparation that follow a specific regimen. among the many jokes about accountants, the one that resonates here is:<\/p>\n

why did the auditor cross the road?<\/p>\n

because he looked in the file and that\u2019s what they did last year.<\/p>\n

more:\u00a0<\/b>re-thinking today\u2019s firm with five global leaders<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a05 things your firm should do differently this summer<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0do you have the guts to beat the covid crisis?<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0how to inoculate your firm against covid competition<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0\u2018found money\u2019 delights clients<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0the three r\u2019s for beating the corona crisis<\/a><\/p>\n

\"goprocpa.com\"exclusively for pro members. <\/span><\/strong>log in here<\/a> or 2022世界杯足球排名 today<\/a>.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

but the \u201cfunny\u201d thing is that while cpas are typically pedantic about the processes for client work, it\u2019s often a case of the cobbler\u2019s shoes when it comes to running their firms in general, and practice development in particular.<\/p>\n

practice development is both an art and a science, although, with the plethora of new technologies and process improvements in the past five years, much of the guesswork has been eliminated; we\u2019ve never had a greater ability to determine the true roi of marketing and sales investments. but the accounting industry, for the most part, is sadly behind the leading practices curve.<\/p>\n

here are the most common deficiencies in the growth approach among cpa firms:\u00a0
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  1. no roi model. <\/strong>the average firm invests between 1-1.5 percent of revenue in marketing, exclusive of headcount and t&e. few firms calculate the return on that investment. while a percentage of marketing budgets are allocated to \u201cmaintenance\u201d such as keeping a website current or reprinting sales materials, the majority of investments should be tied to incremental<\/strong> new growth, i.e., new engagements, which pass the \u201cbut for\u201d test: that new engagement would not have occurred but for<\/strong> the market investment. improved scrutiny of expenditures and a process for tracking results are vital in that effort, yet few middle-market firms have such processes in place. so they \u201cinvest\u201d in marketing efforts with only anecdotal evidence that these expenditures actually produced results.<\/li>\n
  2. missing the link between marketing and sales.<\/strong> i conducted a survey among the top 50 non-big 4 firms a few years ago to benchmark organic growth against the alignment of marketing and sales efforts. the result was clear: firms with the highest collaboration between these disciplines grew at twice<\/strong> the organic rate of the firms that didn\u2019t. most marketers don\u2019t truly understand sales, and most business developers don\u2019t truly understand marketing. and in most organizations, even outside public accounting, those functions are managed separately as if they are not part of the same success continuum. aligned management of these two functions produces tangible, incremental growth, whether it\u2019s the managing partner guiding the process or a senior-level proxy.<\/li>\n
  3. lack of a sales pipeline discipline. <\/strong>raise the topic of a sales pipeline, or god forbid, a customer relationship management (crm) system and most cpa firm partners will at best nod politely, likely \u201cg-f\u201d<\/a> the notion, or outright rebel about the inherent accountability that comes with such an approach. a pipeline discipline includes:<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n