{"id":97513,"date":"2022-05-22t15:00:19","date_gmt":"2022-05-22t19:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"\/\/www.g005e.com\/?p=97513"},"modified":"2022-12-22t00:40:08","modified_gmt":"2022-12-22t05:40:08","slug":"how-to-measure-your-cas-sales-performance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/\/www.g005e.com\/2022\/05\/22\/how-to-measure-your-cas-sales-performance\/","title":{"rendered":"essential kpis for your cas practice"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a>plus, how to tailor your offering.<\/strong><\/p>\n by hitendra patil<\/i> \u201ci am not a good salesperson.\u201d<\/p>\n i have lost count of how many accountants have told me this over the years. but i also learned that what they really mean is that they do not have a well-defined, structured sales process.<\/p>\n more: <\/b>how to cas: first, break bad habits<\/a> | how much cas profit per person?<\/a> | five reasons the top 100 loves cas<\/a> | look backward for your cas processes<\/a> | make sure your differentiation is truly different<\/a> | is it time to outsource?<\/a> | your firm\u2019s cas team: who and how many<\/a> | two tech approaches to cas<\/a> | when to start building your cas tech stack<\/a> | stop derailing cas<\/a> this post is not about fundamental sales skills. that is beyond our scope today. this post is more about how to develop and execute your cas sales process, pitch and supporting collaterals that can help get you more cas sales, including:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n your cas sales process will be somewhat different than that you may have for selling your other services. there is a key reason for this. it is because cas is more holistic than other services of a periodic or transactional nature. the overall value of cas is not in just period-end reports\/deliverables, but more about the overall value of the many outcomes you provide to cas clients.<\/p>\n a typical sales funnel in any business has four main stages: awareness, interest, decision and action. applied to cas, this is how the sales funnel looks:<\/p>\n to define your sales process, you will need to identify:<\/p>\n the critical difference in the sales process for your other services and that for cas is what you will do at the interest and decision stages of a prospect\u2019s journey through your sales funnel. when crafted correctly, these two stages that constitute the longest time for the prospect to complete can be significantly shortened. this is the inherent benefit of cas \u2013 both for your firm and for your prospects because the outcomes of cas (when clearly expressed) are easier to understand and relate to.<\/p>\n your cas sales pitch actually starts with your discovery process, i.e., how do you identify if an otherwise qualified (business structure\/size, industry, etc.) prospect will really benefit from outcomes of your cas offering. if the discovery is done right, the sales action can become a mere formality.<\/p>\n several sales process studies and research prove that insights-driven, consultative discovery processes are more effective than asking every prospect to answer a series of pre-formulated questions to get you information about the prospect. in cas sales, it is the opposite \u2013 you want the prospect to understand the information and insights about how your cas offering is relevant to him\/her.<\/p>\n the purpose of discovery discussion for cas is to uncover the prospect\u2019s underlying challenges and motivations and to map them to the outcomes of your cas offering. in the accounting profession, it is a common experience that the prospects \u201cdo not know what they do not know\u201d because it is the professional accountants who know both \u2013 the business issues clients face and the accounting principles\/laws\/regulations\/ technologies\/processes that help address those issues. hence, it takes an intelligent effort from you to uncover a prospect\u2019s underlying challenges and motivations.<\/p>\n what this all means is that you don\u2019t<\/strong> need a well-crafted cas sales pitch. what you need is a process that helps you as well as the prospect to discover the mutual fit. how do you do this?<\/p>\n here are some key recommendations:<\/p>\n as a professional, it is your responsibility to make prospects aware of issues that can harm their business and share what happens when those issues are resolved (outcomes). you can devise quite a few discovery scenarios similar to the ones mentioned above.<\/p>\n in my own discovery process, in addition to the discovery scenarios that fit my work, i always ask the following two questions to uncover other issues that i may not have anticipated but exist deep in the minds of prospects.<\/p>\n as you hone your sales discovery process, you will see that asking and telling is not enough. you need to show, as well. what you show during the discovery discussion are your cas sales collaterals. they are the proofs that you actually do what you say. these collaterals answer the often-unexpressed question in the prospect\u2019s mind, \u201cwhat will i get?\u201d<\/p>\n for your cas sales process, the following are some examples of the sales collaterals:<\/p>\n \u201ccan i speak with a couple of your clients?\u201d<\/p>\n don\u2019t be nervous when a prospect asks you this question. instead, be thrilled that the prospect asked you this question because it indicates that the prospect is more or less convinced he\/she should work with you and wants to remove that last lingering piece of concern by using social proof.<\/p>\n at the same time, it is not prudent to just give away the contact details of your cas clients. you want to make a very relevant introduction so that your existing clients are able to provide pertinent insights based on the types of questions the prospect may ask. it is, therefore, important to tell the prospect:<\/p>\n \u201ci\u2019d be delighted to introduce you to a couple of my existing cas clients. to make it worth your and their precious time, and to make sure i connect you with only those who can relate to your business challenges\/motivations, can you please tell me what exactly you plan to ask? is it about the overall experience of working with our firm or about some specific processes?\u201d<\/p>\n asking this or something similar will help you narrow down who exactly you should introduce to the prospect. many times, it can also provide you with additional opportunities to address the concerns that the prospect may not have expressed. most of the time, even when the prospect is convinced about the value of your cas offering, the prospect may still have this dilemma, \u201cam i making the right purchase decision? i don\u2019t want to regret it later.\u201d you want to make sure you remove this last piece of resistance by making a relevant introduction.<\/p>\n how to provide client references<\/strong><\/p>\n here is a draft template of the introduction email:<\/p>\n subject: <prospect\u2019s first name>, meet <client\u2019s first name>; <client\u2019s first name>, meet <prospect\u2019s first name> (e.g. steve, meet bob: bob, meet steve)<\/p>\n hi <prospect\u2019s first name>,<\/p>\n i am pleased to introduce <client\u2019s first and last name>, who is one of our top clients, the ceo\/owner of <name of the client\u2019s company>. like you, <client\u2019s first name> came to our firm when he was faced with <a couple of relevant issues that the prospect is facing>. he is, therefore, the perfect person to share his perspectives about how working with our firm helped him achieve his objectives. <client\u2019s first name>\u2019s contact number is (_ _ _) \u2013 _ _ _ -_ _ _ _.<\/p>\n hi <client\u2019s first name>,<\/p>\n i am pleased to introduce <prospect\u2019s first and last name>, ceo\/owner of <name of the prospect\u2019s company>. <prospect\u2019s first name> is in discussion with us and believes our services can be beneficial for his company. he is looking forward to taking a few minutes of your time to learn from your experience of how our cas offering helped you achieve some of your goals. <prospect\u2019s first name>\u2019s contact number is (_ _ _) \u2013 _ _ _ -_ _ _ _. thank you in advance for taking the time to help a fellow entrepreneur discover the outcomes that you have been enjoying with our firm.<\/p>\n you have each other\u2019s email addresses and phone numbers. please feel free to connect directly.<\/p>\n thanks!<\/p>\n regards,<\/p>\n <your name here><\/p>\n cas sales process performance measurement should be minimized to track and measure only the key metrics. just like how cas is about the outcomes, cas sales process outcomes are what you need to track and measure.<\/p>\n to keep the sales administration costs under control, you can broadly categorize the measurement into three buckets:<\/p>\n sales process productivity performance<\/strong><\/p>\n key conversion performance<\/strong><\/p>\n cas sales performance<\/strong><\/p>\n if your firm has more sophisticated sales management technologies and resources, you can do more detailed tracking and measurements, e.g., performance per lead source, percentage of qualified leads, content performance metrics, average sales cycle, customer acquisition cost, and so on.<\/p>\n the aim of your sales process measurement is to identify factors that can help you minimize:<\/p>\n without measurements, you can quickly feel disillusioned and desperate to get new sales. experimenting with your sales messaging, content and lead magnets is essential to keep fine-tuning your sales effectiveness.<\/p>\n the cpa from salem, indiana, i mentioned in an earlier post created a niche-specific facebook group (free, no paid ads) and kept posting periodically (about once weekly) insights that are relevant to businesses in that niche industry. in about an 18-month time period, the group has grown to over 1,200 business owners (only from that specific industry) with members from several states. from this activity, this cpa firm got new cas clients from 20 different states. the sales performance metrics for this particular lead source look great for this firm. the firm also uses other marketing\/lead generation methods. the key to success was that the firm did not give up on the social media content magnet performance but also did not spend too much time on creating content. all the firm did was share what existing customers were asking and what happens when they overcome the common challenges in their industry.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\nclient accounting services: the definitive success guide<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n
\nexclusively for pro members. <\/span><\/strong>log in here<\/a> or 2022世界杯足球排名 today<\/a>.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
how to define your cas sales process<\/h3>\n
\n
\n
the cas sales pitch<\/h3>\n
\n
\n
\n
the cas sales collaterals<\/h3>\n
\n
your existing clients as your cas salespersons<\/h3>\n
\n
the cas sales process performance measurement<\/h3>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n