Successful Accountants’ Blog
Two in one: Helping clients with their resolutions and 10 for you to make yourself
With all the annual fuss about new year's resolutions, why does no one suggest checking backwards? It's all very well making promises about what you want to do differently, but how strong is your resolve? I've never been one for doing the same as everyone else, so
Forget USPs – what are your KDIs?
I have long advised audiences and clients that claiming to have a Unique Sales Proposition (USP) is typically a mistake - as the word 'unique' means 'unlike any other'. Rarely do I ever encounter accountants with genuinely 'unique' offerings for clients. And it will be counter-productive to
Top ten blog posts of 2019
Instead of a final post of the year, I offer you instead a reminder of ten of my most popular blog posts (out of the 50 posted, one each Tuesday) in 2019. I;ve included the links in case you missed them originally or want to take another
If you carry on doing what you’ve always done….
There is a popular old adage: If you carry on doing what you’ve always done, you’ll carry on getting what you’ve always got. Its origin is unknown and it is typically attributed to either Henry Ford, Tony Robbins, Susan Jeffers or Jessie Potter. Typically the statement is
Are you more like a Nokia 5110 or a smartphone?
The first mobile phone I had was the size of a brick. That was in the mid 1990s. Within a few years I had a Nokia 5110. It was much smaller and compact. It was the first phone I owned that could send and receive text messages
Challenging 12 poor excuses for not investing in new technology
If your firm has yet to invest much in new tech I hope the following list will help you overcome your reluctance. And if you have been investing then maybe you can just reminisce as to what life was like beforehand. Or perhaps things have stalled and
Accountants didn’t do this in 2008. Maybe now the time is right?
When I consider what the future holds for accountants I find it helpful to look back at predictions made in the recent past. Many other commentators seem to be unaware of the difference between genuinely new innovations and those that are variations on a theme. This is
How to get more referrals for your accountancy practice
For a change, instead of creating a fresh blog post, I thought you'd appreciate a summary of my most popular posts on how to get more referrals to your ideal new clients. 5 ways to get more referrals Are you undermining your credibility by being too modest?
Key cybersecurity issues for accountants
A recent conversation with cybersecurity expert Francis West prompted me to interview him about the risks of cybercrime affecting accountants in practice. Francis has been involved in the technology sector for over thirty years, for the last 10 years running Westtek Solutions, providing IT support to a
What is the real rate of change for your practice?
Everyone tells us about the pace of change and how fast it is. But when we step back for a moment, there are three separate issues to consider and the real rate of change for your practice may well be slower than others would have us believe.
Future Focus: How strong and evident are your human qualities?
In recent years a number of commentators have suggested that we need to adopt a new mindset. Instead of distinguishing our marketing and sales activities dependent on whether our focus is 'B to B', or 'B to C', they want us to recognise that, today, everything is
A dozen fallacies accountants should not accept at face value
Not all accountants believe all of these fallacies. And some have been part of our psyche for so long we think they must be true. Others are repeated by salespeople and consultants who want you to believe stuff so that you'll buy what they're selling. But a
Your current clients are the least of your problems when you look into the future
You're not alone if you're fed up of hearing commentators, software vendors and app developers tell you about your existing clients. I'm not in practice any more and I'm certainly fed up of it - as what they are saying makes no sense. Whatever new developments, new
If it’s not a lack of technical skills that is holding you back…..
Most accountants are justly proud of their technical skills. It is also common to find that some accountants undervalue the importance of ensuring that they have all the business skills they require to be profitable in the short-term and successful in the longer-term. What’s your position? Are you
Your (current) clients are only part of the story
When I am invited to speak at a firm’s away day the organisers often want me to influence the older partners whom the management team consider to be complacent. They tell me that some of these partners, with their well established client portfolios, are resistant to change
