Which result would you rather your marketing efforts generate? A or B? A = 50 calls and emails from possible new clients who ask loads of questions but who have no intention of paying you the sort of fees you charge; and probably don't want you to do much more than their
What's your 'And'? Yes, we know you're an accountant. But what else are you? What else do you do? What else interests or fascinates you? A new book, written by my friend, John Garrett, explores how sharing your personal passions improves work performance, builds culture, and strengthens relationships with colleagues, clients and
It's nearly 20 years since I was headhunted by a 12 partner of accountants in North London, who wanted to recruit their first tax partner. I explained to the headhunter why I wasn't interested. In the event I agreed to meet with the managing partner who tried to persuade me to reconsider.
No one has asked me what I do since lockdown started. I've been thinking about how I might reply next time. What about you? What do you do? I think there are 4 standard ways we can answer the question. I know which approach I prefer. What about you? 1 State your
There are three types of accountancy practice in the UK. Those who don't want many new clients, those who rely on random referrals and those who take responsibility for generating leads. I have long accepted the existence of the first group who tend to have established practices, are working at or close
I recently spoke with Guy Clapperton, an old friend, and I thought it was worth sharing his media tips with the accountants who read my blog, and those who receive my weekly 'Magic of Success' emails. In this short interview you will find your preconceptions challenged by the insights and advice that
I recently asked this question on Linkedin: Do you stop prospecting in August? The most common response I received echoed my own view. NO. Don't stop prospecting - if you want to grow your practice. I have long recognised that NOT everyone goes away (even when they can). NOT everyone takes a
I like the 3 As - Acronyms, Acrostics and Alliteration. Here's a shorter than usual blog post to help you structure conversations with clients as we start to come out of lockdown: As with all your conversations with clients in recent months you obviously want to help them to sustain, rebuild and recover their
Recently I was asked to prepare a quick list of ten common tax mistakes that business owners should avoid. The length of the article in question didn't allow me to expand very much on the mistakes I listed. This is probably the closest I have come to writing about tax matters for
Survey after survey tells us that most accountants get most of their best new clients through referrals. And many experienced accountants claim that no other activities and no marketing investment ever seems worth the effort. The following sentiment is typical of what I hear: “I get all the new clients I want
Imagine you've gone to buy a second hand car and, after checking it has all the features you want, you agree the price you'll pay with the vendor. You are thrilled. They promise to give it a clean and bring it around to your house a couple of days later. That's all
We know we need to treat every client individually even though we may assume that what they want and need is pretty much the same - in general terms at least. Clients like to be treated as individuals, listened to and treated as special. A common mistake many accountants make is to
Every now and then someone who has known me for a long time tells me about their tax problems and asks my advice. I have to remind then that I haven't been a tax adviser for well over 12 years now. I had already stopped giving tax advice before I created the Tax
I have long noticed a tension between the desire to stop acting for difficult clients and a conflicting desire to avoid losing a chunk of fees. The higher the fees paid by the difficult client, the more difficult it is to end things with them. This leads to much muddled thinking -
Many accountants who seek my input or advice want to know how to get more clients. Implicit in their question is the idea of identifying, attracting and securing the right type of strangers as clients. By which I mean people who did not know of them previously. Often these accountants want quick
Back in the days when I was a professional speaker (BC -Before COVID-19) I often asked audiences of accountants to look around the room. And then to indicate whether they felt that they were in any way special and different from most of the other accountants in the room. Typically only a
What's more important to you? To spend time on promotional activities that don't seem to cost anything or to get cost-effective results from promoting your services to people who you know are looking for someone like you? Many accountants, bookkeepers and tax advisers spend time on various social media platforms, on Linkedin
Almost every accountant I know will admit to having at least one client they wish they didn't have to deal with any more. Go on. Try it for yourself. If you knew there would be no repercussions and no financial loss, which of your clients would you prefer never to have to
With over 700 blog posts here I have revisited many topics and may well have repeated myself at times over the years. Today however I am revisiting a post that I shared just 2 months ago close to the start of the lockdown. At the time I had already seen a number
Did you attend networking events before the lockdown? I know loads of accountants don't like the concept. Others do it reluctantly and some actually enjoy it. The same is true for those online networking events that have replaced face to face events during the lockdown. In my experience you probably have one
Long ago I realised that "Hope is not a strategy". Even if it worked in the past it would be foolish to assume that we can simply 'hope' our way out of the current situation. That goes for me as regards my business activities, for you and your own practice and also
Over recent weeks I have been noting the challenges that I have heard about from accountants and others who have been forced to work from home for the first time. In the enforced rush to do this and with the extra pressure of helping clients struggling with the impact of the lockdown,
"When can I stop supporting clients that aren't going to make it?" This was the tough question I was asked last week by an accountant who has many clients whose businesses may not survive the COVID-19 crisis. Like many other accountants she has always been supportive in the past when the odd
I was asked this question by an accountant who runs their own practice: "Is it ok to try to win new clients at this time?" They had seen other people being criticised online for pitching for work. We've probably all seen the messages containing overt sales pitches. And others that include 'special
A number of accountants are asking similar questions: "How much work do I need to do for free during the virus crisis?" "Is it ok to charge clients for giving them advice at this difficult time?" "I want to help those clients that need advice, but I don't want my practice to
