How many of your clients only do things at the last minute? Too many, I’d bet. You’re not alone though as “Clients’ last minute-itus” is a common complaint I hear from accountants all over the UK. The question then is how to avoid this? First we need to be clear as to the cause
In an ideal world, you would simply tell people that you are an accountant and your ideal prospects would then find you and ask to become your clients. Life isn’t like that. Even when these people do find out about your practice you need to have a process which brings them onboard
I have long encouraged accountants, who can do so, to focus their marketing messages, website messages, social media and Linkedin activity on their target audience. I have also been attempting to practice what I preach. This leads to non-accountants asking what the heck do I mean now I reference “NED-style mentoring” everywhere? And also
Not all of my clients want to discuss profitability issues with me. So I don’t always know how profitable they are. If it doesn’t come up during our conversations then I assume they are happy enough with their current level of profitability. Or perhaps they are embarrassed because they are less profitable
A popular approach to getting your attention (and often your money) is to tell you that there is ‘one thing’ you must do to achieve your ambitions and succeed. I see this all over the place, in blogs, articles, videos and social media posts. Those who suggest there is just 'one thing'
I first wrote about this in 2012 when I explained that I don't believe that accountants’ clients really want 'added value'. Heresy? No. It's just I'm not a big fan of buzzwords. I believe it's more helpful to think about what anyone means when they say they want 'added value'. Typically accountants'
It occurs to me that some accountants keen to do more advisory work might find it easier if they change their mindset. I suggest that the first and primary way to develop the advisory side of your practice is to be clear as to why you want to do it. If your
In my experience many accountants have more potential to succeed than they themselves believe. They are better accountants than they are prepared to admit. And they deserve to be more successful than they have so far managed to be. Could this be true of you too? Equally there are plenty of accountants
We know, don’t we, that good communication is important in business. In my view, one of the most fundamental pieces of communication is how we talk about what we do.There are many challenges to be overcome here. We want to avoid sounding just like everyone else in the same field. We want our
Most established accountants running their own firms claim to get most of their new clients via referrals. I see at least three potential flaws with this perception. Firstly, it’s rarely based on empirical evidence. Often it is simply an easy answer to the question: 'Where do most of your new clients come
Imagine being in pain and going to your doctor for some help. Within moments of your arrival the doctor starts telling you, very enthusiastically, how similar your pain is to their previous patient, what is wrong with you and what medicine you need to take. How would you feel if that happened?
You are not alone if you get frustrated by some of your clients. In fact, it's very rare for me to hear from accountants who love ALL of their clients. If you do, this isn't the blog post for you. It's more for those who have one or more clients who are
Before setting out those marketing distractions that I believe accountants should avoid I need to offer some context. Over 20 years ago, the start of the century(!) was when I began presenting talks to accountants about practice related matters. I quickly learned to avoid any mention of the M-word as, back then,
Every now and then I hear about general practice firms of accountants that want to boost their abilities to help clients with more complex tax maters. And a couple of my newer mentoring clients have also asked for my thoughts here. This has been a challenge for as long as I can
I have never ‘swiped’ someone’s profile picture, as online dating didn’t exist when I met my wife in the 1980s. The whole concept of swiping is quite alien to me. I was curious though, so a while back, I asked a single friend to show me how the ‘swipe left’ and ‘swipe
I am frequently surprised when apparently successful accountants tell me that they know they should start being active on social media. And that they want to beef up their marketing activity. Both such aspirations typically reflect a belief in the mystical power of generic marketing and the hype surrounding social media activity.
What do you really need to sell as an accountant? This is a simple enough question, and knowing the right answer could make a profound difference to the success of your practice. Let’s start with what you’re NOT selling. As I explained in a 2018 blog post, You are NOT selling your time.
Every February I hear tales of woe from accountants who have worked late into the night during the days and weeks leading up to the tax return filing deadline. Many are resigned to this and some even seem to enjoy the adrenaline rush. Most though resent the late hours and the pressure
Instead of a final post of the year, I offer you a reminder of ten of my most popular blog posts (out of the 50 posted, one each Tuesday) in 2021. I’ve included the links in case you missed them originally or you want to take another look. Early in January I
In this blog post I explain five key issues in the context of your competition as an accountant. I have discussed them many times with clients during mentoring sessions. Often I find an accountant's perception as to who is their competition is blinkered and limited. They are often shocked to realise they
A little knowledge is a dangerous thing and a lot of knowledge is empowering. The problem is the gap between the two can be quite large! This is something it took me years to learn when I was in practice. Let's consider a simple example. What do you know about the tax
Most accountants are justly proud of their technical skills. No doubt you make time to keep your technical knowledge up to date. Most accountants I know focus a majority of their CPD efforts here. Equally most accountants seem to undervalue the importance of ensuring that they have all the business skills they
Many accountants appear to approach the idea of finding new clients with conflicted emotions. If you do this you are probably making life harder for yourself than it needs to be. On the one hand your website and marketing activities try to promote you and your firm as able to act for
Regular readers will know that I am both very active on social media and highly ranked for my online influence (such as it is!) Equally you will also know that I do not routinely encourage accountants to use social media for promotional and marketing purposes. And I challenge the apparent evidence and
As a teenager, before I started studying to become an accountant, I was a children's party entertainer - and I continued doing this for about 25 years. When I look back I realise that I quickly learned 3 key lessons that now, many years later, still inform my thinking and advice to
