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
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
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
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
You have probably heard the old networking idea that it's important to help people get to know, like and trust you. Only then will they buy from you. Only then will they even consider becoming your client. This idea originated in the book ‘Endless Referrals', written by Bob Burg, who said: “All things
Most of the accountants I meet claim that most of their best new clients come through referrals. When I dig deeper I find this is typically for one of the following reasons: They remember that their most recent new clients were initially generated by referrals; They don't get many new clients and also
Do you consider yourself to be a confident person generally? What about in terms of your ability to attract and win over prospective clients? And to keep clients happy and willing to pay you the fees you deserve for the work you do? Whilst many accountants I work with have a fair degree of
Weird question? I know. But stay with me for a moment. For as long as I can remember accountants have treated CPD as being synonymous with technical training - by which I mean technical updates and courses intended to explain new rules and regulations. And surely we have to prioritise such training?
There is no doubt in my mind. The more focused you can be as regards your ideal clients the more chance there is that they will recognise you as an accountant they should approach. And, if you have a clear focus, the easier it will be for other people you know to recognise
What are you selling 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 recent blog post, You’re not selling your time. And you’re not
I've addressed the subject of Networking many times before on this blog. I make no apology for returning to the topic as it's a key business skill for accountants who want more clients. And also for those seeking their first clients too. Networking is not something covered by our professional training. But it has
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
Networking is not for everyone. Whilst some accountants enjoy attending regular networking events, I regularly hear tales of woe from those who find it a frustrating waste of time. There are also plenty of accountants who do not like the idea of chatting with strangers very appealing. You will rarely meet someone at a networking
So many accountants tell me that most of their new clients come from word of mouth and client referrals. In most cases however this seems to be a function of luck rather than planned in any way. Have you ever thought about how you could make it easier for your contacts to know who would
Most sole practitioners are justly proud of their technical skills. It is also common to find that some sole practitioners 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. At best only lip-service is paid to the development of non-technical
I developed the following ten tips some years back. The list is drawn from my mentoring programme for ambitious accountants. 1 – Get in the right state, not in a right state. Keep in mind that you want to gain some value and benefit from the time you are committing to attending the networking
During the course of my career I have attended hundreds of events where professionals and business people could network. More recently, since I went freelance in 2006, I have also attended many more generic and local business networking events. These are very different and are more likely to attract some inexperienced networkers whose prime
It is generally accepted these days that you will benefit more from advertising, marketing, networking and referrals if you focus on a recognisable niche. Let everyone else continue trying to be all things to all people. But, if you are like most accountants in practice you don't think you have a specialist focus. You
At its heart, networking involves meeting up with people in the hope that you will build profitable relationships with them. The emphasis is likely to be on building business relationships but social and even romantic ones could develop too I suppose. Many of the same principles apply whether you are networking online or in
A sole practitioner accountant recently asked me how could he attract the 'bigger fish'? In effect he wanted to know how he could start to attract and win clients who would be prepared to pay bigger fees. He said he wants to more than double his average fee - moving from around £600 upto
My friend Andy Lopata is a networking strategy consultant. I'm not sure that anyone else looks at networking in quite such a scientific way. He talks about the strategy you adopt as in who you choose to network with and how you can ensure that you get maximum benefit from your networking. This is
I once worked with a guy (let’s call him ‘Sam’) who went to lunch with anyone and everyone; he attended more one to one meetings with other professional advisers than anyone else I have worked with. His intention was clear BUT the level of his work referrals never seemed to warrant the time and
