Collaboration and Strategic Consultancy

You have been given the link to this page because you have expressed interest in securing Mark’s input to your strategic planning to focus on the UK accountancy marketplace, or in building some form of collaboration-style relationship.

Background

You may have had a conversation with Mark already, as a result of which you will know of his background and how valuable can be his insights, contributions and support. Or you may have simply approached him via his Linkedin profile.

If you wish to satisfy yourself as to his credibility:

Check out the ‘About Mark‘ page on this website.
Mark’s Linkedin profile has attracted many hundreds of recommendations and endorsements. As at June 2023 he has well over 13,000 followers on Linkedin.
If such things matter to you and social media influence is relevant, he had a consistently and unusually high klout score of 78 for many years – until that ranking system closed down.
These days the most reliable indicator of influence on Linkedin is what they term the Social Selling Index (SSI). Mark’s SSI ranking is consistently 80/100 which is higher than almost anyone who does not have ‘celebrity’ status. It is almost about as high as you will find in or around the UK accountancy sector.
Mark is consistently ranked as one of the most influential online commentators for the accountancy profession, one of the most influential online suppliers to the financial services industry and one of the most influential online contributors among the UK speaking profession.
In September 2017, Sage identified Mark as one of the top 100 global business influencers.
You may have heard him speak on the subject of how to better engage with accountants to secure business or referrals.
He established what was once a popular Linkedin group: Referrals From Accountants where he shared some of his more up to date ideas and insights. [Sadly Linkedin groups generally are no longer as active or supported as they once were]
His articles on AccountingWeb.co.uk have amassed well over ONE MILLION views.

Mark has provided strategic input, advice, content and training to a number of well-known organisations targeting the accountancy profession. His clients have included publishers, financial advisory groups, conference organisers, banks, law firms, software houses, property companies, tax consultancies, outsourcing companies and training providers.

Strategic Consultancy

Perhaps you are here because you want your team to build, develop and benefit from valuable relationships with accountants. There are many tactics that you could adopt to achieve this overall objective. But first you need to set a broad strategy and clarify the aims that you intend to pursue. Only then will your time, money and effort be well rewarded as you apply these only to key tactics best suited to your aims and objective.

Relevant factors to consider, clarify and collate by way of background often include:

What are you selling?
How appealing can that be made to accountants?
What assumptions are you making about accountants generally?
Do you understand the uniqueness of the Accountancy profession – especially as compared with lawyers and financial advisers?
Which areas do you operate in?
What marketing messages have you tried? And what have you learned?
What media have you tried? And with what success?
What level of engagement have you already had with accountants?
What have you learned to date?
What do your sales and marketing directors believe?
What do your front-line sales team believe?
Why do you think accountants will consider your organisation to be credible and relevant?

It is normally worth engaging Mark to spend a day with your top team responsible for professional partnerships, affinity deals, marketing and sales.

Mark is often asked to facilitate such meetings – he is equally happy to be just one of the ‘team’. He does however insist on clarity up front as to who is ‘in charge’ on the day and who will be noting key ideas, decisions, action points and agreed follow up activities. For each of these there will need to be clarity as to who will be responsible for progress, within what timescales and who else should be involved.

If required Mark will help you plan the day in advance to secure maximum engagement and positive outcomes.

Throughout Mark will share his insights and views from an external and independent standpoint.

Once you have had the benefit of Mark’s clarity of approach you can be confident that the plans you formulate will be realistic and that you will achieve your aims and objectives in building profitable relationships with accountants.

Software, apps and tech generally

Mark is happy to provide commercial advice utilising his wide-experience, his exceptional network and his highly prized reputation. He knows what resonates with accountants and what turns them off. There are many factors that can make or break a launch. Few generic approaches have the desired effect. Campaigns need to be well planned and to take account of the specific ways in which UK accountants operate. Few marketing consultants really ‘get’ this.

Perhaps you want Mark to go further and to endorse or help promote your product to accountants. This can be a tricky one as Mark’s reputation means he cannot go so far as to advocate a third-party product he doesn’t use himself.

As Mark is not in practice he prefers to rely on testimonials and recommendations provided by UK based accountants who are best placed to identify the value of a new product and how it compares to others on the market.

Occasionally Mark is retained to check out new products and to provide a review and/or endorsement. In such cases he always makes clear that he cannot guarantee that his work will have the desired outcome. Understandably this approach limits the appeal of engaging Mark to review new products and apps.

He aims to provide value for money so will be constructive and objective with his feedback especially if he feels unable to provide the hoped for endorsement.

Terms of Business

Mark’s terms of business for consultancy and other services related to Accelerating Access to Accountants are set out here>>>>. Please note that he has no interest in affiliate only commission deals!

Contact Mark by emailing mark@bookmarklee.co.uk or book a time to speak on the phone via this diary booking service here>>> to discuss your requirements.