Has Your Accounting Or Cpa Business Forgotten Traditional Marketing Techniques?

With the American economy showing some early spastic signs of recuperation the forces

of economic distress have, more or less, weeded out the weak, but countless CPAs are still struggling to stay in the fight. It might be time to candidly appraise your sales model and and ask yourself a vital question: What steps are you taking to improve your business?

I'm the first to allow that while the CPA sites I expend so much time examining give you a fantastic edge, it's not enough to hang your whole firm on. To succeed you need to be more than a good accountant. You need to be willing to put time and effort into sales.

Commit to your marketing. Fully explore your market. Your firm needs to answer certain questions to understand your markets.

* What are the client's real needs?

* How should a prospect be approached?

* What kinds of clients do you want?

Gale Crosley, CPA business growth expert, states, "The key competency to winning business is knowing how to discover and build value at the client level."

So how do you do this? It's all about getting face to face and asking the right questions. It's unlikely that the client even knows exactly what he needs, but if you really listen they'll give you plenty of what Crosley calls "contextual clues".

Remarkably simple questions can be very informative. Try asking them how long they've been in business or what their goals are. Does the organization provide adequate resources? Get personal. Ask how their job could be made easier and what they consider their most important areas of focus are.

The questions aren't really all that important, it's the answers that really matter. People don't usually need a lot of prodding to talk about their businesses, and once they get started they'll naturally volunteer huge amounts of information. The trick is learning to really listen for the clues the clients offer that will tell you what they really need. If you're long term goal is to keep the client don't just look for chances to increase your billable hours. Look for ways that you can really help the client run his business more smoothly.

There's a term for people who can do this well. We call them rainmakers.

Most firms have at least one good rainmaker. Some are fortunate enough to have a great one. Take the time to watch these people in action!

You'll be amazed how much these people can learn by gently shaping simple small talk. They can identify opportunities from seemingly casual details, and over time this means a better bottom line for your practice.

Take what you learn from these meetings and apply it to your own clients. Try to get into your clients head. Learn what drives the decisions they make.

By understanding what the great rainmakers do, you'll be able to step beyond the "idle social chitchat," work past what might seem like "random acts of networking," and gain the ability to figure out the reasons behind how a client makes a decision.

When you figure out the "how," you'll be able to insert solutions into a conversation and gain the confidence of your client.

Taking the time to do this will give you new tools for getting through the recession.

So, what can CPAs do during a recession to keep their business strong? . It's simple really. Ascertain the essential methods and processes required to be competitive. Grasp the customer. Get to their concealed personal needs and motivations.

Become the rainmaker.

by: Brian O'Connell

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