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Managing Partners Only: Advanced Sales & Marketing Work Group

CPA Trendlines contributor Jean Caragher has opened enrollment to a new managing-partner-only peer-group on business development and marketing.

"It costs 400% more to close an unreferred prospect versus a referred prospect," says Caragher, CEO and founder of Capstone Marketing. The new online working group is designed to help managing partners "generate more referrals from your network."

The Capstone Community pulls together managing partners interested in education and collaboration regarding CPA firm marketing, growth and client retention. To encourage accountability and execution, each managing partner is encouraged to participate with another member of his or her firm.

Each Capstone Community will meet 13 times over a 15-month time period (no meetings in March or December):

– Monthly one-hour group webinar/online meeting
– Monthly one-hour individual coaching call

LEARN MORE HERE  >>>

 

 

THE RADICAL CPA

How to Become a Social Business

Young people holding social media logosIt's not a side venture. Get ready to transform your firm to the core.

By Jody Padar

Now it’s time to understand the social media business approach, how Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn can help your business.

MORE ON RADICALISM: Make the Cloud Work for You | 6 Ways the Cloud Helps CPA Firms | You’re Already a Consultant | New Thinking Brings New Results | How the ‘New Firm’ Was Born

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First of all, stop calling it social media! Using “social” to gen­erate new customers is a new way of doing business in today’s digital world. Most firm owners don’t understand that when you combine social media with cloud, the effects become multiplied. We’re talking Internet 3.0. Are you ready to get there?
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TECHNOLOGY

Keep Pace First, Change Will Come (Like It or Not)

Man scratching head while standing at crossroadsBuckle up, buttercup, but remember the choices are yours.

By Seth Fineberg

If you’ve been paying attention, albeit sporadically, you’ve gleaned that the accounting profession as a whole – much like small businesses in general – is at a crossroads.

MORE FROM AFOTS: You’re Not Tech-Savvy If You’re Not Cyber-Safe, Too | Lions and Tigers and Blockchain and Bots, Oh My!
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You’re most likely now in a place where you are, in many ways, forced to decide who it is you are and want to be. You’re in a place where, many of you, just want to survive another year and make the incremental changes (yep, there’s that word again) you all need to get through, survive and maybe, just maybe, thrive.
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STRATEGY

Why Choose a Marketplace Orientation?

Smiling businesswoman offering a handshake5 basic principles to follow.

By August J. Aquila

Let's look at the different focuses or orientations that firms can take toward managing and running their practices and see which ones the traditional pricing methods encourage.

MORE ON GREAT PARTNERSHIPS: How Traditional Fee Methods Hurt Firms | Price to Get the Maximum Fee | 7 Issues in Partner Retirement Planning | Is It Time for a Partner Compensation Checkup? | 13 Points of a Good Compensation Plan | 5 Ways to Keep Your Edge | The Toughest Job in the World: Managing an Accounting Practice | How to Become the Firm of Choice
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Any organization, whether an accounting firm or not, usually tends to have one of four focuses. They are either selling-oriented, product-oriented, production-oriented or marketing-oriented.
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CLIENT SERVICE OPPORTUNITIES

What Can You Offer that IBM’s Watson Can’t?

Man and woman having business meeting over coffeeA personal touch is just the start.

By Kyle Walters

Did you know that the entire technology infrastructure NASA used to put a man on the moon in the 1960s could fit inside your iPhone today?

MORE: The What, So What and Now What? | Clients Don’t Have a Fee Problem, They Have a Value Problem

 

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TECHNOLOGY

You’re Not Tech-Savvy If You’re Not Cyber-Safe, Too

Digital padlocks illustrationSecurity must be both a priority and a habit.

By Ranica Arrowsmith
Accounting Firm Operations and Technology Survey

As the profession faces a future filled with the promises of artificial intelligence, machine learning and ever-increasing automation, it’s easy to forget a key point: Without security, technology can come back to bite you.

MORE FROM AFOTS: Lions and Tigers and Blockchain and Bots, Oh My!

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PRICING, FEES & BILLING RATES

How Traditional Fee Methods Hurt Firms

A road sign depicting falling dollarsRule of Three and cost-plus overlook some key considerations.

By August J. Aquila

The time has come for the accounting professional to rethink the paradigm on which pricing has been based. Let's discuss the traditional methods of price setting and how they can have a negative impact on a firm.

MORE: Price to Get the Maximum Fee | Why Value Pricing? | Solving Underperforming or Dysfunctional Partners | The 3 Types of Partners You Need | How MPs Can Make a Real Difference | 5 Reasons That Leaders Fail | 11 Things All Partners Must Do | Why Partners Need Written Goals | The 6-Step Plan for Transitioning Clients

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