OUTLOOK & ANALYSIS

Get Real: 15 Questions for Achievable Growth

 

First, understand your firm.

by Bruce W. Marcus
Professional Services Marketing 3.0

In building a growth plan for your firm, perspective is important.

Objectives, clearly defined as they should be, should not be overwhelming. Nor should they be adhered to slavishly. It’s often enough to know what you want to do, why you want to do it, and how you plan to get it done.

Objectives should be consistent with a firm’s comfort level, and should certainly be ethically acceptable to both the firm and the profession practiced by the firm.

More on Professional Services Marketing 3.0:

Bruce W. Marcus
Bruce W. Marcus

— If You Don’t Know Where You’re Going, How Do You Know How to Get There?
— Eight Tips for Staying One Step Ahead of the Competition (And Maybe the Client, Too)
— Nine Things We Know For Sure about How to Grow an Accounting Firm
— The CPA’s Castle Is Crumbling
— My Address in Space: The Dynamics of Change at Accounting Firms
— Six Quick Reasons Why CPA Firms Will Never Be The Same
— 14 Steps to Find the Right “Value Price”
— It’s Not Just Accounting Anymore. Today, Everyone’s in Marketing

Instead, It must have clear objectives that are flexible enough to accommodate the dynamic nature of the market. It must focus on specific aspects of a practice, predicated on the distinctive needs of each aspect of the prospective clientele. For example, a marketing program to attract high asset individuals is different from one to attract corporations. A program to attract real estate developers is different than one to attract builders.

Practically, a firm’s growth plan should be in two parts – near-term and long-term. Near-term should be no longer than two or three years. Beyond that, there are too many variables in the economy, in law, in regulations, etc. to be valid – even with the flexibility that should be part of any plan. Longer than that, it becomes a wish list – not to be ignored, but seen for what it is – a long-term goal. The short-term goal, on the other hand, should be action-oriented, with an action plan for each goal, including who does it.