Bissett Bullet: Tell Them What They Need

Today’s Bissett Bullet: “A real frustration for many accounting professionals is clients who ignore a suggestion from them but when someone else suggests it, they think it’s a great idea. Why does that happen?”

By Martin Bissett

Superior accounting firms deliver to their clients; increased self-esteem, saved businesses and saved relationships to name but a few. In order to be considered a trusted advisor, sometimes you need to be tough with a client to deliver the outcomes that they need as well as the ones they want. Then they will start to take you more seriously and value your suggestions rather than pay them lip service.

Today’s To-Do:

Identify a client for whom you know you can deliver a better outcome if they take the action you’ve previously suggested and make a note for your next meeting to revisit the conversation. Prepare your case in advance and stand firm.

See more Bissett Bullets here

Grow Your Firm in Daily Bite-Sized Steps on a Budget

Do you want to grow your firm into the practice you want?
Are you suffering from overwhelm and don’t know where to start?
Do you need proven and practical advice but time and resource is in short supply?
Do you need a daily dose of insight that’s easy to implement to help grow your firm in bite-sized chunks that fits into your budget?

Introducing Never Mind the Bullets

Introducing “Never Mind The Bullets,” an easy digital digest of the book of the same name written by Martin Bissett, bringing you 366 days of motivation and insight for growing your firm the proven way.

What’s Included in “Never Mind the Bullets” Digital?

With a “To Do” for each day of the year, the topics covered by Martin’s daily teachings are:

Proof Creating
Proactivity Mindset
Pipeline Building
Pricing Process
Progress Making
Profitability Increase
Personal Brand Establishing
Purpose Articulation

For 366 days, you will receive a daily email with an insight that comes with an in-depth explanation and an immediately implementable “To Do” for every day of the year.

In addition to the “Never Mind the Bullets” daily email, you will receive the following:

A monthly digest email that will give you tips for your practice and accounting practice insights and
Bonus video content to take a deeper dive into a range of topics, including pricing, pipeline and practice growth

What You Will Learn

You will learn how to quickly increase your credibility in the marketplace, get clarity on your message, build your pipeline, construct your marketing program, become confident in your pricing and learn from the mistakes and successes taken from Martin’s 25-year career working with over 1800 accounting firms from around the world.

PE Deal Tracker: 147 Deals Build $200 Billion in New Value

Bissett Bullet: Don’t Fall at the First Hurdle

Bissett Bullet: Strike While the Iron Is Hot

Bissett Bullet: A Higher Standard of Proposal

Bissett Bullet: Let Them Control ‘The When’

Posted on August 14, 2025

Martin Bissett

About the Author

Never Mind the Bullets digital daily | Learn more.

Martin Bissett is the author of

Never Mind the Bullets, the 366-day year-long daily email subscription providing guidance and inspiration for practicing professionals. | Learn more
Winning Your First Client,
Passport to Partnership, and
Meet Your New Best Client

Shop the Martin Bissett Practice Growth Collection

He is the founder of The Upward Spiral Partnership Ltd., the UK-based consulting firm that specializes in the implementation of professional selling and leadership skills in the next generation of accounting professionals.

Learn more about AddviserPlus here

Get Martin Bissett's Practice Growth Checklist

Click for Free Download Here

Previously, Martin served ten years on the board of directors of the UK’s leading provider of high-quality new business appointments for accountancy firms. There, he held the responsibility for the nurture and organic growth of the organization’s new client base, including six of the UK’s top 30 firms of accountants.

Martin became fascinated by the apparent juxtaposition of partners not vocalizing what they were looking for in terms of an accomplished skill set from their potential future partners and their managers not asking to discover what that skill set included, despite wanting to reach that very position. In a profession with a supposed “Succession Crisis” on the horizon, this apparent stand-off struck him as curious.

This has led Upward Spiral Partnership to personally interview several hundred partners and managers in the US and UK to learn what partners are looking for and how the managers see their own future in the firm. There are, of course, firms that have addressed this issue already, and their initiatives have also been captured.

The results of the research, including both the consensus and the exceptions to the general opinion, is called “Passport to Partnership.” This study provides the highlights of each factor that the majority of partners interviewed use as their criteria when evaluating whether someone in their organization can make it to the top.

As a result of the combination of his experience, intellectual property, and this proprietary research, Martin now consults with accounting firms in the UK, Europe, and the USA to support them in their transition through to the next stage of their development and growth.

Click here for more by Martin Bissett