3 Ways to Raise the Bar for Your Business
…place to allow this to happen. You’ve undoubtedly heard the benefits of automation, including reducing time spent on tasks, monitoring the state of work, and communicating in real-time with clients…
7 Search Results for National Association of State Boards of Accountancy
Change Is Inevitable, Even in Marketing
Sometimes it’s improvement. Sometimes it isn’t. What role will you play?
By Bruce Marcus
Professional Services Marketing 3.0
EDITOR’S NOTE: CPA Trendlines was privileged to have a long relationship with Bruce W. Marcus, who was ahead of his time in his thinking and practice in marketing for accounting. We are publishing some of the late expert’s evergreen work, which retains wisdom for the present.
Speaking of change, as we have been, in the several months it took me to write my book and to choose from the hundreds – maybe thousands – of articles I’ve written over the years, a great deal has changed. And not just trivial stuff.
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The movement to replace the hourly billing with value billing has accelerated. Firm mergers, consolidations, new boutique firms that bear little resemblance to the historical professional firms, new technology that makes obsolete technology that was itself only months old. It seems that observations (I don’t make predictions) that I made decades ago about the need to go outside the firm for new sources of capital to finance growth have turned out to be accurate. New professional/marketers partnerships are springing up. Professional Services Marketing 3.0 is in full swing.
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Bissett Bullet: The Mindset Curve
Today’s Bissett Bullet: “How long does it take for a technical professional such as an accountant to move out of their comfort zone and build business development habits?”
By Martin Bissett
As a rule – nine months. The journey begins with discomfort and bewilderment, but if you practice consistently then not only will you become used to proactively building your pipeline, you will reap the rewards and become eager to do more of the same.
Start by taking every opportunity to tell people the impact of what you do, on your clients. Reach out to them on LinkedIn, speak to them at events, post helpful content on social media. Positive feedback from prospective clients provides external validation, convinces you of your own value and helps you to ascend the mindset curve.
Today’s To-Do:
Start now. Find a space in your diary in the next two weeks, decide on a means to communicate with your target audience and schedule it in. Will you write a blog? Attend a networking event? Record a video with some top tips to post on your social media? The choice is yours.
See more Bissett Bullets here
Firm Not Thriving? Five Fixes
Taking steps “little and often” works, but you have to get started.
By Martin Bissett
Passport to Partnership
A big concern in recent years has been how the incoming partners will purchase equity or fund the capital account and exit of a retiring partner.
Much has been written that examines the mathematical complexities of this topic but the bottom line is simple. Would-be partners in the age demographic of 28-42 are part of a generation who are already heavily borrowed in the form of credit card debt, mortgage debt and other forms of personal loans.
MORE: Five Questions About Facing Challenges | The Real Math Behind the Sales Pipeline | Keep Business Development Going During Busy Season | Walk the Commitment Walk | Two Steps Toward Mastering Selling | Thirteen Ways to Show Commitment | Clients Can’t Grow without You | Seven Mistakes in Winning New Fees | How to Develop Your Communication Abilities | Five Questions for Measuring Partner Potential
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Their capacity to borrow in the current economy is extremely limited and it would appear that this will be the environment for the foreseeable future. In turn, banks’ willingness to lend has also been largely withdrawn in recent years.
This has produced a cash impasse that has forced partners to consider gifting equity, especially on the basis of time served in the firm. There is not scope within this piece to give full examination of best practice within this area except to highlight that 72 percent of partners surveyed highlighted that a senior manager’s ability to “buy in” to the firm and assume responsibility for funding the retirement plans of exiting partners was among their top three concerns about passing their practice on to existing employees.
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AI Named the Highest-Paying In-Demand Tech Skill for 2024
Are your skills up to snuff?
By Rick Richardson
Technology This Week
According to a January 2024 Deloitte study of 100 business executives, nearly half, or 45 percent, of high-level executives indicate they are aggressively upskilling and training their work force in artificial intelligence. Approximately the same percentage, 44 percent, state they are hiring for it.
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Therefore, it should not be shocking that generative AI ranks first among the highest-paid IT skills. This is supported by a recent study from the job search firm Indeed, which determined that computer abilities have the largest impact on pay. According to Indeed, a job’s salary was 47 percent higher when generative AI was listed as a required talent.
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Bissett Bullet: Make It a ‘No Brainer’
Today’s Bissett Bullet: “The best way to talk about price is in terms of what they’re paying already.”
By Martin Bissett
When you talk to clients (or potential clients) about the price you want them to pay, minimize the impact for them. First, take your proposed annual fee and divide it by 12 to give them a monthly price. Then, look at what they pay already and only talk to them about the increase on what they already pay (if any) rather than the amount in full.
Today’s To-Do:
Take out the last proposal you wrote that was unsuccessful, take the price you quoted that client and minimize it as above. What difference could it have made to their mindset if they were presented with only the increase on their monthly fee?
See more Bissett Bullets here
CPA Profession Facing More Battles Across the Country
Disputes revolve around required hours, definitions and “substantial equivalency.”
By Steven Sacks
The NEW Fundamentals: Thriving in Disruption
Of all the states whose legislature has run amok this past year, the Florida legislature passed House Bill 813 – Certified Public Accountants – by both the Florida House and Senate. This bill creates a new “retired status” license category for CPAs. The legislation will now be sent to Gov. Ron DeSantis for consideration for being signed into law.
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According to the Florida Institute of CPAs CEO, the thinking behind this is to “… uphold retired CPAs’ profound sense of pride and accomplishment and preserve their professional identity.” However, they cannot reflect to the public that they have an active license because many believe the public thinks that if you have “CPA” after your name, you have an active license. If an individual wants to return to public practice, they can complete 80 hours of CPE every two years as part of renewing their license.
