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
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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 In turn, banks’ willingness to lend has also been largely withdrawn in recent years.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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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?
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Bissett Bullet: How Are We Doing?
Today’s Bissett Bullet: “How often do you ask your current clients for feedback?”
By Martin Bissett
Building great client relationships is a fundamental part of gaining worthwhile referrals for your firm, and understanding which of your clients are the most satisfied will give you an indication of your most passionate advocates.
How do you find out? Ask them! Ask how satisfied they are, how likely they would be to recommend you to a business and whether they would be willing to provide a short testimonial for marketing purposes.
Today’s To-Do:
How you gather that feedback is entirely up to you. Whether you pick up the phone or send a short feedback survey, keep it simple.
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Five Questions About Facing Challenges
We all have to do it.
By Martin Bissett
Passport to Partnership
When challenges come our way, regardless of what shape or form they arrive in, our world seems to lose a bit of brightness, there’s a little knot in the gut and a sense of peace broken.
MORE: The Real Math Behind the Sales Pipeline | Five Questions for Grading Prospects | Be Clear About Your ROI Proposition | Keep Business Development Going During Busy Season | Health, Wealth, Stealth: Challenges on the Path to Partnership | Don’t Let Recurring Fees Kill Your Practice | Rate Your Personal Purpose | Five Ways to Make Selling Easier | Six Keys to Getting a Proposal Accepted | Tell the World Your Worth
The question is, if we were watching our own responses to these trials, would we appoint ourselves as the next partner of the firm?
Let’s examine five checkpoints to test your own, or your staffers’, abilities to overcome challenges.
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Bissett Bullet: Keep Your Distance
Today’s Bissett Bullet: “First impressions last. When you meet with a prospective client for the first time, how do you want them to remember you?”
By Martin Bissett
It is important that you demonstrate enthusiasm for that prospect and their business but it is also important to remember that there is a fine line between “upbeat” and “overbearing” and the latter can be construed as “pushy,” which will do you no favors.
In your eagerness to build rapport, be sure to avoid overfamiliarity. Demonstrate that working with you would be a better experience than they currently have, but do so by showing that you care and are excited by the opportunity, without invading their personal space or finishing their sentences for them.
Today’s To-Do:
Be aware of how well intentioned attempts to build rapport and put a prospect at ease could achieve quite the opposite.
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The Real Math Behind the Sales Pipeline
Four business development steps that are worth your while.
By Martin Bissett
Business Development On a Budget
I’ve taken many accounting firm partners through this process, and it’s quite common for them to balk a little at the pipeline idea when they see the amount of work involved.
MORE: Five Questions for Grading Prospects | Be Clear About Your ROI Proposition | It’s Time to Prepare the Next Generation | Who Are You More Committed to, Your Firm or Your Clients? | Nine Checkpoints Before Every Prospect Meeting | Three Questions about Conversion | Six Keys to Turning Prospects into Clients | Don’t Overlook Internal Communication | Four Reasons People Struggle with Communication
They see it as just another call on their time when they already have far too much to do, and they ask me why they can’t just write down a list of prospects and go to work on them.
Is that what you’ve been thinking? Well, here’s why that doesn’t work.
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Bissett Bullet: Make Good Use of the Time You Save
Today’s Bissett Bullet: “The cost of cloud-based software or automation tools is no longer prohibitive for smaller firms so if everybody is using them, how do you stand out?”
By Martin Bissett