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MARKETING & SALES

It’s the Client’s Perception That Counts

Black cat statue and white cat statue, nose to nose

Look at your firm through their eyes.

By Martin Bissett
Business Development On a Budget

There used to be an old exercise used in training sessions about customer relations or selling or leadership that went like this. The trainer would ask the group to think about the color green. A few seconds later he would ask them what type of green they were thinking of, and of course there would be many variations of green.

The point is that, as the saying goes, perception is reality. Whatever each person perceived as green, that would be the reality for them – but it would be different for each person in the room.
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MARKETING & SALES

Your Website Makes Promises. Do You Deliver?

Man viewing desktop computer screen

You only get one chance at that first impression.

By Martin Bissett
Business Development on a Budget

There’s an overall sameness to the majority of accounting firm websites, and typically they make a lot of promises – promises like

  • we’re big enough to cope and small enough to care, or
  • we are proactive, or
  • we’re not just bean counters, or
  • we have your best interests at heart, or
  • your business is our business.

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You’ve seen all those, haven’t you? Are these or similar promises on your website?
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MARKETING & SALES

Shut Down the Scarcity Mentality

Coins and small bills in a plastic box

Reconsider your prices. Here are 10 questions to help.

By Martin Bissett
Business Development On a Budget

Undercharging – or lowballing as it’s also called – is the scourge of the profession. It has always been present, and unfortunately, it will probably be with us for the foreseeable future.

Undercharging is directly related to fear – fear of rejection.

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When you are building your pipeline according to the process, you have assigned fees you think might be in the ballpark of what you believe you could get from a new piece of work or a new client. You may tend to estimate on the low side, which is not a bad idea in theory, because it lets you be pleasantly surprised when it’s anything beyond that.

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MARKETING & SALES

Bissett Bullet: A.C.C.O.U.N.T.S.

Today’s Bissett Bullet: “A pipeline is essentially a list of people we would like to bring value to, but how can we use it to forecast new business?”

By Martin Bissett

How can you tell which of your potential clients are really looking to work with you and which are wasting your time?

Introducing the A.C.C.O.U.N.T.S system. Grading your prospects using a binary scoring choice – 0 for no, 10 for yes – to each of the following criteria will help you to determine who will want to work with you and who may just be comparing prices.

Answer – Can we solve their problems?
10 = yes, 0 = no

Cash – Can they afford us?
10 = yes, 0 = no

Convince – Do we need to convince anyone else in the business?
10 = yes, 0 = no

Objections – Are there any major objections unresolved?
10 = yes, 0 = no

Undertake – Is this work we actually want?
10 = yes, 0 = no

Necessity – Do THEY feel the need/urgency for change?
10 = yes, 0 = no

Timing – Is the next meeting date in the diary?
10 = yes, 0 = no

Signatory – Does your proposal need someone else to sign it off?
10 = yes, 0 = no

The higher your score, the more likely you will win the work. Got 6 yeses? There’s a 60 percent chance you will win the work. Now, what do you need to do to change the 0s to 10s?

Today’s To-Do:

Start to grade your pipeline against the A.C.C.O.U.N.T.S. system to help you prioritize your efforts and forecast new business in any given week or month.

See more Bissett Bullets here

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MARKETING & SALES

Perception, Even Your Own, Is Reality

young businesswoman looking in mirror

You have to believe in yourself.

By Martin Bissett
 Business Development on a Budget

“No man has the ability to step outside of the shadow of his own character.” – Robespierre

As far as our potential clients are concerned, how they perceive us is how we really are to them, regardless of the truth of the matter.

MORE: Eight Questions That Target Personal Accountability | How to Prepare for Partnership | Five Questions to Help Forecast Your Firm Growth | Do You Deliver on Your Website’s Promises? | Five Questions About Facing Challenges | 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 | Why Firm Culture Matters for Partners
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Because of this, it’s important to realize that when we are meeting a new potential client who has not been referred to us, it does not matter what the reality of our value proposition is; it matters how that potential client perceives our value proposition. Therefore, to be effective in winning work, we must understand how we can positively influence their perception of us at each stage of the relationship-building process.
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