Bissett Bullet: Push and Pull
Today’s Bissett Bullet: “Selling ‘pushes’ something to a prospective client. Attracting them to buy ‘pulls’ them toward your value. There’s a big difference.”
By Martin Bissett
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Forecast Firm Growth with Five Questions
Do you know where your next money is coming from?
By Martin Bissett
Passport to Partnership
If I could give you one tip that would assure that you could predict your consistent practice growth, it would be to look at your calendar.
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You need to look at what is on your calendar and to look at today’s date and ask, “Where is the money coming from this month?” Look at what recurring fees you have, look at the value of those fees and what they bring in. Then consider what would happen if any of those fees did not recur. Look at what would happen if those fees dropped out of the equation and think about how you would replace that income.
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Bissett Bullet: Let Them Control ‘The When’
Today’s Bissett Bullet: “You should be in control of what happens next but allow the prospect to be in control of WHEN it happens.”
By Martin Bissett
Accounting professionals are generally of a more technical, reactive background and aren’t used to working in the kind of proactive manner that is required for business development. When we finish a meeting with a potential new client and are at the stage where we need to ask for the next meeting, it can feel as though we’re being pushy.
When you ask a prospect when would be appropriate to come back and talk them through your solutions and they tell you they have a busy period coming up and can’t possibly meet for three weeks, that’s fine, simply suggest a date three weeks away. Allow them to dictate when the next meeting happens as long as it does. They will then be happy to meet with you without feeling bullied or manipulated and you will have the opportunity to see them again having given careful consideration to your proposal.
Today’s To-Do:
Role play this scenario with a colleague. When you realize that this approach doesn’t feel pushy on the receiving end, you’ll feel more comfortable asking for the meeting in future.
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Leadership Is an Upward Spiral
Four key questions to ask yourself.
By Martin Bissett
Passport to Partnership
Unhappy and difficult clients help our firms to improve our client management skills and present opportunities to refine our leadership skills.
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It is tough for us to build a successful firm without difficult clients or internal personnel issues in order to provide learning experiences for us to build a robust and commercially successful infrastructure.
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Bissett Bullet: Our Firm Prides Itself on Underresourcing Your Future
Today’s Bissett Bullet: “As the old saying goes, we esteem too lightly that which we obtain too cheaply. That goes for low fees in the accounting profession too.”
By Martin Bissett
When you lowball a fee, do you instill confidence in the prospective client that you’ll be giving your full and very best attention and resources to their account? From real-life feedback, I can advise that Grade “A” prospects doubt that very much.
Today’s To-Do:
When you next lowball a fee, create a justification in your mind for doing so beyond “we need the business” and explain it to the team who will have to deliver the work under such tight margins. They will benefit from the understanding and morale might not take as big of an intangible hit as it usually does in these cases.
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Bissett Bullet: Don’t Fall at the First Hurdle
Today’s Bissett Bullet: “I told your person on the phone I was happy with what my accountant does. Good. Tell me how they get involved with influencing your future.”
By Martin Bissett
We are very easily thrown off the scent when a concern is raised against us. We automatically interpret this as rejection and as such do not use common sense to deal with what is a fairly straightforward issue. When somebody tells you that whoever they booked the meeting with was informed that you were perfectly happy, this is them demonstrating to you that they are scared about the possibility of changing. Put them at their ease with a very simple follow-on question and make sure that they know that you are not so easily put off.
Today’s To-Do:
If available, ask a colleague to practice resolving concerns with you in a safe, comfortable environment so that you do not freeze in the real situation.
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It’s the Client’s Perception That Counts
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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Bissett Bullet: The Future Doesn’t Belong to Those Who ‘Get By’
Today’s Bissett Bullet: “If you are not seeing growth in your firm, there is only so long that you can stand back and wait before you must take control of your own destiny.”
By Martin Bissett
What are you doing to return to growth? Is your pipeline in place and are you having conversations with prospective new clients? Are you known for what you do and are you asking your clients for those stories about the outcomes you have created for them so that you can leverage them to bring you new business?
Today’s To-Do:
Adopt a return-to-growth attitude. Which of the above could you do better in order to create new opportunities for your business?
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Your Website Makes Promises. Do You Deliver?
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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Bissett Bullet: A Higher Standard of Proposal
Today’s Bissett Bullet: “Your proposal document is what will differentiate you from the competition and show why that business should break away from their current accountant. To do so, it must speak to them on a level they understand.”
By Martin Bissett
Most proposal documents focus on one area. The accountancy firm, the services on offer and their associated cost. You must operate to a higher standard than that.
Your proposal must tell the prospective client’s story. What their obstacles have been, their major business goals and what the opportunities now are, as you see them.
It must demonstrate that you are a better option than they currently have, because you are invested in their goals and are in the business of achieving them by removing their obstacles and maximizing their opportunities.
Today’s To-Do:
Take a proposal of yours that has yet to be sent and review it. Does it fit the description above of a higher standard of proposal document? If not, there is still time. Reflect on the notes you took at the first meeting and use them to update it.
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When Customer Service Is an Opportunity to Lead
Who is observing?
By Martin Bissett
Passport to Partnership
In order to become a commercially aware practice leader, we need to understand the DNA of leadership.
Any woman or man leading an accounting firm, who chooses to overcome each operational or client challenge as it if their future depended on it, will not only succeed in practice but will become capable of delivering advisory value to their clients unmatched by their competitors, thus achieving true differentiation.
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There has been enough behavioral evidence in practice management now observed, collated and reported upon to be able to draw a conclusion that a great leader needs to be at peace internally in order to become a great leader externally. Her or his personnel/staff need to see a consistency between that leader’s values and his/her most commonly perceived behaviors.
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Bissett Bullet: Strike While the Iron Is Hot
Today’s Bissett Bullet: “Business owners are busy people. If they already have an accounting firm and have asked or agreed to spend time meeting with you, you can safely assume they’re open to change. Don’t lose momentum.”
By Martin Bissett
Picture this scenario. You’ve met with a potential client and it’s gone well. They may have given you a tour of their offices, you’ve talked through their issues and you know you can help them but the meeting has reached its natural conclusion and this is when you say goodbye and promise to send a proposal. Don’t do that.
Instead, tell them that you have identified several ways in which you can help them and need to put some thought into the best solution. Suggest the second meeting for a date that gives you sufficient time to prepare your proposal. If they are resistant to meeting again when they’ve been willing to invest time into speaking with you, then that should be a red flag that something has gone wrong during your meeting.
Today’s To-Do:
There is a very real possibility that the above approach will be met with a request for your proposal to be emailed. Practice doing the following so that it feels natural when you next have a conversation with a potential new client:
Ask who else in the business is involved in the decision to hire another accounting firm and when would be convenient to get everyone involved in the process in a room so you can share your thoughts with them all and give everyone a feel for what it would be like to work together.
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Shut Down the Scarcity Mentality
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.