ADVISORY & CONSULTING

Make Your Clients Look Forward to Meeting with You

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illustration of the progression of economic value

Every interaction is an opportunity.

By Rory Henry
The Holistic Guide to Wealth Management

In tracing the trajectory of economic evolution, each phase represents a profound transformation, often driven by technological advancements. For instance, the Industrial Revolution transformed the U.S. from an agrarian economy to a manufacturing economy that created tangible assets (i.e., finished goods) out of raw materials. In recent decades, the U.S. went through a digital revolution, moving us from a manufacturing economy to a service-based economy that produces intangible assets.

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This shift was emblematic of a broader transition from making tangible goods to delivering intangible services. The service economy burgeoned, with a focus on delivering services, e.g., tax services, financial services and estate planning legal services.

Now, we are in the midst of another paradigm shift. Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming us from a service economy to one based on providing the consumer with experiences and guiding them through life transformations. The AI era is not just about automating routine tasks, but fostering an environment in which we transcend traditional service delivery.
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CPAs Regain Upper Hand in Pricing Battles

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Advisory and specialty services lead the way.

Tax pricing pulls away from audit, year-over-year percent change. (CPA Trendlines)

By CPA Trendlines

After two years of mostly weak pricing power, accounting firms appear to be regaining the initiative on billing rates, led by tax services with eye-popping 8% increases.

MORE in Pricing: Tax Prep Billing Rates Lift Busy Season | The Hidden Data Behind CPA Firm Burnout and Profit Pressure | Six Steps to High-Value Tax Advisory |

CPAs are raising rates by 4.2 percent year over year, reversing a 2.1 percent decline recorded a year ago, according to new CPA Trendlines findings.

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Focus on the Impact of CAS/CAAS

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two men talking across a table, one holding a sheet of paper, window and brick wall in background

Stop describing what you do.

By Hitendra Patil

You know the story.

  • You painstakingly created your client accounting services (CAS) offering. You may have also created your client accounting and advisory services (CAAS) offering.
  • You and your team worked intently and intensely to get there. Your early adopter CAS clients seemed enthusiastic about the promise of your CAS/CAAS offering.
  • However, you soon found that it was becoming increasingly challenging to acquire more CAS/CAAS clients.
  • All the pieces are in place to create a thriving CAS practice, but the results are worrying.

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What’s missing?

Selling advisory can feel awkward, but that’s because it’s not meant to be sold like a product. This article repositions how you present Advisory-CAS, not as a service line but as a shift in how clients grow. We will also cover how to stop “selling” and start aligning with the outcomes clients already care about most.
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What Does Money Mean to Your Client?

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woman and man smiling and talking in business setting

Use behavioral finance to guide decisions.

By Rory Henry
The Holistic Guide to Wealth Management

I decided to call my book “The Holistic Guide to Wealth Management” because leveraging a suite of financial services offerings that work in harmony with each other is a powerful business model that can transform your firm. The transformative power of this model, however, is based on the human side of the advice we provide clients and how we can improve their lives. It’s about shifting the conversation from integrating and delivering services to clients to gaining a deep understanding of a client’s values and what gives them a sense of well-being.

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What is behavioral finance?

The Corporate Finance Institute defines behavioral finance as “the study of the influence of psychology on the behavior of investors, as well as on financial analysts.” Dr. Daniel Crosby, chief behavioral officer at Orion, and author of best sellers “The Behavioral Investor” and “The Laws of Wealth: Psychology and the Secret to Investing Success,” takes it a step further.
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How to Keep Your Best Clients

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Make a PE displacement window calendar work for you.

By Hitendra Patil

An East Coast firm owner reached out to me about a year after a private equity-backed competitor had acquired a smaller firm in her market. She had expected to lose clients to the newly expanded firm. What she had not expected was to gain three of theirs.

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Those three clients had been with the acquired firm for years. They left within six months of the acquisition, and the reason had nothing to do with the quality of the work. The relationship had changed after the PE deal, not just new systems, new staff and new processes. The partner who had been their main contact for a decade was focused on transition and integration work and harder to reach. The clients had not been unhappy exactly, but they were back in the market. That is the part of the PE consolidation story that gets told less often. Acquisitions create client movement, and not all of it flows toward the acquiring firm.
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