MARKETING & SALES

BONUS: An illustration using two firms, one oriented to both production and marketing.

By August J. Aquila
Price It Right: How to Value Accounting Services

An emphasis on production (billable hours) can have negative consequences for an accounting firm. An emphasis on billable hours causes professionals to focus on internal measurements, i.e., the number of hours charged to a client, and not external measurements such as client satisfaction.

MORE: Clients Buy Solutions, Not Features | Six Ways to Expand Your Client Services Checklist | Ten Questions to Refine Your Successful Marketing Plan | Four Questions for Choosing Your Marketing Audit Strategies | Four Steps to a Successful Email Marketing Campaign | Five Reasons to Implement Change Orders | Make Your Practice Better | Eleven Marketing Strategies for Smaller Firms
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It also emphasizes the technical aspect of accounting work and keeps professionals from developing a marketing mindset. Let’s look at the four negative consequences of a production orientation.
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Determine the reason you want it in the first place.

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.

In the early days of publicity, when it was low-down press agentry and not high-blown public relations, the idea was to get your client’s name in the paper. Often. In any context. Just spell it right.

MORE: How to Write Media Releases That Capture an Editor’s Attention | Nine Ways to Choose Your PR Person | When There’s a Leak in Your Firm | Eighteen Things Advertising Can Do for Your Firm | How and Why Client Service Teams Work | Manage Knowledge as a Marketing Tool | Secret Marketing Formula: Get One Client at a Time | Marketing a Fixed Position in a Moving World | How to Build a Marketing Culture
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In the early days of marketing professional services, it became clear that merely to get your firm’s name in the paper, in any context, didn’t help much. Ego, maybe, but nothing more. A new approach to publicity had to be developed.
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Four elements to consider in every selling situation.

By August J. Aquila
Price It Right: How to Value Accounting Services

Selling professional services is not as difficult as some accountants and consultants believe. I like to define sales as solving a client’s problem. If you think in these terms, you’ll realize that this is what we do every day.

Sales is the lifeblood of every business out there. If we did not sell our services and products, we would not have a firm or business. So, don’t think of sales as something unprofessional. It’s an integral part of growing your practice.

MORE: Six Ways to Expand Your Client Services Checklist | Client Acquisition Never Stops | ‘Sales’ Is Not a Four-Letter Word | Maybe What You Need Is a Marketing Audit | Three Types of Marketing Message, and Which Is Best | Why You Need Progress Billing | Five Tips for Cross-Selling and Upselling | Five Keys to Successful Marketing | Twelve Fundamentals of Planning | One Question to Guide Your Growth Plans
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My goal is to make you feel more comfortable with the sales process. Here goes! Remember, you are selling solutions to problems – or, as I like to say, selling the sizzle and not the bacon. It’s not the service or product that you are selling, it’s the benefits to the clients. Clients and prospects aren’t buying the features of the system as much as what those features can do for them.
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