Today's Features
MARKETING & SALES

Market to the Business Life Cycle

illustration of business life cycleMeet your clients where they are.

By August Aquila
MAX: Maximize Productivity, Profitability and Client Retention

The business life cycle refers to the stages that a business goes through from its inception to its eventual closure or exit. Each stage presents unique challenges and opportunities, and it is essential for accounting firms to adapt their marketing strategies accordingly.

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Here are some marketing strategies that can be effective during different stages of the business life cycle. Take a fresh look at your existing clients, and sort them according to their business life cycle: startup stage, growth stage, mature stage and transitional/decline. You want to make sure that as your clients go through these different cycles, your marketing messages and services change and address the right business concern.
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Gear Up for Growth

Rampe: Make Strategy Stick | Gear Up For Growth

Five steps turn vision into execution.

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Gear Up for Growth
With Jean Caragher
For CPA Trendlines

On the latest episode of “Gear Up for Growth,” host Jean Caragher interviews Matt Rampe, partner at Rosenberg Associates and author of the forthcoming book, “CPA Firm Strategic Planning: Your Roadmap for Long-Term Success,” about how accounting firms can move beyond ad-hoc retreats to a disciplined, accountable planning process that sticks.

Rampe, who advises firms on strategy, succession, partner development, and profitability, said the book grew out of years of facilitation and coaching with firms of all sizes. “The book was in my brain for a long time before it got put on paper,” he says. “When I started writing, it actually came pretty quickly—but I learned there’s a lot more to making a book than a Word document.”

More Jean Caragher here | Get her best-selling handbook, The 90-Day Marketing Plan for CPA Firms, here | More Gear Up for Growth

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Rampe argues that the profession has reached a disruption point, citing converging pressures including private equity, technology, staffing shortages, succession for retiring Baby Boomers, and a shift toward advisory services. “What worked for us 10 years ago isn’t going to work for us 10 years in the future,” he says. “The old model, where a few partners disappear into a room and come out with a plan, doesn’t work in this age. We need to be nimble.”

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ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Three Tech Priorities with Rapid ROI

Build advisory capacity without waiting for outside capital.

By Hitendra Patil

The technology gap between private equity-backed and independent firms is real, and it is also smaller than it appears from the outside.

Here is something I have consistently observed: PE-backed firms invest heavily in technology during their first 18 to 24 months post-acquisition because they have to. They are merging systems from multiple firms, migrating client data and standardizing workflows across a larger organization. That investment is substantial, but a meaningful portion of it solves problems that independent firms do not have, because they were never acquired in the first place.

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The independent firm’s technology challenge is different: deliberate modernization at a pace that does not disrupt client service. That is a more tractable problem than integration at scale, and the firms that treat it as a sequenced project tend to close the gap faster than they expected.
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PRO Member Exclusive

Keep Your Strategic Plan Moving

Businesswoman sitting on table while talking with four coworkers

What’s your mindset for implementation?

By Matt Rampe

Now that your strategic planning event is completed, it’s time to roll up your sleeves. With almost two-thirds of CPA firms reporting that execution fails after their planning event, implementation becomes a critical factor in your success.

FORTUNA ACCOUNTING CHECK-IN

As Bill sat in his office, the typical hum at Fortuna Accounting had resumed. The partners had made a splashy announcement about the new vision and their strategic priorities at the All Hands meeting last week, but now things seemed quiet. As Bill stared at his growing inbox of urgent requests, he began to wonder if anything new really could get done before this time next year rolled around. The thought was immediately pushed from his mind as the phone rang loudly and his biggest client showed up on his caller ID.

 

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Core Question of the Implement Stage (Post-Event)

The Implement stage continues, and is perhaps most important, after your strategic planning event concludes. This article will cover the post-event part of this stage.
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MARKETING & SALES

Bissett Bullet: Are You Meeting The Right People?

Today’s Bissett Bullet: “If you’re not talking to the buyer, you’re talking to someone who will sell you (or not) to the buyer, but without your passion and expertise.”

By Martin Bissett

It is well known that kings talk with kings, or queens with queens, or heads of state with heads of state. If marketing is to create new opportunities for us, make sure it does so with the right people.

Today’s To-Do:

Look at the next three appointments in your diary for meeting with new prospective clients. Are you meeting with a board member, or founder or majority shareholder in each case?

See more Bissett Bullets here

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