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What Strengths Can Your Firm Leverage?

Woman leading meeting, flipchart in background

Identify them in both individuals and the business.

By Matt Rampe

After lots of thoughtful prework in the Initiate stage, you’re now at your strategic planning event! It begins with the Identify stage, where we are going to identify areas of excellence in your firm to build momentum.

MORE Strategic Planning
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Let’s check in on Fortuna Accounting’s strategic planning event.
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PRICING, FEES & BILLING RATES

Define Client Personas for Pricing

Which ones are you most drawn to?

By Jody Padar
Radical Pricing – By The Radical CPA

One drawback of the hourly pricing model is its one-size-fits-all nature. Every client is charged the same rates per hour, with the only difference being the number of hours each uses.

But the world isn’t made up of identical people working in identical businesses and driving identical cars to and from their identical homes. Thank goodness!

MORE by Jody Padar
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Clients are as different as you or me, but we can group them into buckets called personas based on shared values or traits. In a client-centric firm, it helps to understand these basic personas so you can more efficiently meet each client’s needs. You probably have a handful of personas in your firm right now. You just haven’t seen them as a grouping because, in your bill-by-the-hour model, it doesn’t matter who they are.

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MARKETING & SALES

Three Daily Habits of Rich Accountants

Businessman looking at calendar on tablet

Adopt them and they’ll soon be second nature.

By Martin Bissett
Winning Your First Client

You may be thinking right now, “Well, very good, Martin, but we have finite time. We’re very, very busy people and we need to get business in the door, and therefore creation of opportunity becomes the issue.”

MORE by Martin Bissett
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Regardless of whether we’ve got 20 opportunities on our plate today or none, when the next one comes along we can’t afford to be anything other than confident, comfortable, assured relationship builders who have tremendous value to offer. Because people will see that body language, those voice tones and hear those words and it will be attractive. They will want to get to know more – they’ll want to be able to look at options. They’ll want to know what you’ll charge, and they’ll want to know what they’ll get for what you charge.
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MARKETING & SALES

It’s Time to Start Marketing for Next Tax Season

Your ideas are fresh now.

By Ed Mendlowitz
Tax Season Opportunity Guide

Marketing takes many forms. Further, many accountants are not trained in marketing. I also know that while most CPAs want more business, they are too busy with what they have to be actively seeking new business. Additionally, marketing can be external, internal or retentive.

MORE by Ed Mendlowitz
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External is where new clients are solicited. That takes effort, ingenuity, time and maybe even some money.
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PRO Member Exclusive

Culture Due Diligence Is Real and Necessary

Woman and man shaking hands in office conference room

A six-point road map to follow.

By Domenick J. Esposito
 8 Steps to Great

Over the last several years, there have been over 200 merger, acquisition, alliance and joint venture announcements by the Top 100 and other fast-growing CPA firms. Every indication is that these combinations will continue at a very rapid rate as CPA firms are:

  • Facing an aging partner group that usually includes the most effective relationship and business development partners. Baby boomers have been a home run for CPA firms.
  • Finding organic growth very difficult to attain with little prospect that business is going to dramatically improve in the foreseeable future.
  • Realizing an inability to attract an adequate supply of high-quality talent to help perpetuate the firm.

MORE by Domenick J. Esposito
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CPA firm CEOs and other senior management are very effective at financial and operational due diligence, tracking results and holding partners accountable for hitting timely targets. On its face, an observer would tend to conclude that these 200+ combinations are very accretive to partner profitability after an integration period of 18 to 24 months.
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