CPA Trendlines

Today's Features

Tell Potentials What Partnership Takes

BONUS: 27 suggestions.

By Marc Rosenberg
The Rosenberg Practice Management Library

CPA firm partners keep lots of things secret at their firms that should be open. One of them is a written document stating the firm’s criteria for making partner.

MORE: Fifteen Big Questions for Your Next Strategy Session | Five Steps to Transition to Partnership | Disturb the Present to Improve the Future
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The main explanation we hear for not having such a document is that they are afraid creation of this document will backfire. They are afraid that an underperforming staff will wave this document in front of the managing partner’s face, informing him/her that they have fulfilled all the criteria for making partner and demanding a date for coronation.
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MARKETING & SALES

Bissett Bullet: Give Them a Reason

Today’s Bissett Bullet: “‘Businesses like what we have to say, they just don’t want to change their accountant.’ Really? Then why were they talking to you?”

By Martin Bissett

So often we make excuses for why we did not win work and why we did not have the guts to go through with actually asking for the business. I get told so often that a prospect does not want to change their accountant.

There are only two possibilities here:

1. Either they were wasting your time, unlikely, or

2. They did not have a strong enough case for changing, likely.

If that is the case, revisit exactly what is involved in your conversation with the prospective client because you were not there for the sake of their health. You were there to discuss them coming to work with you. If they do not want to change, ask yourself why not?

Today’s To-Do:

If you were to be honest with yourself, how many prospective clients really do not want to change their accountant, and how many just did not see the reason to? Now, on that basis with that reality confronted, be stronger in your next meeting with a prospective client.

See more Bissett Bullets here

OUTLOOK & ANALYSIS

OUTLOOK: A 40-Hour Workweek Is Feasible

Business development can be done remotely, but it can’t be skipped.

By Carl George
The Rosenberg MAP Survey

EDITOR’S NOTE: Every year, the Rosenberg MAP Survey asks the industry’s top consultants to share their observations from CPA firms across the country. How do you think the next 12 months will unfold? Also, how would you assess the last 12 months?

Firms will continue to upgrade their client profiles and disengage from clients that no longer fit. Disengagement is one of the major initiatives that must occur to meet the challenge of the “40-hour guarantee.”

MORE: Five Ways Staff Shortages Are Changing Firms Forever | OUTLOOK: Soft Skills Are Front and Center | OUTLOOK: It’s Time for a New Business Model | Rosenberg MAP: Partner Incomes Surge 11.4%
Exclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

As it was explained so eloquently by a CEO of a large firm, “We do not have a staffing shortage, we have a ‘D’ client overage!” Well said. Traditionally difficult for us to do, but we do not have the option of not executing this critical strategy.
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MARKETING & SALES

Fifteen Services a Salesperson Can Sell

Hate working leads? Engage a pro.

By Ed Mendlowitz
The CPA Trendlines Practice Doctor

If you want leads to get business from large companies for tax services, consider hiring a salesperson.

MORE ON MARKETING: Twelve Ways to Establish Your Brand | Why Other Accountants Are Great Referral Sources | Bundle Tax Services with Financial Planning | How to Begin a Business Valuation | How to Offer Conflict Resolution | Get Your Clients Talking About Retirement
Exclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

The salesperson should be a “professional” salesperson and does not need to be an accountant.
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OUTLOOK & ANALYSIS

Five Ways Staff Shortages Are Changing Firms Forever

Top professionals provide their insights.

By CPA Trendlines Research

Two crucial questions:

What is causing the shortage of accounting professionals?
What is the shortage of accounting professionals causing?

MORE: OUTLOOK: Soft Skills Are Front and Center | OUTLOOK: It’s Time for a New Business Model | Rosenberg MAP: Partner Incomes Surge 11.4%
Exclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

Each question has a few answers.
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