growth Archives - Page 4 of 17

9 Ways Accountants Throw Away Profits

June 27, 2015

CHECKLIST, plus how to fix your billing habits to compensate.

By Sandi Smith Leyva
The Accountant’s Accelerator

A critical measure for accountants – whether they bill either by the hour or a fixed price – is the amount they bill clients each month. As anxious as many accountants are to raise their revenues, their daily activity often sabotages that goal with the same common billing mistakes.

MORE ON SMALL-FIRM GROWTH STRATEGIES: 5 Ways a Deadline Can Help Close a Deal | If You Don’t Develop Your Business, Who Will? | 7 Ways to Get New Revenue from Old Clients | Draw New Clients In Like a Magnet | 11 Ways to Add Value for Clients | 5 Things You Know That Clients Don’t | 3 Ways to Test Your Revenue Forecast | How to Work the Same Hours and Make More Money | If You’re a ‘Best-Kept Secret’ Cut It Out!

Here’s a checklist so you can compare your behavior with the list. I’ll give some tips on how to break the bad habit, and the rest will be up to you.

5 Ways a Deadline Can Help Close a Deal

June 6, 2015

By Sandi Smith Leyva

It might be just the push a client needs.

By Sandi Smith Leyva
The Accountant’s Accelerator

In the accounting profession, there are a ton of deadlines. Month-end, quarter-end and year-end. Payroll taxes, sales taxes and corporate taxes. And extension deadlines, filing deadlines and payment deadlines, to name just a few.

Mindset Is Key to Marketing

May 30, 2015

By Sandi Smith Leyva

Even after years of experience, confidence may not come easy.

By Sandi Smith Leyva
The Accountant’s Accelerator

In school, during both my undergraduate courses and my MBA classes, I took Marketing 101, or something close to that. I learned the four P’s: product, price, place and promotion. I aced the class.

MORE ON SMALL-FIRM GROWTH STRATEGIES: When Your Business Card Works Against You | 10 Ways to Ruin a Website | 4 Steps to Weather Any Economic Storm | Want to Be Stress-Free? Use Your Strengths | ‘Time Problems’ Don’t Exist | Could You Use More Energy This Tax Season? | 15 Items for Your ‘Business Bucket List’ | 3 Ways to Plug Your Firm’s Money Leaks

Become a Millionaire in 3 Steps

May 23, 2015

By Sandi Smith Leyva

Dump “nonprofit” tasks and focus on the high-value ones.

By Sandi Smith Leyva
The Accountant’s Accelerator

Let’s do the math. To earn a million dollars in a year, you have to bring in $83,333 per month. Assuming you bill hourly and work for the standard 1,000 billable hours per year, you need to charge $1,000 per hour. If you want to make $5 million in one year, you will need to charge $5,000 per hour.

When Staffers Stagnate

May 11, 2015

By Edward Mendlowitz

Higher-level staff person isn’t supervising or mentoring anyone.

By Ed Mendlowitz
The CPA Trendlines Practice Doctor

QUESTION: I have a staff person who does great work, but she seems to be deadened. The good news is that her clients love her and she doesn’t bug me about becoming a partner.

MORE PRACTICE DOCTOR Q&A: Yes, You Should Send Rejection Letters | 7 Ways to Lose a Client’s Trust | 12 Must-Knows for Niche Markets | 6 Ways to Take a Client Beyond Tax Prep | 18 Ways to Blow a Partnership Opportunity | 8 Times When Hourly Billing Trumps Value Pricing | When a Staffer Stops Listening | 44 Critical Criteria for Accounting Staff Performance Evaluations | 5 Time Management Tips for an Overworked Accountant | Pricing, Billing, Costing: Don’t Blame Clients

Any suggestions on what I could do to move her forward?

If You Don’t Develop Your Business, Who Will?

May 9, 2015

By Sandi Smith Leyva

5 mistakes to avoid when seeking new clients.

By Sandi Smith Leyva
The Accountant’s Accelerator

If you’re a sole practitioner or small-firm operator, you’re probably very good at what you do – or you wouldn’t be in business today. But when it comes to marketing and selling yourself, well, many of us didn’t voluntarily sign up for that part.

As a matter of fact, some of us are resisting – kicking and screaming – marketing ourselves. So no wonder, for some of us, business is slow or not growing at the rate we’d like.

When Your Business Card Works Against You

May 2, 2015

By Sandi Smith Leyva

Are you making any of these 12 common errors?

By Sandi Smith Leyva
The Accountant’s Accelerator

The lowly business card: We don’t give it a second thought before we get the thing printed up, and we just do what everyone else does.

Many people, new in business, get the business cards printed before they’re really ready to, which causes many of the mistakes I list below. Experienced or new, you’re missing huge opportunities to let your business card take some of the work off your shoulders. We may take it for granted, but I feel that your business card is one of your most important pieces of marketing collateral – and the most underutilized.

MORE ON SMALL-FIRM GROWTH STRATEGIES: 10 Ways to Ruin a Website | 4 Steps to Weather Any Economic Storm | Want to Be Stress-Free? Use Your Strengths | ‘Time Problems’ Don’t Exist | Could You Use More Energy This Tax Season? | 15 Items for Your ‘Business Bucket List’ | 3 Ways to Plug Your Firm’s Money Leaks

Here are my suggestions for how to get your business card working as hard as you do. If you want to play along, pull out your business card, and see if your card is guilty of any of these first four no-no’s. READ MORE →