What typically happens first?
1) You communicate more with a client and then they pay more
OR
2) The client pays more and then you communicate more
Typically 2 is the norm. You get a high paying client who needs lots of services. Then you typically speak / meet with them more frequently. So communication follows fee.
I was speaking at a conference in the Philippines this week. There were 120 Accountants from the USA and Australia in attendance.
I warmed them up with some ‘possibility thinking’ then I showed them the financial model of >$1M profit per partner after tax – while working less than 500 hours.
Then I unveiled “The 8 Accelerators” (which was new to most of them).
I have a business coach and I believe every business owner should have a specialist coach who knows their industry inside out. My coach is called Taki Moore. He coaches Business Coaches. I’m in his top tier (you have to qualify to be invited) private program called Boardroom.
At my last coaching meeting we had 2 special guests come speak to us. Alex and Leila Hormozi from Gym Launch.
As a teenager I was Australian Junior Archery Champion twice. I have 2 gold medals from the National championships and I represented my country twice as well. I was training 5-6 times per week under the guidance of a seasoned coach and won gold when I was 14 and 17. I set many National records and beat the Men in the open championship. I knew what it was like to set goals, get good guidance and put the work in from an early age.
When I start coaching an Accounting firm many tell me at the outset that they are ‘value pricing’. I ask them a few questions, do a couple of equations (around average hourly rate) and very quickly I deduce that they are not.
They may be pricing up front, offering fixed fees per month, fixed fees per project, have no time sheets and maybe even charging ‘by the form’ but it doesn’t mean they are value pricing.
Getting your team (and Partners) on the same page as you is so so important. It can sometimes be hard but it doesn’t need to be.
Once everyone is on the same page and rowing in the same direction your business will really fly.
The first step in getting everyone on the same page is having a page they want to be part of!
What is the vision?
What is the direction?
Who do we want to serve?
What do we want to sell and deliver?
How will we know if we’ve made it?
What are the milestones and time-frames?
For the past 24 years I have interacted with over 175,000 Accountants across the globe and directly coached 434 firms adding over $850M in new profit to those firms. In that time I have seen all sorts of revenue / profit planning methods. From no plan, finger in the wind (hope is not a strategy), to the typical (worst) kind.
As an Accountant, you don’t sell time. You already know that – you sell what you know. You sell knowledge, wisdom & solutions. You turn intellectual capital (what you know) into intellectual property (a report, paper, file etc). Having said that the majority of the Accountants I have met (over 175,000 of them in the past 24 years) have set their business model up as a ‘labor for hire’ business – a time seller!
Every year at the same time the Accounting profession enters the best marketing opportunity of the year. Most call it ‘tax season’ I call it ‘marketing season’.
Think about it. During tax season, you’re about to meet (or speak with) almost all of your clients over a relatively short period. What an opportunity to find out what they really need?
How to build performance in your team? It starts with the right people. Second, are they motivated? Third, do they know how to do it? And lastly, are you providing the right environment conducive to success?