On his blog CPA Trendlines this week, Rick Telberg features 12 Hot Growth Tips for CPA Firms from a few of us who are going to be speaking at the upcoming AICPA Practioners Symposium in June. The conference is going to be combined, for the first time ever, with the AICPA Tech Conference. Delegates that register for one can attend the other for FREE!
I'm going to be talking about marketing in the current price-sensitive business environment and how the web opens the door of opportunity for CPAs to affordably and effectively distinguish themselves. The web truly levels the playing field between solos/small firms and larger firms.
Here's what happens when you compete on price alone which is what you're left to doing when there aren't other distinguishing factors about you known to the buyer.
Rick quotes me:
“Without other distinguishing factors that buyers can readily see and know, clients resort to looking mostly at price for making their decisions,” she says. “This, in turn, drives down the firm’s revenues, which impacts the attitudes of those performing the work.”
Furthermore, “Without high enthusiasm for the engagement, customer service is not at its highest and this, in turn, reduces the quality of the customer’s experience, which makes them less likely to rehire the firm, and certainly less apt to refer the firm to others.”
“It’s a vicious circle,” she says. “Ironically, while the opportunity for firms to articulate and convey their distinctions via the Internet is more ripe than ever and costs almost nothing, especially relative to advertising, it is unfortunate that most firms are reluctant to embrace the advantages that the social media and an improved Web presence afford them.”
Golden aims to get firms hooked up. They need to “become more comfortable with the tools available,” she says, through “education to reduce fear of the unknown and thoroughly understanding the “real versus imagined risks.”
Come learn! The event runs Jun 6-9, 2010 at the Bellagio in Las Vegas.
Conference sites are: www.cpa2biz.com/ps or www.cpa2biz.com/tech. As a presenter, I can offer you these discount codes! For the Practitioners Symposium, use promo code SDG or for the TECH+ conference, use promo code SDJ.
- 839 reads
Walking The Walk
That's a good point Michelle.
My experience is that firms often like to 'talk the talk' when it comes to offering services beyond standard compliance work but comparitively few actually implement this ethos in the practice and 'walk the walk' or in other words, deliver that additional value to the client.
Although this can create skepticism within owner managed businesses, it also presents huge opportunites for those firms who can and do deliver additional value to their clients, to reap the harvest of historically poor service sewn by their competitors.
Exactly!
Martin, thanks for your comment. You're exactly right. "Cheaper" is a terrible strategy in a culture where, despite wanting a "great deal" we also fundamentally believe we get what we pay for. In essence, we believe that when we pay MORE we will usually be getting a better product or, in the case of services, a better experience.
What's happened is that customers who agree to pay more thinking they'll get that better experience and do not are then soured toward paying more so the next time they shop and are looking at us, it's with greater skepticism...they'll just take the cheap, thank you very much!
So this is why we need to differentiate very, very effectively in the pre-buy process which means visible, findable differentiation. The BEST way to do this is online. And better than US saying we are different, we want to obtain that third-party validation from others that we are above average, how and why. That we are WORTH it. Hearing it from others is far, far more valuable than hearing it from the seller.
If we have no presence online, we aren't going to get that third-party discussion rolling, much. Social networking helps us achieve differentiation (if, in fact, we are different!).
But We Can Do It Cheaper! (Not Necessarily Better But Certainly Cheaper)
I know that my above statement is subconciously and culturally the only sales strategy certain firms employ when trying to win new work.
How that equates to being a trusted advisor assisting the client's business get to where it wants to be, I have yet to work out.