It’s not a spoiler alert when we say, “Your Practice isn’t perfect yet; it is a work-in-progress… and always will be.”
Given that the landscape is constantly changing around you, you must keep refining the elements of your practice to successfully stand up to the daunting Yetis, i.e., challenges in the categories of "Becoming and Remaining Distinctive," "Building and Leading a Team," "Finding and Retaining the Right Clients" and "Moving Beyond Bookkeeping/Compliance into the Role of Advisor."
Vince Lombardi said, “Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence.”
You accomplish this when you fine-tune the different aspects of your practice.
While you may look at your practice holistically, you must evaluate and refine the individual components. The components, or forks, along the “Refining Your Practice” Path, include "The Right Services Fork," "The Right Clients Fork," "The Right Pricing Fork," "The Right Processes Fork" and "The Right Team Fork."
You may choose to follow one fork or you may jump between them.
In this series of articles, we will present details on each fork of the “Refining Your Practice Path" in hopes that it will help you plot your course.
First, we’ll take an in-depth look at one of the foundational components: Determining the Right Services for your practice. The first step in that process is defining a specialization. Without specialization, it's extremely difficult (if not impossible) to standardize, automate, hire the right team members, or identify the right clients for your practice.
You all know the challenges you face when you try to be a “Jack of all trades.” You wind up being the “master of none.” When you specialize, you focus your energies on one or two industries (niche markets) and the delivery of a limited number of products or services to those niches. There are multiple advantages to specialization:
- You can acquire a more comprehensive depth of knowledge in your field. This deeper expertise leads to a higher level of efficiency, higher quality of service, and a higher level of satisfaction from your clients.
- You can standardize and automate processes and tasks, leading to time savings, reduction in errors, and increased productivity.
- Specialization also leads to increased profitability in two very important ways: most clients are willing to pay more for an acknowledged industry expert, and they are more loyal because they are confident that you know how to provide the services they need with the highest level of accuracy. They know they can trust your guidance because you know the ins-and-outs of their industry and their business.
- As a side benefit, when you target a specific industry, you can focus your marketing efforts, making them more effective in terms of results and cost because you are able to zero in on specific publications, tradeshows, and networking events favored by clients in your chosen niche instead of using the “shotgun approach.” As an industry expert, you have the knowledge to write articles and blogs, making you even more of a “visible expert” to potential clients in your niche.
Understanding this, we designed the practice development training at "Scaling New Heights 2017" to equip you to explore various industry niches and specialized services…a juncture in your journey we call: "The Right Services Fork." Sessions at this “fork” include:
"Financial Analysis: Expanding Your Value-Add Services" will walk you through the specific financial analyses you can offer your clients and how to identify which analysis will best serve your clients’ needs. Gale Kirsopp will present this ACE-approved session on Sunday, June 4, 2017, at noon.
"How to Find the Niche that will Make You Rich" is an instrumental course that will help you identify the right niche, and therefore the right clients, for your practice. That decision will serve as the springboard for deciding upon the services you will offer those clients. This session is delivered by Mike Michalowicz at 2:00 pm Sunday, 6/4/2017.
"Reporting Goldmine" will cover how to add custom financial reporting to the services you offer your clients. This session is taught by Dawn Scranton on Monday, June 5, 2017, at 8:00 a.m.
"Specializing in the Contractor Industry" (two-part course) provides the building blocks for working with clients in this industry, including terminology, workflow, processes and information specific to the accounting requirements of the industry. Karen Siewert is presenting Part I of this course on Monday, June 5, 2017, at 1:30 p.m. and Part II immediately following at 4:10 p.m. This course is also approved for ACE credits.
"What E-Commerce Clients Really Want" delivers critical information on how to service clients in this specialized industry. Join Dawn Scranton on Monday, June 5, 2017, 4:10 p.m. This course qualifies for ACE credits.
"Practicing in the Medical Industry" will give you the prescription for being successful with clients in the Medical Industry, including terminology, workflow, processes and information specific to the accounting requirements of the industry. Carol King will present this session at 4:10 pm on Monday, June 5, 2017.
"The Legal Industry: A Closer Look at the Opportunities" will provide you with an understanding of the industry-specific accounting compliance requirements of legal firms as well as the internal structure of the typical firm and how the workflow of a legal firm differs from other professional services firms. Gale Kirsopp will present this session on Tuesday, June 6, 2017, at 1:30 p.m.
"How to Communicate the Value of Outsourced Bookkeeping & Advisory Services" will teach you simple strategies to identify client needs and pain points and how to turn them into value propositions. Judie McCarthy will present this session on Tuesday, June 6, 2017, at 5:20 p.m.
"Restaurant Industry Tips and Tricks" will give you invaluable information for practicing in this industry. With over a million restaurants in the United States, opportunities are plentiful. Stacey Byrne will present this session on Tuesday, June 6, 2017 at 5:20 pm.
"Training QuickBooks Online End Users" will give you the guidance you need when you find yourself in the position of training your clients to use QuickBooks Online. Liz Scott will present this session on Tuesday, June 6, 2017, at 5:20 p.m.
"Serving Non-Profit Organizations" (two-part course) covers the very specialized accounting and reporting needs of this industry. Gregg Bossen will cover the critical things you must know when you are serving clients in the non-profit industry. Part 1 is offered on Wednesday, June 7, 2017, at 1:30 p.m. immediately followed by Part 2 at 4:10 p.m. This course qualifies for ACE credit.
"Becoming an Advisor to Professional Services Firms" will help you understand the many opportunities, specialized accounting requirements, terminology, and apps that add value to clients in the professional services industry. Join Caren Schwartz On Wednesday, June 7, 2017, at 4:10 p.m. This course qualifies for ACE credit.
You can find more details about each of the sessions in a downloadable document located here: Download Course Descriptions.
Reminder: As your ever-faithful Sherpas, we stand ready to guide and encourage you along your chosen path. If you would like to consult with us about your path, please email me at coliver@woodard.com or Liz at ecolley@woodard.com.
Be sure to tell us your goals and what you hope to learn so we can recommend appropriate paths.
Carol Oliver Woodard
Carol Oliver is a CPA with an accounting degree from Rollins College in Winter Park, Fla. She is a certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor (QB Online, QB Desktop and QB Enterprise Solutions). Carol has worked in the accounting software consulting and training field for more than 18 years and is a certified trainer for multiple accounting software products including Microsoft, Crystal Reports and F9 (a financial report writer).
For 10 of those 18 years, Carol spent about 75 percent of her time training on accounting and accounting technology, and she developed numerous software user guides, as well as curricula for many different courses. In 2011 she joined Woodard Consulting, providing services that included software integration, financial statement analysis, and customization and development of applications in Method.
In early 2014, Carol accepted a position with Woodard Events as Manager of Accountant Education and Training, allowing her to return to her first love - training accounting professionals.