Well, I have been a 'bad boy' again, that's me, 'Bad Boy Murph'... I have let way too long go by since Part 2 of this mini-series, but there has just been too much to cover between then and now. So where were we? Oh yea... we were talking about "Advancing Your Practice!" In our first segment I discussed using the new QuickBooks Online-Advanced product to 'Advance Your Practice', and last time I discussed building an Inventory Niche Practice. Now when we covered this topic in our July QB Talks webinar we had just celebrated the 4th-of-July holiday so I used the phrase "Lite a Firecracker Under Your Firm" when I moved into the 3rd segment on expanding your practice by 'getting the led out.' I even used the example of lighting a string of fireworks...
I'm sure all of you remember a time as a kid when you lit a string of firecrackers and tossed them at the feet of your friend or brother or your dad when they weren’t looking…. or maybe tossed them under their lawn chair. They went to popping and your friend, brother or dad went to hopping up and down dancing like a clown as if their shoes were on fire. You would have sworn that you had stuck one of those firecrackers in their back pants pockets.
Lite_a_firecracker_under_your_firm
Sometimes we all need to have a good ‘jolt like that’ in our professional practices… and that’s why I called that segment ‘Lite a Firecracker Under Your Firm!’ You see, besides specializing in a ‘growing area of the economy’ another way to 'advance' your practice is to grow it in terms of clients.
Now I am lucky, having ‘retired’ (if you knew the number of calls and emails I get every day for information you would think 'retired'), but really, I don’t have to worry about turning a few clients into hundreds any more. But as for the rest of you, the reality is that every day hundreds, even thousands of new small to medium businesses are being added to the economy on a world wide basis… and there are thousands being added to the subscriber base of QuickBooks Online. Each one of those represents a potential new client for you!
As a ProAdvisor you have the opportunity to 'ignite your firm', like a firecracker on 4th-of-July with those new QBO subscribers who are looking for help… but when they reach out are you ready to deal with them?
Even if you have been in business for quite awhile, you may be comfortable in your ways, you may like the ways you do things in your own cozy way…and that maybe exactly why your practice is staying small or growing at a snails pace when other ProAdvisors are running circles around you like the Rabbit in that race.
Another reason is you might be just like I was, you want to do ‘everything yourself’ and ‘everything your own way’… and that means you ‘do everything from scratch,’ trying to figure out almost everything for yourself. But there is a simpler way than the ‘do it yourself’ approach, there is a way to lite that firecracker under your firm’ because there are professionals who have built their business around helping other businesses get going.
There are also businesses that can help you value your services, and build the confidence you need in yourself to truly charge what you are worth. Still other professionals specialize in helping you attract your ideal clients (not every client – your ‘ideal’ clients), along with presenting and valuing your services based upon ‘what your service package is worth’.
Companies like Cloud Pricing that makes it easy for you to sell more accounting and bookkeeping services to more clients at better prices and allows you to tap into the power of value pricing is just one example of the professionals that can help lite a firecracker under your firm. Based upon Mark Wickersham's concepts of new pricing models that enable you to get properly rewarded for the value you bring they will get you out of your comfort zone and jumping toward higher revenues.
Phase Two Management provides strategic planning and consulting for Accounting firms to assist in expanding their practices and boost revenues. Services include strategic planning, marketing, management training, hiring, staff review, and exist strategies. Phase Two has successfully boosted revenues of accounting practices 3 to 4 times, while allowing owners to take more time out of their practice.
Practice Ignition will 'get you going' by giving you what you need to get you clients, to get them proposals, and to get them signed-up. They remove the barriers from the engagement process and the compliance requirements that must be administered, as well as the processing of billing and payments that must be undertaken. With Practice Ignition you will win more clients, do less admin work, boost cash flow and scale your business.
Profit First Professionals, a membership organization composed of the most elite accountants, bookkeepers and business coaches, has helped drive profit in over 100,000+ companies globally. Based upon the teachings of Mike Michalowicz, they can help ignite a firecracker that will differentiate your services and marketing so you and your firm stand apart, becoming a strategic advisor that is never seen simply seen as a commodity again.
These are just a few of the professional firms that are available to help you start "Advancing Your Practice." You can reach out to any of these firms at their websites, most of them offer initial consultations via 'chat', or 'free webinars' to introduce you to their offerings. You can also look for them in the exhibit hall at the next conference you attend, they are always there, and let's face it, a one-on-one with one of these experts even for 3 or 4 minutes is truly the best way to figure out just how badly you need their help.
Webinar Announcement
Insightful Accountant is hosting a 'FREE' Mark Wickersham webinar on Tuesday August 27 at 10 AM Central titled, How to Price and Profit from Bookkeeping so it's No Longer Seen as Low-value Work! You can register for that webinar HERE!
During our last QB Talks someone asked me what any of these firms could really do for you, so if you really want to know what 'I think', they will ‘lite a firecracker under ‘your rear-end’ to get you going and focusing on your potential new prospects and potential new clients, because unlike me, you're not ready to 'take up the old rocking chair, just yet.' And that's "Old Murph just telling it the way it is!"
Murph
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