Client strategies

I get a ton of interruptions; I figure it comes with the job. The issue is how I deal with them and which ones I have learned to ignore or pass over.

Client meetings can be a colossal drain of your time — and your client’s time — if you don’t have a game plan before sitting down with them.

As an accounting firm, you are only as good as people perceive you to be.

Accountants can learn a lot from giants like Netflix and Marriott — and from their own clients.

Technical expertise is important, but what really matters in financial planning is the relationship.

Accountants can't afford to sit still, either; they need to be constantly changing.

Playing it safe is too risky in today’s complicated world.

Communication is a cornerstone of your CPA firm. If your clients aren’t already trying to communicate with you via text, they want to.

Accountants can be indispensable translators and conduits for tech for their clients.

The groups will allow members to develop ideas, get advice, collaborate, and share best practices.

Listen carefully, and you can detect a change in the way that partners at the major firms talk about their consulting work.

The key is to focus on the firm’s top two tiers of clients, says Rainmaker Companies’ Adelaide Ness.

When a combination is no longer repairable, firms should de-merge as soon as possible.

Does your firm need a brand tune-up?

To garner a return on your firm’s content, it must be picked up by search engines, then viewed and acted on by readers.

Use idea filters for a big impact.

All partners and partner candidates in small and midsized CPA firms are very aware they need to originate new business each and every year.

Setting up your firm to focus on serving the accounting needs of a specific industry, or special service, is a powerful way to set your accounting practice apart from the rest.

You must understand what your business wants to be and where it wants to go in order to market it effectively.

As trusted advisors, we spend so much of our day thinking about how we’re going to deliver answers. Instead, we should be spending a lot more time asking intelligent questions.