PRACTICE MARKETING blog

This write-up will soon appear in the NCCPAP Nassau-Suffolk newsletter. On Tuesday, January 6, I facilitated the first meeting of our NCCPAP Marketing Roundtable. I would like to extend a special thank you to Doug Sinetar, a Roundtable member, for opening up his conference room to us. The small CPA firms represented ranged from solo practitioners, to partnerships, to firms with around 7 accountants.

Each member received a copy of my book, “365 Marketing Thumb-rules: Daily reminders for rainmakers.” I used the book to remind our members of the different types of marketing channels and marketing collaterals. It will continue to be our workbook, reminding members of what can and should be doing.

Unlike a seminar or workshop, I asked the Roundtable a series of questions; thus each member had an equal opportunity to share their backgrounds, their marketing questions, and marketing experiences. After our introductions, we began to share some marketing questions and concerns. For example, one member felt she may have been doing “too much networking.” Another member was more concerned in general lead generation, while another chimed in that he wanted to “upgrade” his clientele.

On the other hand, another CPA wanted to “bottom-feed” on the “C-grade clients” of larger firms. Still another member was wondering about the right marketing budget; he felt the thumb-rule of “10% of revenue” (which he learned elsewhere) was too high. Likewise, another member asked about placing ads. Ultimately, another member shared that his major concern was managing time between developing new clients versus servicing existing ones. I shared a Marketing Action Plan (MAP) Dashboard that outlined specific marketing actions that can turn into consistent habits.

We also shared how we attracted our latest 2 clients. While most said it was from unsolicited referrals, 3 of our members benefited from seminars and classes they teach. In fact, one member shared that her latest client was from a seminar she did a year ago. It was thus concluded that we need to pro-actively ask for referrals and that we should reach out to associations for speaking opportunities.

Nobody had benefited from advertising or regular mailings; though after the meeting I was able to help one of our members to focus a direct mailing campaign he was about to launch. I suggested that instead of 1 large mailing, that he work with a smaller population and do bi-weekly mailings; he also agreed to create a targeted incentive mailing for his own client base.

We also discussed new marketing ideas and committed to new actions; to be reviewed at our next session. Unfortunately, only 1 of the members actively made use of e-newsletters. Often our disorganized and incomplete database is a bottleneck. Many members vowed to get their database ready for e-mailings by next month’s session. For our Marketing Roundtable, we have launched a private LinkedIn group. While only 1 member has received a new client through this professional network, many already had profiles. Like many others, they were at the “Now what?” stage with LinkedIn. On-line marketing will of course become a major focus of discussion at upcoming sessions.

We went around the table and announced a “pet project” that will be completed by next month; additionally, I assigned 3 “bread-and-butter” foundational marketing tasks to each member. I asked each member to put together their Sales Funnel (of prospective clients, with dated meetings) and their “cascading number-by-date” goals. While they will not have to announce it publicly, each member will have written out the number of clients, and/or billing, that they would like to have by this time next year. They will also break this down into quarterly and monthly goals. We can then focus on the activity goals that will make these result goals a reality.

I also asked each member to craft their “Marketing Bio,” since most did not have any marketing materials to share with prospective clients (or those who would like to refer them). I agreed to send them our “Bio Template,” to help them bring out their distinctive personal brand. Each member will recite their bio out-loud at the next session. This will lead to what I call their introductory “1-liner.” It’s more powerful than the “30-second elevator pitch,” which is often bandied about in networking circles.

Our first session was very successful, as it set the stage for 2009. Wonderfully, each member is committed to these monthly sessions; we are not even skipping April. We all agreed it would be worthwhile, if not therapeutic, to set aside 2 hours to work on our marketing, instead of just “pushing the pencil.”