- Dealing with an inexperienced tax preparer — not you, a CPA; - Not having their calls returned from their current accountant; and - Not receiving the high-level service that you provide.

By following these three tips, marketing will be a natural extension of client service.
#1: Answer a Question With a Question

Your clients will naturally have accounting questions about their household income and/or business. They’ll ask about new write-offs, tax incentives and mundane bookkeeping issues. Of course, many clients don’t know what to ask.

As their trusted adviser, it is your responsibility to bring up insightful questions. Moreover, if they do ask a seemingly simple question, there’s probably more to it, as surely you’ve found out in the past. Instead of just answering their question, ask a follow-up, such as: “What prompted you to think of asking it now?”; “I’m sure there’s more behind that question.”; or “How would you answer that question for yourself?”

Such questions help to uncover, discover and reveal misgivings, misunderstandings, assumptions, myths, stigma and mistakes that would otherwise remain hidden under a shroud of embarrassment, blank stares, shrugs and absent-minded head-nodding. Of course, it’s easier and quicker to simply answer and move on to the next tax return. After all, you’re the financial doctor and you have a waiting room full of tax patients. Then again, how does it feel when your doctor dismisses your questions and your presence in mere minutes of his time?

In the age of blogs, newsletters and online group discussions, the answers your clients are seeking are out there. They may not be complete, thorough or correct, but your peers — who are willing to invest time educating your clients — are waiting with greener grass. More importantly, client retention is as important as new business.

So, take the time to peak under the hood by asking follow-up questions, which will lead you to more business and help avoid costly surprises.

Click here to read #2 & #3 ways to grow your practice this season on the AICPA ‘CPA Insider’ Newsletter website…

More and more CPA practices are becoming specialized and focused. Thus, many accountants are enjoying the same peer-to-peer referrals as attorneys have for decades. Moreover, distinguished practices tend to be more profitable and fulfilling. If you run a humdrum practice, you can add more luster to your practice with these 4 facets:

1. Specialized Credentials

Beyond CPA, what other specialized designations enhance your name? The AICPA offers many accreditations, including Personal Financial Specialist (PFS), Accredited in Business Valuation (ABV), Certified in Financial Forensics (CFF) and Certified in Information Technology Professional (CITP). Likewise, many CPAs are also attorneys, MBAs and more.

Originally published in the AICPA ‘CPA Insider’ newsletter. Please click here to go to their site and to read more.

The Family and Divorce Mediation Council of Greater New York (FDMC) is a membership organization made up of mediators, lawyers, mental health professionals, and financial specialists. One of the group’s functions is to educate, inform and support those who work in the family mediation field through monthly continuing education events and membership networking events

Coordinated by Joan Moo Young, Esq., Mark’s 45 minute presentation covered a range of subjects from starting and growing a practice to marketing cost effectiveness and personal branding.

Along with Mark, Ada Hasloecher, Mediator, Adam Berner, Esq., and Joy Rosenberg, Esq. served as panelists talking about their experiences in building successful mediation practices. Questions were taken throughout the presentation and during each panelist’s talk. The attendees received a lot of practical and usable information for marketing and growing their mediation practices. In the end, feedback from the attendees of the event was very strong and positive.

Mark is looking forward to possibly doing another hands-on workshop in the fall for the FDMC membership.

To learn more about FDMC, you can click here to go to their website.

To speak with Mark about your marketing needs, please feel free to give him a call.

Mark V Bullock
Partner / PMA
Practice Marketing Advisors
Mark@MBullock.com
631-754-0800

Practice Marketing Advisors Sponsors
NYSCDM 28th Annual Conference

Practice Marketing Advisors (PMA) Mark Bullock and Vik Rajan are proud to be sponsors of the New York State Council on Divorce Mediation’s 28th annual conference entitled Mediation, Taking It to the Next Level. The Conference will be held May 5-7, 2011 at The Doubletree Inn, Tarrytown, NY.

The New York State Council on Divorce Mediation is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the highest professional standards of divorce mediation. Among its services to the community, the Council works actively to promote family wellness by increasing public awareness of mediation as an alternative to the traditional adversarial divorce process.

Mark and Vik advise numerous mediators on how to successfully market their practices and create name brand recognition. Keynote speakers last year, Mark and Vik, strong proponents of alternative conflict resolution which the mediation process provides, and are both very happy to continue their ongoing relationship with the NYSCDM as conference sponsors this year.

If you would like to learn more about the conference and/or register, click here or you can go to the NYSCDM website and click on the “Calendar of Events”.

For more information on membership in the NYSCDM, click here.

For information on the Best Practices for marketing your practice or business, please contact Mark and/or Vik. Their methods have worked for others, and can work for you!

We would show our clients what to do, how to do it, and even schedule marketing activities into our clients’ calendar. Inevitably, some exigent client or staff matter would arise. Our clients simply could not take time away from clients, practice management, or family to do what they knew they must: Consistent blogging, Linkedin activity, and deploying their monthly newsletter. Many also lacked the patience and tech skill often required.

So Mark had a simple idea which I turned into an efficient process. I explain it in this video:

Voila… now our clients would have the blogging, the e-networking, and newsletter DONE for them, with their words, their personality, their brand, their approval, with very little of their time. There were a few kinks to work out… and improvements underway… but it was ready to launch as a public offering: Thus, phoneBlogger.net launched last month. It’s a simple administrative program, with profound results…

What do you think about our premise: “Would consistent marketing to your contacts lead to more word-of-mouth referrals?”

Let’s take a bi-monthly approach. Two-month seasons help you to better focus your time and money. Six seasons: 1) January and February, 2) March and April, 3) May and June, 4) July and August, 5) September and October and 6) November and December. Take some time to feel the priority of each season.

Originally published in the AICPA ‘CPA Insider’ newsletter. Please click here to go to their site and read more to read more.

A marketing plan is typically a bound document, predicting the right actions for growth. It usually covers more than a few months, often a year and sometimes longer. It includes your vision, interim goals and other purpose statements of why you’re doing what you intend on doing. Writing a marketing plan sounds great. Actually finishing a comprehensive market analysis can feel even better.

A marketing plan, by itself, can be pretty ineffective. Rather, for our clients, we implement “Marketing Action Plan (MAP) Dashboards.” An actively-managed Dashboard can help your marketing team stay nimble, pro-active, strategic and focused on the most time- and cost-effective marketing efforts.

Originally published in the AICPA ‘CPA Insider’ newsletter. Please click here to go to their site and read more to read more.

October 18, 2010
by Vikram Rajan

“Seminar Marketing” is a catch-all phrase that includes public presentations, speaking engagements and classes. In some form, it should be a mainstay of your Marketing Action Plan (MAP). When done right, seminars produce a bounty of leads, client loyalty and billing and brand you a niche expert. Here are five specific dos, don’ts and thumb-rules when it comes to seminar marketing.

Do: Have a Goal for the Year How many seminars do you want to do this year? “As many as I can,” may be your answer. A goal is meant to challenge you: How many seminars do you do now? If the answer is close to none, or sporadic, at the very best, then a goal of four seminars in the next 12 months would be a good start. In my column, Six Marketing Seasons of 2010, I revealed the pros and pitfalls of two-month segments. You can use that as a guide as to when you should schedule your seminars.

Originally published in the AICPA ‘CPA Insider’ newsletter. Please click here to go to their site and read more to read more.

You survived September’s quarterlies, and this month’s extensions. As you begin to endure the flurry of compilations, audits, and review, don’t let your marketing lapse! The last quarter is the perfect time for CPAs to grow new business, for two main reasons:

1.In the next few weeks, you will naturally be speaking to your clients.

2.Financial review is end-of-year zeitgeist.

Originally published in the AICPA ‘CPA Insider’ newsletter. Please click here to read more

Even more than your website, your business card is the single most important marketing material you have. It’s low cost, most kept and most handed out to potential clients (by you and referral sources). Ironically, a CPA’s business card is often the most uninteresting and uninformative part of marketing the practice.

While thousands of hours and dollars are used to glamorize websites (and for good reason), a fraction is often paid to designing the form and function of business cards. People take an inordinate amount of time staring (hopefully reading) clever business cards. Moreover, a simple “call to action” on a business card can quickly turn a new acquaintance into your next big client.

Originally published in the AICPA ‘CPA Insider’ newsletter. Please click here to read more >>p>

March 12, 2010: U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruling: New York’s lawyer advertising rules are unconstitutional http://www.law.com/jsp/nylj/PubArticleFriendlyNY.jsp?id=1202446174823&hbxlogin=1

HERE’S MY SUMMARY OF THEIR RULING:

• Actors can portray judges but not fictitious law firms
• Testimonials from current clients relating to pending matters are OK
• Attention-getting techniques unrelated to attorney competence are OK (except claims that cannot be measured/verified)
• Nicknames, Mottos, Trade Names, & Logos – even implying results – are OK

UPHELD – Moratorium on targeted advertising

Of course, the ABA professional responsibility Attorney Advertising disclaimers remain: For example, when using testimonials, etc., attorneys should use what I call “The Weightwatchers Disclaimer”: Prior results do not imply future results.

My column excerpt is below; or click here to read the published column in the AICPA ‘CPA Insider’.

The purpose of all marketing writing is two-fold, R&R: It must help you be more Remembered and trigger Response. To enable the right response, e.g., Referrals, your writing must Repeat a simple “call to action.” In other words, what do you want the Reader to do? When should they take action? Why should they choose you?

Often, a prospective client or referral source won’t drop everything to give you a call (or give your number to someone else). Rather, you must be Remembered at the right time (“trigger moment”). Moreover, there must be a Reason for them to Recommend you. Beyond your personality, your Reputation increases as you distinguish your expertise, while Keeping It Short & Simple (K.I.S.S.).

We remember what is Repeated. From logos, jingles, taglines, to sound-bites, Repetition is the end all, be all, of branding. Lengthy, esoteric jargon is difficult for your referral sources to Remember, let alone Repeat. There are 7 rungs of action-enabling expertise. As you proceed up the 7 rungs, you and your expertise will be more Remembered & Recommended. Read my AICPA ‘CPA Insider’ column for the first 4 rungs (attend the May 11th webinar to learn the final 3):

Remember to ask questions: This puts the attention from what you’re saying to what they’re thinking. And what they’re thinking should be what you’re saying! PPT slides are often a crutch for co-dependence; it can be a catalyst for interaction. Also, they may not be plants, but it’s great to interact with participants you know already (and know what they would say already). If you can’t ask them questions, at least mention them. Everybody likes to be complimented from stage!

When I do ‘Marketing with LinkedIn’ seminars, I feel obliged to walk through a series of slides of {power} Points and Screenshots. (I don’t rely on any supposed WiFi that may be wafting.) So, one of the greatest compliments I can hear - which I did hear again last week - was “wow, you really made that topic interesting!” Of course, that means ‘Marketing with LinkedIn’ sounds like an inherently boring topic. To me, it is not.

Within professional codes of ethics, attorneys and accountants can make great use of LinkedIn to (not share advice, but) network through their colleagues and clients. FINRA does allow financial advisors to use sites like LinkedIn, so long as every movement is archived (which can be done simply and inexpensively through ’social middleware.’) Of course, the vast majority of broker-dealers and insurance agencies still prohibit any LinkedIn access. Those who understand the value of networking, and how to work within FINRA’s compliance, can have a real competitive advantage; e-mail me to ask me how.

Below is a video presentation of my latest ‘Marketing with Linkedin’. [Click play (the big picture will play a small video); pause it for a few seconds to enable the buffer to stream the video smoothly.] The screenshots have been updated for 2010; the slides are interlaced throughout the video. I have also uploaded the PPT below for your download. Feel free to share it with others; please leave the content (and my contact info) intact.

Click To Play

I explain a bit of it in the seminar video.

I also commend the ABA for taking such a pro-active and progressive stance on blogging. As a premier professional association, I am sure much debate went into this new form of media and its potential consequence on the public. The Internet has brought on new complexity for the profession, like lawyer ratings; not all of them are so welcome as bLAWgging.

‘Tis the season for greeting cards, thank you gifts and holiday party invitations. How to use these to market your practice to better client relationships and bring in better referrals. Unfortunately, the bounty of cards, gifts and parties can be overwhelming and exhausting. Thus, your impact can easily be diluted or lost. Here are a few marketing ideas to help make your cards, gifts and party participation more worthwhile.

I have received more positive response than negative, but I look forward to your questions & comments (post below). However, I did receive one nasty e-mail from a CPA (I’ve excluded her name). Here’s a quote in context:

Christmas is not about buying gifts, attending or throwing parties, sending out Christmas cards, or trying to lubricate a client’s ego or wallet to make a profit. The other religious celebrations during the month of December typically do not send cards to friends and loved ones to tell them they are thinking of them or wishing them a Merry Christmas and happy holiday season, they have their own traditions and practices they follow. As a result, I can only assume Mr. Rajan was speaking of Christmas when he mentioned the religious entanglement associated with cards in his article.

The religious entanglement of this response is rather ironic: That aside, SHE IS CORRECT on 2 points, 1) Christmas is a wonderful religious holiday and shouldn’t be exploited for marketing/commercial purposes. 2) I was referring to our nation’s religious diversity vs. only wishing a Merry Christmas. By all means, observers should send out Christmas cards for personal purposes… just not in marketing pursuit.

Of course, we know what happens when we assume. What do you think?

It’s only open to accountants & attorneys. Special exceptions are being made for marketing specialists in these fields. So far we have 39 members and a few active discussions. Request to join (please mention you saw it on this blog).

You survived September’s quarterlies, and this month’s extensions. As you begin to endure the flurry of compilations, audits, and review, don’t let your marketing lapse! The last quarter is the perfect time for CPAs to grow new business, for two main reasons:

• 1. In the next few weeks, you will naturally be speaking to your clients.
• 2. Financial review is end-of-year zeitgeist.

Everybody is thinking about your expertise — they want to hear from you. CLICK TO READ five marketing opportunities to seize the day, in bold. There are less than 10 weeks left in 2009…

T.R.E.E. Marketing