client service opportunities

10 questions to ask yourself before you decide to add financial services to your practice

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an easy way to add new revenue? maybe. maybe not.

here at 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间, ed mendlowitz answers some of the toughest questions practitioners can throw at him. he’s the right one to ask. after more than 40 years in the business – building his own practice, running the firm, and eventually selling it to a major regional firm, withumsmith+brown, where he remains a senior partner and consultant to professional services clients – he has the answers. we’re happy to have him at 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间. send your questions for ed here, or chime in with comments below.

meanwhile, browse more from ed here: preparing to sell your practice in a few years? 13 things you need to know today     |     what’s a tax practice worth today?    |   why selling your practice is not a retirement strategy   |    when a partner is unwilling to help | congratulations! you bought a tax practice. now what? | how accountants can keep the business when a client wants to sell theirs | 10 reasons clients don’t pay, and what to do about it | 13 reasons timesheets will never die |

— rick telberg
president / ceo

 

question: i am thinking of adding financial services to my practice. what are your thoughts? read more →

the powerful mega-trends behind the upheaval at sage software

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sage’s one-brand cloud strategy is built on a tidal wave of change.

sage na ceo pascal houillon addresses 3,500 attendees at sage summit 2012

by rick telberg

it would be an understatement to say that the accounting software mavens arriving for the 2012 sage software convention were in a skeptical mood. at last year’s meeting, they were told that some of the products they know and support (and sometimes love) — like mas 90, peachtree, and accpac — are disappearing under a single sage label.

it was a long time in coming. the company, with roots in the 1990’s in state of the art and best, was built through almost helter-skelter acquisitions without merging and consolidating brands, nor even marketing departments, r&d efforts and support departments.

complete sage summit coverage and analysis:

now all that is changing. and it’s about the cloud, subscription pricing and a wrenching transformation to a new business model. the question for sage’s resellers: can sage deliver? the question for sage’s accountant partners: can they keep up?

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21 awesome ways to show appreciation

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one of the key ways to improve client and workplace relationships is by showing appreciation.

“too often” leo buscaglia, the author, once said, “we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.”

we can extend appreciation anywhere and everywhere — at home, at work, at school, and wherever you want to acknowledge those who make your life brighter.

here are a few ideas that might work for accounting firms: read more →

five things accountants take for granted that costs them real money

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what we know that clients don’t even know they need.

by sandi leyva

i’m pretty sure that i am not the only accountant who has made the following mistakes with clients. here are a couple of ideas to help us remember what we know that the client doesn’t and why it costs us when we forget.

more sandi leyva: what’s in your new client funnel?  |  what’s in your welcome kit for new prospects?  |  five fun and easy ways to wow your clients   |  six ways to give yourself a raise   |  strategies to stop losing business to competitors  |  five tips to manage your ‘overwhelm’ level  |  easy ideas for a quick business boost  |  four new mega-trend marketing strategies |  how to stop leaving money on the table

1. clients do not know how to evaluate our technical skills.

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10 key questions to ask before you try crm

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choosing a crm system can be tricky. here are some pointers.

by becky livingston

when do you need crm? you know you need crm when your list of contacts has outgrown your rolodex. you remember what a rolodex is right? another indication is when you begin to forget important information about your clients, or you notice your communication with them has dwindled.

also consider crm when you are looking to increase sales as well as relationships with clients, in the end positively affecting the bottom line.

lastly, if you find yourself personalizing emails manually and/or do not have a clear idea of where you customer or lead is in the pipeline, you may need crm.

read more →

give business clients something to talk about

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income statement, balance sheet, cash flows? it’s time for a fourth statement.
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edi osborne

by edi osborne
ceo, mentor plus

in the words of bonnie raitt, “let’s give ’em something to talk about;  a little something to figure out.”

fact or fiction, rumors or true business intelligence, those that can make the distinction have a huge opportunity to add value to their business relationships.

recently, i had the opportunity to sit down with several business owners to interview them about how they make business decisions. decisions, as it turns out, are one of the most important reasons business owners walk away from nine-to-five jobs. business owners like to have control over their destiny. they actually thrive on the decision-making process and are willing to live with the consequences of those choices. and although, business owners don’t want anyone to take away their options, they do want someone to help them examine them.  they want to know that the information they are basing a decision on is accurate and relevant. that it is not conjecture, rumor, or worse yet, self-serving misinformation provided by others at the company.  sounds like a job for a true, trusted adviser, would-be super hero.

unfortunately, when asked about the quality and quantity of data, business owners utilize daily to inform their decisions, including the real-time, management value of financial statements, their answers paint a very unsatisfactory picture of the decision support provided by their accountant.  as the role of cpas who serve as cfos in a corporate environment has morphed into that of a cio — chief information officer — cpas in public practice continue to lag behind in this transition.  when pressed on this issue, many cpas admit they want to do more, but they are not comfortable outside the realm of compliance matters.

more from edi osborne for 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 pro members (go pro here):

so how can public cpas become chief information officers? how can they utilize their accounting skills to capitalize on the fast growing business intelligence market?

it’s simple . . . read more →