marketing & sales

leave your retreat with a to do list

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businessman writing to do listbonus checklists: 11 criteria for selecting a retreat facilitator, plus a sample summary of retreat goals.

by marc rosenberg
cpa firm retreats

sometimes an outsider brings a fresh outlook, and asks questions that wouldn’t occur to an insider who knows “how it’s always been done.” if you’re considering an outside facilitator for your retreat, keep these criteria in mind:

more on retreats: every retreat needs a leader, but who? | retreats are no place for clowns | who should participate in a retreat? | retreat logistics: how long, what kind? | what should cpa firms discuss at retreats? | why do cpa firms conduct retreats?

1. vast experience consulting to cpa firms. your firm can derive great benefit from the experiences of the consultant. your firm needs to learn about the best practices that the consultant has observed over many years, working with many firms.

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4 marketing strategies to use right now

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middleton
middleton

and one pitfall to avoid.

by wesley middleton
middleton raines llp

in my profession, i have always believed we were not on the cutting edge of marketing. expert after expert, firm after firm and seminar after seminar suggested the same old process and the same tired advice. so i set out to write new rules about marketing and business development for cpas, but that could apply to other businesses also.

more: how to use guerrilla emotional leadership | do not embrace these changes | why my people take 5 days off (yes, in a row) | four major misconceptions about millennials

with the support, patience and input of my partners, we did it. and here are some of the things i learned to do or not do.

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the 5 most common marketing blunders accountants make

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how many are you making?

by hitendra patil

proactive marketing is as rare as a marketing plan or a marketing budget at many firms. getting new clients is one of the top 5 challenges for firms of all sizes. accountants seem to be not doing enough of the right things.

more on the entrepreneurial accountant:  linkedin adds messaging. finally!  |   re-learning the lingo of the accounting business  |  how the “1099 economy” will transform accounting  |  what cpa firms could learn from google’s alphabet  |  summer reading list: five great books for the five lives of a busy accountant  |  four signs the uberization of accounting has already begun  |  management guru chester elton on success  |  savvy cpas focus on the constants  |  more

1. not doing enough to get found by prospects

it is estimated there are about 660,000 cpas in the u.s., 80% of which are believed to be in the corporate world. that leaves 132,000 cpas in practice. and there about 53,000 linkedin profiles that include the word “cpa” in the profile headline. in other words, 1 out of 2 cpas is either not on linkedin or don’t use the profile headline to reflect that they are cpas.

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