marketing & sales

make the most of trade shows

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trade showplus some mistakes to avoid.

by sandi leyva

events are fabulous ways to leverage face-time selling activities. if you have eight leads, it can take you eight hours or more of one-on-one selling before they have had a chance to get to know you.

more small firm growth strategies: speaking: how, where and getting leads from it | build your community reputation | build reputation through credentials, testimonials | 5 ways to get more referrals | use feedback for service innovation | create your marketing plan
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

in an open house, speaking or at trade shows, you have the chance to meet hundreds of people in a compressed amount of time. that’s why marketing at events is so effective. it’s a great use of your marketing time.
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speaking: how, where and getting leads from it

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young woman speaking to crowdyou might get video content as well.

by sandi leyva

speaking is a way to demonstrate your expertise to your audience without them having to hire you first. it’s perfect for accountants who are comfortable speaking in front of a room full of people.

more small firm growth strategies: build your community reputation | track your online reputation | partnering: referrals on steroids | measure client retention … against yourself | take your client’s pulse | how to determine your ideal client
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

when i first started accountant’s accelerator, speaking electrified my business. i can trace tens of thousands of dollars in revenue back to just one speech i gave a few years ago.
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market to your ideal clients

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three arrows in center of bull's-eyenetting just one recoups your costs.

by jassen bowman
tax resolution systems

the ideal client prospecting campaign is established with the distinct goal of creating a relentless, never-ending effort to literally have 100 percent of these prospects become your client.

more: follow up with leads longer | marketing requires ruthless accountability | first, you need clients | the tax resolution client intake checklist | how to end the tax revenue roller coaster with a four-season practice model
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

for most firms, this list won’t be that long. it may run from as little as a dozen ideal prospects, to at most a couple hundred.
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track your online reputation

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businessman using internet on smartphone and laptopwhat do people see when they search your name?

by sandi leyva

one thing you will want to track is your online reputation. this is a little different from online marketing.

more: the abcs of getting started with advisory services | build reputation through credentials, testimonials | use feedback for service innovation
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

what do users see when they google your name? does your website come up, or is it a person with the same name as yours whom clients could mistake for you?
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follow up with leads longer

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businessman typing on laptop, shadows of envelopesdo it right and you may not need any new leads.

by jassen bowman
tax resolution systems

to put it bluntly, if you’re not actively marketing to your lead database on a regular basis, then you wasted the money you spent to obtain those leads in the first place.

more: marketing requires ruthless accountability | one-step vs. two-step marketing | tax resolution: a lucrative opportunity
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

one amazing fact about sales has held true for nearly a century: the majority of sales are closed after the fifth contact. this fact holds true for any industry, and the number of contacts required to close a sale increases as the price point of the product or service increases.
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the a-b-c’s of getting started with advisory services

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don’t forget the basics.

by sandi leyva

the other day, i sat in on a session on advisory services delivered by a leading consultant to multi-partner cpa firms. but i have a little bit different approach for smaller firms. that’s today’s topic.

when you ask an employee or partner of one of the top accounting firms what advisory services are, you’ll get a list with at least some of these items on it:

  • personal financial planning
  • fraud detection
  • technology services
  • it assurance
  • business valuation
  • mergers and acquisitions
  • litigation support

all of these are specialties within our industry where you can get additional training and certifications to demonstrate your expertise.

the problem with most of these advisory services is that they skip over the basics.

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how utility and value affect pricing

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man's hand drawing upward arrow with words "value for money"shift the focus away from the service provided, and think about the 8 kinds of utility.

by august j. aquila
price it right

if indeed we believe the phrase “perception is reality,” then it is the client’s perception that is the only reality. ultimately, only a client can determine the value of your service, that is, the fee he or she is willing to pay. if the client perceives that he or she has received a benefit there will be some perceived value attached to the service.

more: the four types of competition | how demand affects pricing | how to shift from production to marketing orientation | how traditional fee methods hurt firms
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consciously or unconsciously, the client’s determination of the correct fee for a service is related to two concepts: utility and value. let’s look at these two concepts and how they apply to setting prices.
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marketing requires ruthless accountability

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jassen bowman: "client dollars are really the only vote that matters when it comes to marketing decisions."“lists are not leads.”

by jassen bowman
tax resolution systems

at all times and in all circumstances, you need to hold your marketing ruthlessly accountable for results.

more: one-step vs. two-step marketing | 5 daily tasks for maximum tax resolution profitability | first, you need clients | tax resolution: a lucrative opportunity | 4 problems with the tax resolution industry | the tax resolution client intake checklist
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

this is an inherent difference between direct response marketing and image advertising or branding. in a practical sense, this means that you need to test, track and measure everything you do in your marketing.
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the four types of competition and 6 ways to make your firm stand out

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first steps in developing a pricing strategy.businessman drawing one arrow longer than others

by august j. aquila
price it right

after demand, perhaps the next most important factor affecting a cpa firm’s pricing policies is competition.

more: how demand affects pricing | understanding the product pricing life cycle | 4 ways a production orientation can harm a firm | price to get the maximum fee | 7 issues in partner retirement planning | 5 ways to keep your edge | the toughest job in the world: managing an accounting practice | how to become the firm of choice
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

as clients and prospects become more educated about cpa firms in their market, more sophisticated about the services offered and more cost-conscious, pricing becomes more important and more firms are beginning to stress the price of their services, especially in competitive request-for-proposal situations. intensive price competition in most professional service industries is now a way of life, from hotels to airlines, from car rentals to telecommunications and from law firms to cpa firms.
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are you on the right side of the desk?

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older businessman sitting at desk holding phonecombining media makes your message more effective.

by jassen bowman
tax resolution systems

whenever possible, you want to be speaking to prospects from a superior position. in marketing, this concept is called being on the right side of the desk.

more: one-step vs. two-step marketing | 5 daily tasks for maximum tax resolution profitability | 4 problems with the tax resolution industry | when tax filing season is over, what’s next?
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

fortunately, this should be an easy concept for us as professional service providers to understand. we may not put much thought into it, but we are more inclined than most business owners to approach what we do from a position of authority and expertise. it may not sound very profound to you, but it really is what separates a professional from a mere salesman.
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how demand affects pricing

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word cloud related to demandone word: elasticity.

by august j. aquila
price it right

economists define demand as a schedule of the various amounts of an item (a good or service) that buyers will purchase at different price ranges during a given time period.

more: understanding the product pricing life cycle | marketing and the 5 p’s | why choose a marketplace orientation? | why value pricing? | solving underperforming or dysfunctional partners | the 3 types of partners you need
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

according to the theory of price elasticity of demand, there is an inverse relationship between price and the quantity of an item bought. in other words, as the price of a service decreases, the quantity demanded increases and as the price of a service increases, the quantity demanded decreases.
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one-step vs. two-step marketing

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there’s room for both, but be smart about how you use them.

by jassen bowman
tax resolution systems

the number of steps that a lead must take in order to receive your full marketing message is an important consideration when planning marketing campaigns and media purchases. generally, the more steps that a lead must take in order to enter your marketing funnel is going to increase the quality of your leads, but decrease the quantity.

more: 5 daily tasks for maximum tax resolution profitability | first, you need clients | the tax resolution client intake checklist | how to end the tax revenue roller coaster with a four-season practice model | how to turn routine cpe into a new marketing opportunity
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

for most marketing funnels, you want the process of becoming a prospect to be as simple and easy for the prospect as possible. the matter of one-step versus two-step marketing is largely a matter of media.
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understanding the product pricing life cycle

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chart of a product life cyclewhich of the 4 phases do your products fall into? here’s how to tell.

by august j. aquila
price it right

there is an important concept in marketing that provides companies with tremendous insight as to what they can expect for their products or services in the marketplace. it’s called the product life cycle and, sooner or later, all products and services will go through the complete cycle. as they do, several external and internal factors change.

more: marketing and the 5 p’s | how to shift from production to marketing orientation | how traditional fee methods hurt firms | 6 questions for planning your succession | underperformers come in many shapes and sizes
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

the accounting industry and the services it provides are no different. the figure above displays the life cycle of a typical service or product.
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