marketing & sales

partners have love-hate relationship with leadership

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aquila leadership context modelby robert j. lees, august j. aquila
and derek klyhn
creating the effective partnership

regardless of their ownership structure, most firms either operate as partnerships or would prefer to operate as partnerships.

the tensions between being a business and the loss of the values and ethics of being a partnership feature strongly in our research.

but accounting firms are different from their corporate counterparts in a number of ways, which impact their functioning and, therefore, their leadership. read more →

3 ways to maximize roi from cpe conferences

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hands raised 20662867_swhat’s on accountants’ cpe agendas this year? join the survey; get the answers.

by sandi smith leyva
the accountant’s accelerator

attending and learning from conferences can be amazing opportunities for your career or your business. they can also be huge money drains. it’s easy to take a look at the conference registration and make a quick decision about whether we can afford it – or even worse – whether it will clear our credit card limit or not. read more →

who’s better at marketing? lawyers or cpas?

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is the question ludicrous? by bruce w. marcus looking at the question from a different point of view, the international consultant patrick mckenna said, “if you’re trying to determine which of the two professions (lawyers or accountants) are the more … continued

the 7 fundamentals of getting clients with social media

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h…but only if you’ve done everything else first.

by sandi smith leyva the accountant’s accelerator 

it’s likely your friends and peers are urging you to get on the social media bandwagon. hearing about social media is unavoidable these days. we have many clients who feel stressed about the whole topic. the stress or guilt comes in when they don’t really want to do it but their friends keep urging them to.

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free introductory white paper: 10 keys to doubling your revenue

more on small-firm growth strategies: 5 ways to attract higher-quality clients   |   6 biz dev metrics accountants should measure  |  5 areas to improve client acquisition success  |  are accountants newsworthy? you bet!  |  when accountants don’t know they don’t know  |  seven hot lead generation methods for accountants   |  what stage of business are you in?  |  8 essential ingredients for your new client welcome kit  |  4 ways small firms can surpass larger firms  |   rebuttal: the 3 most unused marketing methods for accountants

i like to take a contrarian view with social media: i believe it’s not a cost-effective marketing tool for a majority of accountants. nevertheless, there are some very important exceptions where it can pay off big. here are some ideas just in case you can’t resist getting started in social media.

read more →

all great strategy starts with “why”

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what do we want people to know, think or feel as a result of our internal communications efforts, and why? by bruce w. marcus the answers to these questions are the foundation for any communications activity, internal or external. they … continued

a real-world approach for the smaller firm

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the myth of “niche marketing.” by bruce w. marcus there is much ado, these days, about niche marketing and target marketing and using mailing lists and knowledge management. how does it all come together to make sense for the smaller … continued