Here’s yet another remarkable book summary you can devour in less time than it takes to drink a cuppa.

Two reasons you should read it:

1. John Warrilow’s book is a brilliant insight into how you maximise the value of a business ready for sale – and you’ll read this summary in the time it takes to drink a cup of tea or coffee

2. This is the sort of thing you could be sending to your clients, your prospects and your introducers. If you did you’d set you and your firm apart from your competition. Plus it stands a good chance of instigating greater word-of-mouth about you and your firm (so you get more referrals)

This month’s WHAT’S POSSIBLE IN YOUR BUSINESS answers an important question

Wouldn’t it pay to know what it takes to build a SUSTAINABLE and ENJOYABLE business, and be able to sell it for more?

Grab a cup of tea, click this link and have a look at 3 pages (and a half) of ‘WHAT’S POSSIBLE’ – and discover how you build your business so it gives you what you want – maximum value at sale and a business you can enjoy on the way there!

When you get to the library page simply go to the ‘BUILT TO SELL’ link

Is it worth reading?

Here’s what Bo Burlingham, editor of INC Magazine thinks about the book featured in this month’s What’s Possible In Your Business…

“…John Warrilow has interviewed hundreds of entrepreneurs on the radio; he’s built his own business around the small business market; and he’s sold that business to someone else.”

What you’ll get when you read this month’s WHAT’S POSSIBLE in your business…

- Turn your business into one someone will want to buy…
– 8 essential steps for successfully selling a business…
– 8 top tips to avoid the pitfalls most business owners make

Discover how you can put John Warrilow’s insights to work for you – all in the time it takes to drink a cup of tea or coffee!

Follow this link to our book summary library page and click the links next to the ‘Built To Sell’ book.

Would you let me know what you think? And of course feel free to share it with your colleagues.

Warmest regards

Paul Shrimpling

PS     You’ll find more book summaries and mind-maps of world-class business books when you go to the WHAT’S POSSIBLE library page

PPS  If you want to discover how you can put these book summaries to work for your firm go here

When two of the worlds thought-leaders (David Maister and Paul Dunn) select the best accountancy firm in the UK (from a shortlist of 40) it makes sense to learn more about THE firm don’t you think?

Rob Walsh from Clear vision Accountancy Group joined me on the 27th July at 4pm (GMT) and shared some deep-down and honest insights into three aspects of his uber successful and uber consistent accountancy ptractice.

I then swanned off on holiday in august but am delighted to let you have access to it here now…

http://eepurl.com/fRQib

During this 60-minute call Rob and I discussed three valuable aspects of running a successful accountancy practice:

1. The management processes that deliver Rob his 13 weeks holiday per year AND class-beating partner profits from his £750K practice

2. The core message of Rob’s practice – Clear Vision – and how it influences everything within his practice and every interaction he has with his clients and how it contributes to his success

3. The marketing processes Rob uses to ensure he achieves his fee and profitability targets

Follow this link – http://eepurl.com/fRQib – give us your email address and we’ll send you the link for the mp3 file.

And please let me have some feedback on the interview.

Paul Shrimpling

Author of ‘Bamboo Marketing For Accountants’ – the route map to marketing success for accountants in practice

Creator of ‘WHAT’S POSSIBLE in your business’ – cultivating a greater flow of new clients for your accountancy firm through profitable word-of-mouth…

And let’s get LinkedIn  http://www.linkedin.com/in/paulshrimpling

…choosing what to stop doing.

Yes you read that right.

It’s not about what you start doing it’s about what you stop doing that most influences your firm’s success!

A REAL LIFE EXAMPLE…

Geppetto’s is a toy store which has clearly decided NOT to sell plastic toys, or toys with batteries. Their toys stimulate a childs imagination.

No plastic, no batteries instantly differentiates them from every other toy store including the ‘category killers’ Toys R Us. It is THE  reason behind their success. What are you going to stop doing?

A REAL LIFE ACCOUNTANCY EXAMPLE…

I recently visited a firm struggling to implement a well thought out action plan. A plan of things which would improve both the through-put of accounts jobs AND increase their conversion rate of new high-value prospects. Not until the two partners decided what to stop doing did they free up enough time to do what needed to be done to improve the firm’s results.

Complex this is not. But it is the issue that holds most partners and most firms back from the success they might otherwise achieve. What are you going to stop doing?

ACTION PLEASE…

Why don’t you sit back and identify three things you could/should stop doing? Work out who else could do them and – like Sir John Harvey Jones (of ICI fame) repeatedly says:

“Only do, what only you can do”

I’m choosing to stop everything for a few weeks now (holiday! ) and wish you a remarkable summer.

Tally ho

Paul Shrimpling

Author of ‘Bamboo Marketing For Accountants’ – the route map to marketing success for accountants in practice

Creator of ‘WHAT’S POSSIBLE in your business’ – cultivating a greater flow of new clients for your accountancy firm through profitable word-of-mouth…

And let’s get LinkedIn  http://www.linkedin.com/in/paulshrimpling

Read our most recent blog here www.remarkablepractice.com

________________________________________________________________

Remarkable business practice requires strong business roots. Like the grass roots of bamboo that take up to 3 years to fully establish, and then help it grow to twice the height of a house in just one season.

Remarkable Practice helps you develop strong business roots so that your firm enjoys remarkable growth too.

To discuss what it is we do and how we can help you and your firm please email theteam@remarkablepractice.com or call 01773 821689.

When two of the worlds thought-leaders (David Maister and Paul Dunn) select the best accountancy firm in the UK (from a shortlist of 40) it makes sense to learn more about THE firm don’t you think?

Well you can…

Join me in a conference call on the 27th July at 4pm (GMT) with Rob Walsh…

Winner…

At the recent National Accountants Conference in Birmingham several hundred firms witnessed Rob Walsh of Clear Vision Accountancy being awarded the honour of UK’s best accountancy firm (with joint winner Stark Main).

Join me and multi-award winning accountancy practice owner Rob Walsh of Clear Vision Accountancy [http://www.cvag.co.uk] for a free thought-leadership discussion about what makes his accountancy practice remarkable.

Specifics you can put to work for your firm…

During this 60-minute call we will be discussing the points below plus fielding your specific questions (you can ask a question in advance on the registration below or during the call):

1. The management processes that deliver Rob his 13 weeks holiday per year AND class-beating partner profits from his £750K practice

2. The core message of Rob’s practice – Clear Vision – and how it influences everything within his practice and every interaction he has with his clients and how it contributes to his success

3. The marketing processes Rob uses to ensure he achieves his fee and profitability targets

REGISTER NOW for this free Remarkable Conference Call – after submitting this registration you will receive an email with the details of the conference call – there is no cost to participate:

I look forward to your participation in this conference call on Wednesday 27th July at 4pm GMT.

Paul Shrimpling

Author of ‘Bamboo Marketing For Accountants’ – the route map to marketing success for accountants in practice

Creator of ‘WHAT’S POSSIBLE in your business’ – cultivating a greater flow of new clients for your accountancy firm through profitable word-of-mouth…

And let’s get LinkedIn  http://www.linkedin.com/in/paulshrimpling

Almost a week after the National Accountants Conference at the National Motorcycle Museum and I’m again reminded of the sense spoken by Paul Dunn about Wow and Woow.

If you were at the event and want to revisit Paul’s keynote you can find a similar presentation at the TED website. Here’s the link to go straight to it.

Get this…

Remarkable = worthy of notice

Your accountancy firm will only be ‘worthy-of-notice’ if you consistently do remarkable things – and remember it is your customer who determines whether you are remarkable or not.

One of Paul Dunn’s insights, shared last week, is…

‘there are only remarkable moments’

But it is these remarkable moments that make all the difference to your clients (and your people). A bit like the fly in the toilet (watch the video!).

“So what?” you say!

Good question!

When you make each ‘moment’ of interaction between your people and your clients remarkable then you’ll definitely be worthy-of-notice. And firms which achieve this lofty status of being ‘remarkable’ achieve lofty rewards as a consequence. My evidence certainly suggests this.

How do you make such moments remarkable?

Another great question.

Look to the processes in your firm. Map the workflow for each of your services. Identify the moments of interaction with your clients and profoundly improve their experience of your firm.

Easy? No. Which is why so few firms do this.

But do it and you’ll be on the path to remarkable and the rewards this approach delivers.

Thanks Paul Dunn for reminding me of the power of such a small but radically important idea.

Paul Shrimpling

Author of ‘Bamboo Marketing For Accountants’ – the route map to marketing success for accountants in practice

Creator of ‘WHAT’S POSSIBLE in your business’ – cultivating a greater flow of new clients for your accountancy firm through profitable word-of-mouth…

And let’s get LinkedIn  http://www.linkedin.com/in/paulshrimpling

If you’re at a loose end on Thursday 23rd June and want a serious injection of insight, inspiration and innovation you’d do well to be at the National Accountants Conference 2011.

If you’re already attending I look forward to seeing you there – please make yourself known to me or Kate or Karen.

You’ll be tapping into the experience, knowledge and foresight of some of the accountancy professions big thinkers:

- Paul Dunn – David Maister – Steve Pipe – Mark Lloydbottom

I’m proud to be also speaking alongside such illustrious company, on one of my favourite subject:

“How to get a predictable and sustainable flow of high-value new clients for your firm”

You can get more information here and conference running order here

You can get a booking form here

Warmest wishes

Paul Shrimpling

Author of ‘Bamboo Marketing For Accountants’ – the route map to marketing success for accountants in practice

Creator of ‘WHAT’S POSSIBLE in your business’ – cultivating a greater flow of new clients for your accountancy firm through profitable word-of-mouth…

And let’s get LinkedIn  http://www.linkedin.com/in/paulshrimpling

Read our most recent blog here www.remarkablepractice.com

According to a rather large survey* the number 1 biggest source of new clients is…

…REFERRALS

I know! No shocks there!

*From a 2009 survey of 231 American buyers of professional service firms who spent, between them, $1.7billion on professional services (including accountancy) – by Wellesley Hills Group and Raintoday.com. I’d prefer UK research but this was survey too big to ignore.

What are you doing to maximise the number of referrals you get as a firm?

This survey confirms what we knew based on the 400+ 1-on-1 partner meetings we have been involved in over the last 9 years of working with accountants.

Yes it’s as old as the hills – but ask for introductions more often than you do now. Ask your clients and ask your contacts (bankers, solicitors etc) more often and guess what? You’ll eventually get more new clients (assuming you’re good at what you do).

EXAMPLE: One 7-partner firm we work with recently did! And the first time of asking the client ‘gifted’ 5 warm introductions. OK this won’t happen every time but it pays to… ASK! And ask more often.

So what EXACTLY should you do?

1. Create 5 or more mechanisms for asking for referrals from clients – AND MAKE THEM HAPPEN
2. Create 5 or more mechanisms for asking for referrals from introducers – AND MAKE THEM HAPPEN
3. Make it easy for people to refer your firm

To help you with this third point…

…And linking with the ‘BRUTAL TRUTH’ element from our last blog about the great business book – Good To Great by Jim Collins

To be successful at building greater referrals you must face three BRUTAL TRUTHS of marketing your accountancy firm:

1. Asking for referrals is not a short term project. Clients may have said ‘NO’ or not responded to your last request but keep asking.

EXAMPLE: One firm we work with systematically told a client at every quarterly management accounts review meeting that “he wanted to grow his firm and did they know anyone he should be contacting?”. At the fifth quarterly meeting the client stopped him saying it! He then handed him two names and contact numbers on an A4 sheet of letterhead.

Keep on keeping on. Ask with a smile and in good humour – it will eventually pay off.

2. Accountancy is viewed more and more as a Commodity – so demonstrating value and proving real ROI becomes a vital part of your efforts.

What evidence can you share to prove your firm’s value? Low-priced competitors increase the doubts in clients minds – so demonstrating value, proving your value is critical. And when you do, you are more likely to get referrals because clients are CERTAIN you deliver for them and can be confident about referring you.

3. Your Competition Is Working Hard too – so standing out from the crowd matters. If your firm’s offer is indistinguishable from other firms’ offers you’ll be lost in the crowd.

You Must Be Different. Being different is ‘worthy of attention’ (the oxford English dictionary definition of ‘remarkable’). You make it easier for people to talk about you if you are different. If they talk about you you’ll get recommended.

The more you tackle these three elements the more you’ll get referred because your clients will recognise the value you deliver.

This blog is my attempt to prove to you I’m thinking hard about how you can better market your firm and get more leads more often for your firm.

I hope you get some value from it? Let me know your thoughts by leaving your comments below…

Every success

Paul Shrimpling

Author of ‘Bamboo Marketing For Accountants’ – the route map to marketing success for accountants in practice

Creator of ‘WHAT’S POSSIBLE in your business’ – cultivating a greater flow of new clients for your accountancy firm through profitable word-of-mouth…

Want to get LinkedIn  http://www.linkedin.com/in/paulshrimpling

I don’t know if it’s the best business book ever, but…

…last year I read more than 25 business books and few stack up to the common sense power this book gives business owners like you and me.

Why’s it one of the best?

Few books clearly show you how to outperform your closest rivals by more than 300% a year for 15 consecutive years!

And very few books can boast 100 years of in-depth research (20 people for 5 years)

Is it worthy of your attention?

Oh yes! Partly because we’ve made it really easy for you…

…you can have a beautifully produced 3 page book summary and 1-page mind-map of this world-class business book – all you have to do is go here (it’s free)!

Special Bonus…

Ask for the 3 page book summary and you’ll also get the chance to ask for one of the few remaining A2 posters showing a mind-map summary, drawn by a world-champion mindmap artist.

It’s printed on high-gloss art paper and looks truly fantastic – it would be a fantastic talking point with clients if mounted in your office or meeting room.

And the book is…

If you hadn’t guessed already, the book is Good To Great by Jim Collins and it’s a truly great business book packed with truly great business insights.

These valuable insights are captured in just 3 pages plus a 1-page mind-map – you’ll have read it before you can drink a cup of tea or coffee.

Go here to get your good to great book summary

Why give them away?

Because we want you to see how ‘talk-about-able’ these book-summaries are. And…

…and if you agree they are ‘talk-about-able’ you might consider putting this idea to work in your firm with your clients, prospects and introducers.

Here’s your chance to check-out this powerful word-of-mouth marketing tool.

Act now… For your free 3-page book summary, mind-map and A2 poster email (before they run out) go here and fill in your details.

Warmest regards

Paul Shrimpling

PS      The posters have been really popular and we only have a few left – first come served

PPS    For more than 9 years I have been working with accountancy firms on marketing. My experience and all the research I can find suggests word-of-mouth referrals are the number one source of new business for accountants. Book summaries and mindmaps can help you get more referrals so check it out http://tinyurl.com/6ck7gnk

I’d like you to take at look at this book summary because the firms using it are already seeing it passed around their local business community – and as a result bring greater recognition for the firms ‘authoring’ the book summaries.

You should.

You’re an accountant, and without trust you’re lost.

Without trust between you and your clients (and you and your team) your firm’s future is built on quick-sand, and most likely to fail.

On the other hand…

                …with trust you are building on rock-solid foundations.

So…

- Do you have a specific plan to build greater trust in your firm?

- Are you an expert in trust?

Unlikely! But now you can be.

This event by Stephen M R Covey will show you the way…

THE VALUE OF TRUST…

David Maister – author of ‘The Trusted Advisor’ asks this question on his web site:

 “What would be the benefits if your clients trusted you more? They might include giving you more business, telling their friends about you, being less fee-sensitive or involving you earlier with their problems.”

Just one of these will bring your firm greater success.

CEO of Black & Decker, said this about Stephen M R Covey’s event on trust:

“(Stephen M R Covey) discusses with clarity and insight how ‘trusted’ leaders and organisations do things better, faster, and at lower costs.”

And PwC are investing lots of management time in the issue of trust – here’s a recent publication from their website. Chances are they’ll have several people at the recommended event below.

HERE’S THE RUB…

You know the value of trust when you realise the consequences of not having trust!

Without trust you have almost nothing – the willingness of your people and your clients to stay with you, relies on trust.

THEREFORE you should become an expert in trust.

Here’s how…

MY RECOMMENDATION:

For years I have been quoting David Maister and Stephen M R Covey on the subject of trust in my consulting sessions with accountants.

Stephen M R Covey is speaking in London on Thursday 14^th April so I recommend you…

1. Join me on the 14^th April and attend a keynote presentation by Stephen M R Covey on The Speed Of Trust. (NB This is the son of Stephen Covey of 7 Habits fame)
2. Then join me and some of your fellow accountants in a debate about how you use Covey’s insights and apply them to your practice

IMPORTANT: I will not be making a penny from promoting this event. I simply believe it is an essential element of creating a remarkable accountancy practice and you should be there.

THE DETAILS: To build greater trust and build a more successful firm, I encourage you to attend either the morning or afternoon keynote by Stephen M R Covey in London on the 14^th April.

PRICING: Advertised price is £195+VAT. Use this special discount code RPL28 and your first ticket is £150+VAT – BOOK HERE. To book additional tickets at just £85+VAT email nickie@remarkablepractice.com and tell Nickie how many you want, Nickie will then help you get the £110 discount on extra tickets.

DATE/VENUE: April 14th 2011 at The Mechanical Institution of Engineering in London

TIMING: 8.30am to 12noon OR 1.30pm to 5pm. Choose your preferred time and BOOK YOUR FIRST TICKET HERE using the discount code RPL28 when prompted.

OPTIONAL:  If you attend the morning session and want to join me for a ‘TRUST YOUR ACCOUNTANT’ debate and debrief after the presentation please email nickie@remarkablepractice.com. If there’s enough interest I will book a room and arrange refreshments (I expect £60 each will cover the cost of room hire and refreshments).

ACTION STATIONS: Undoubtedly TRUST is at the root of all business success, particularly for an accountancy firm. If you agree then BOOK NOW and discover the ways and means of making more of trust in your firm.

Maybe you feel a natural resistance to asking for referrals?

Maybe not?

On my travels to various accountants around the UK I’m exposed to many different responses to the prospect of asking for referrals and recommendations.

1. Some are violently opposed – and don’t ask
2. Some are unsure – and don’t ask
3. Some are up for it – and don’t ask!
4. Some are up for it – and DO ask!

Asking for referrals works.

A conversation this week with a partner looking to grow his firm substantially over the next 18 months has just jumped into category 4 (above).

He asked for feedback from his client about the firm’s performance as well as the clients satisfaction.

He got a big thumbs up, then…

He swallowed hard and told the client he was looking to grow his firm over the coming three-six months and wondered if he knew any business owners who might be interested.

He got 5 names in about 60 seconds and the client was pleased to help.

You and your firm are already getting natural referrals – recommendations without you seeking them. But when you send a message to your clients and introducers you are growing and would like to have more referrals nothing will happen! Nothing will happen the first time but the second, third or fourth time it probably will.

Asking for referrals is a habit. And, as with all habits, it gets easier the more you do it. So do it more often.

There will be clients who are uncomfortable with you asking for referrals. But you won’t know who they are till you ask them (and they are rare). Keep your antenae alive to the possibility and when you find one, apologise for asking and promise them you’ll never ask them again, there’ll be no harm done.

Given you’re reading this you might be pleased to know… 

“I’m looking to grow the readership of this blog so if you know of a manager or partner of an accountancy firm who would enjoy reading my thoughts on remarkable accountancy practice, please forward this to them or drop me a line at paul@remarkablepractice and I’ll invite them. Thank you.”

You ready to ask for referrals?

Go on then.

Paul Shrimpling

Author of ‘Bamboo Marketing For Accountants’ – the route map to marketing success for accountants in practice

Creator of ‘WHAT’S POSSIBLE in your business’ – cultivating a greater flow of new clients for your accountancy firm through profitable word-of-mouth…

And let’s get LinkedIn  http://www.linkedin.com/in/paulshrimpling

Read our most recent blog here www.remarkablepractice.com