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

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

Hi there,

It’s clear, thanks to several recent conversations with owners of accountancy firms, how getting stuff done on time, to a high standard, and to hit billings targets can prove to be illusive.

And yet a weekly process which sets the goals for the week, allocates time to do the work and holds people to account is now proving very successful in several firms. In this article you’ll hear of just one firm’s experience…

Following on from my last article’s theme of ‘games’ (refresh your memory here) the marbles and test tubes are proving to be the catalyst for action.

Let me explain…

…Elinor has installed a weekly process (a weekly game) and within two weeks of starting the ‘game’ is enjoying the fruits of her labours. Stuff is getting done. On time. To a high standard.

Here’s Elinor’s email to me:

“We moved 54 BIG ROCKS last week…

…out of a possible maximum of 64, please see the attached picture (must admit to not being keen on being in the picture but Taz said I had to hold the marbles!!)

We have today reached the first 200 marker, so the treat is lunch tomorrow.

Thanks so much Paul for the marbles and funnel and more so for the excellent idea to help with workflow, it has been really well received by the team and will have a positive outcome for the clients”

At the beginning of the week each team member agrees their ten big rocks – the ten lumpy chunks of work for their week – one morning, one afternoon times five days = ten big rocks.

Every time one of the team gets a big rock done they drop a marble in the tube.

You can see both marbles and the oversized test-tube (in the middle of the pic) and you can see the flip chart process they use to track and show results – team accountability at work!

Does it work?

54 rocks out of 64 is good. And they are all building the habit of getting stuff done every day, every week.

52 productive weeks gets your firm a productive year.

Last week’s blog was about test tubes and marble games!

Games to engage your people and get your firm the results you want.

Yes they are fun but with a serious intent… it’s about getting stuff done, fully executed, completed. Just like Elinor is doing.

Remember the Michael Gerber quote:

“How do you get your people to do what you want them to do?”

He answers his own question with

“You can’t!”

“You can only create a game they want to play.”

Elinor is playing a game – it’s fun – it has a serious intent – it is working!

How can you use a game to transform your firms abilities to plough through work?

I’d love to know…

Paul

Simon used the test tube first and he shared his idea with me.

A simple game.

Put a marble in the test tube each time you win.

What’s the definition of a win?

It doesn’t matter.

Of the accountancy firms I work with here’s three ideas now in full swing with the test tube and the marbles:

- a referral request is made = a marble goes in.

This firm is increasing the number of referrals they get so they grow their firm

- a tax return is done = marble goes in.

This firm is reducing the January glut of tax returns

- a big rock is achieved = marble goes in (I’ll explain big rocks in my next blog next week)

When the test tube reaches quarter full it’s open-the-quality-street-tin time! 

Half full and its pizza time!

Three-quarter full it’s a 4pm finish and straight to the pub. 

Completely full and we’re having the afternoon off!

Make up the rules of your game…

Your rules depend on the one focus you want from your team and how generous the reward/recognition should be (NB avoid cash – if you want to know why read chapter 7 of Sway by Ori and Rom Brafman).

You could avoid the game and simply track performance as a personal or team KPI – hopefully you can already see or sense this (normal approach) is short of energy, passion or fun.

It pays off to play a game!

So what’s going on to make these marbles and test tube games work?

And they do work – I’ll prove it in the next blog…

1. It’s a game and people (your people) like games. They like games because it’s a chance to score goals and win – both as individuals and as a team. And most people prefer winning to losing!

2. Marbles in test tubes are noisy – it’s blatantly obvious to all present when a marble goes into the tube! The game is visual, it’s physical it’s not just mental

3. The tube is huge! The working environment has changed to accommodate the tube and the marbles. And with environment change often comes stronger performance towards the results you want

4. Team scepticism is soon dashed when the game starts

5. A weekly check in on game progress provides a way of performance managing the issue in focus – the problem you want fixing – the opportunity you want to realise

When Michael Gerber (of E-Myth fame) asks his audiences

“How do you get your people to do what you want them to do?”

He answers his own question with

“You can’t! You can only create a game they want to play.”

Get yourself some marbles and a test tube and create a game for your firm! And read the next blog…

Paul Shrimpling

PS If you have examples of other games working in your firm please share them by commenting on this blog

PPS If you want to buy a test tube to kick-start a game in your firm go here

I’m obsessed with helping firms of accountants run a better business – this means growing your firm’s profits. This means keeping all your valuable clients and winning new valuable clients.

Are you serious about growing profits?

Let’s see…

Back in 2008 I ran a workshop for all the partners in the firms of accountants I consult with. The workshop  – held in a lovely little hotel by the river Derwent – was focussed on challenging these firms on the way they deliver value for money for their business owner customers.

Looking back, what stood out as the shining insight of the day was the need to establish crystal clarity on what your business owner customers’ expectations are. It still occupies my mind to this day because there’s so much to be gained from this important insight if you only put it to work in your firm. It’s worth revisiting now…

This blog is about your firm’s processes for capturing, recording and exceeding your clients’ expectations.
Why are expectations so important?

1. Because only your clients can determine whether they receive value for money or not
2. The value they receive is determined by the expectations they have before you start

Whether your client’s expectations are high or low, if you under-perform then value is below their expectations. This situation will prompt your client to question whether your price is too high and maybe even choose another accountant.

If their expectations are met (not exceeded, just met) then they might feel OK about the value received. They may not question the price, they may not consider other accountancy offers. But they might! They might consider alternative firm’s because you only just delivered on their expectations. You were nothing special. However…

…when you exceed their expectations (whether they are high or low)they feel as though they received a wonderful deal and happily use you again and even recommend you to others. It’s unlikely other firms will get a look in and so you’ll secure their business for another year and lock in the GRF and their goodwill value to your firm. You keep them. You also increase the chances of them recommending you to other business owners and as a result grow your firms fees and profits.

Jan Carlson in his book (moments of truth) about his transformation of Scandinavian Airlines captured this insight best when he described three customer experiences:

1. Miserable – expectations were not met
2. Neutral – expectations were met
3. Magical – expectations were exceeded

IMPORTANT: Jan Carlson took over the reins of Scandinavian Air at a time when the airline was suffering an $8 million loss and turned it around to a $71 million profit within one year. You interested in expectations now?

Here’s the rub…

If you don’t know what your clients’ expectations are how can you even think you can give them a magical experience?

So what is your firm’s process for identifying, capturing and recording your clients’ expectations every year?
Focussing on your A-class clients first, does this help?

1. Add ‘expectations for next year’ to your pre-year-end client meeting agenda (add it to your post year-end meeting if you aren’t having pre-year end meetings)

2. And then have a discussion about the 9 things David Maister et al suggests you talk about in the book ‘The Trusted Advisor’ in your pre-year-end meetings

   a. Clearly articulate what you will and will not do
   b. Clearly articulate what the client will and will not do
   c.  Define the boundaries of the analyses you will perform
   d. Check with the client about areas and people with whom the client does not want you to be involved
   e. Identify precise working arrangements
   f. Agree on methods and frequency of communicating
   g. Decide who should get which reports, how often those reports will be delivered and how they will be used
   h. Decide what milestones and progress reviews are needed
   i. Decide how success will be measured, both during and at the end of the process

OK I know this looks onerous, but…

…continue with no expectations processes and you’ll continue to run the risk of losing valuable clients because you do not exceed their expectations. You’ll also continue to be challenged on price. And you’ll be missing out on positive word-of-mouth recommendations to grow your firm.

Decisions, decisions!

IMPORTANT: According to Jan Carlson, Moments of Truth are those critical times when a customer forms an impression of you, deciding whether your offerings and their standards see eye-to-eye.  The moment you start discussing expectations is a jugular moment of truth don’t you think?

Time to install your ‘expectations for next year’ processes?

Let me know your reaction and thoughts on this important subject will you?

Paul Shrimpling

www.remarkablepractice.com

Living the values of your firm can get lost in the melee of running your firm.

But it doesn’t have too.

You’ll find a valuable article on accounting web describing how one firm has made a difference to all the stakeholders in their firm by living their values and by being creative at Christmas. They have positively made a difference to all the stakeholders in their firm:

- customers are involved and feel part of something meaningful

- team members are involved and feel they are doing something worthwhile

- and their community are involved too by involving a local special needs school and sending a message to our troops on active duty

The article starts…

The festive season is a great time for practice managers to make a difference not just for charity, but also for their clients and teams, advises Paul Shrimpling.

Living the values of your firm can bring a focus to what’s possible. It can bring something extra-ordinary.

Here’s an example worthy of your attention: Mitten Clarke is a successful practice in Stoke on Trent and Congleton. The practice is driven by delivering customer experiences that are seen as ‘a breath of fresh air’ to its customers and team. This ‘breath of fresh air’ approach might not sound unusual, but it is.

It is unusual.

In my experience of working with many firms over many years, it is rare to find a firm seriously committed to the firms values. How clear are you about what your firm’s values actually are?

Here’s the full article if you want to learn more…

http://www.accountingweb.co.uk/topic/practice/accountants-offer-christmas-inspiration