Inspiration for a brighter future is in short supply it seems sometimes.

Which is why I subscribe to the Wizard’s blog – sometimes he shares genius of the simplest and highest order.

Like this…

According to the wizard the 4 keys to your rainbow future are these:

1. Relevance

2. Credibility

3. Speak to a felt need

4. Be what you say

As a TRUSTED ADVISOR ACCOUNTANT here’s how this works:

1. Relevance: Be irrelevant and you’ll lose trusted advisor status in your clients mind.

Demonstrate the relevance of your message, relevance of your services and relevance of your firm and you’ll be seen as a genuine trusted advisor. A message has relevance to the degree it speaks to a felt need.

2. Credibility: Be incredible (unbelievable) and trust will, like a faltering glider, stutter, stall and crash to earth. Credibility is king in the world of a trusted adviser. Be believable through understatement and by delivering on the next two…

3. Speak to a felt need: What is it your clients want? What is it your prospective customers want? What is the desire in the heart of your customer? To speak to an unfelt need is to answer a question that no one was asking – wasting time, energy and resources – yours and your clients.

Here’s what I reckon… Your clients and prospects want CERTAINTY, they want REASSURANCE and they want CONFIDENCE all is well with their business and personal finances. Provide offers and use language to appeal to these felt needs and you will be on the right track.

4. Be what you say: Simply deliver on your promises. And yes I know this is simple to say and harder to follow through. It is why your firm’s processes and people are at the core of your authentic, genuine, transparent delivery so you can hold your head up high and know you are what you say you are.

Every meeting with every partner in every firm we work with has at its core these four factors. Four factors contributing to their bamboo roots of success. Four factors guiding the implementation of processes to improve the performance of their firm.

I hope this article stimulates some thought, some ideas and some frustration (or even anger). Why so? So you are driven to take some action at improving your firm in 2011 on one or more of these four powerful concepts.

Wishing you a remarkable and starlight-bright 2011

Paul Shrimpling

PS To read the wizard’s piece which stimulated this article go here

PPS For a comprehensive learning programme to help stimulate action to improve your firm read about ‘Bamboo Marketing For Accountants’

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

The scale of Ebay’s success is self evident.

(Can you believe I refused to take a punt on ebay shares back in 2002 despite some serious hint dropping by the head of the New York Stock Exchange who I was sharing a course with!? No worse than the record company exec who turned down the Beatles I guess!)

So. Ebay reportedly have 9 principles on which their success is based.

Here they are for your consideration with my thoughts on how they might apply to your accountancy firm…

1.         Know your user

- Categorize your clients (clear criteria that segment your clients into Gold, Silver, Bronze, etc) and use these categories to dictate your work-flow, your priorities, and your customer care programmes

2.         Keep the main thing the main thing

- Beware of being side-tracked by the next bright shiny object. Your core business pays the bills, pays your people and is responsible for your personal earnings too. Give it 80% of your attention and time.

3.         Keep it simple

- Complexity confuses people. It confuses your people, it also confuses your clients. Plain English. Plain speaking. Crystal clear benefits of what you do will stand you in good stead.

4.         Don’t make the user work

- Imagine trying to suck a milkshake up a straw that’s partly blocked! It’s hard enough with a clear straw. So it is in business – you need to allow your clients and prospects the cleanest, easiest, quickest way of doing business with you – remove any and all blockages.

- If your competition insist on putting hurdles up for clients to jump over you’ll win every time if you have removed them and your clients can sprint to your door unencumbered.

5.         Be consistent

- Inconsistency of customer care or speed of delivery or quality of final accounts packs tells a story about your firm. It tells your clients that you have not got your act together. This does not inspire confidence in a so-called trusted advisor.

- Systems should be a fundamental part of your customer care AND your technical accounts work.

6.         Provide a well lit path

- A bit like point 4. This is a pointer to using pointers. Direct your clients what to do next, make it obvious what is needed so that you can do a great job for them

7.         Optimise for the 80%

- Whatever you do, make sure your firm is remarkable at looking after the 20% of clients that provide you with 80% of your profits.

- Never ever ever let the 20% of clients that generate 80% of the hassle and grief sidetrack you from those that are both profitable and enjoyable to work with.

- Become world-class at providing the 20% of services that generate 80% of your profits. The worlds fastest. The worlds most useful. The worlds best value for money.

8.         Make it personal

- Accountants have a tendency to want to focus on the technical work of accountancy. This is necessary but not at the expense of the personal relationship. If anything the personal relationship is MORE IMPORTANT than the technical work you do.

- Whatever you do, do not be seen to provide a mass-produced service to your biggest and best clients. Make it personal.

9.         Help should be helpful, but not necessary

- Design your services and processes so that you minimise the need for clients to ask for help. For example if clients are regularly ringing in to enquire about the filing of their company tax returnor the status of their P11D’s then you should improve your communications to remove these calls – become pro-active rather than reactive – make these calls ‘not necessary’

Not surprisingly there is no rocket science here.

You are aware of EBay’s phenomenal success, so you could do worse than build your firms strategy around these nine principles. They might not be an accountancy firm but these principles seem well suited to improving the focus, the management and the results of most of the accountancy firms that I have worked with.

Wishing you remarkable success

Paul

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

The garish cartoon below reminded me of Aristotle!

It was Aristotle who suggested:

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”

So the quote below – “excellence in excellence” (see pic) – is about installing great habits in your firm.

And because this hints at raising the bar habitually in your firm, it hints at raising standards. And raising standards is suggested as a source of up 40% improvement in bottom-line results according to a comprehensive study by David Maister in his book ‘Practice What You Preach’

Every step you take towards raising the bar in your firm improves the likelihood of you raising your profits and profit growth. Which of course improves the capital value of your firm. 

How big an improvement in your team’s perception of standards should you aim for?

Only 10-15%.

Maister’s research suggests a 10-15% improvement will generate the 40% gain in financial performance.

How can that be?

Because when you raise your standards, employee satisfaction will increase and your firm’s performance on quality and client relationships will improve too (according to Maister’s findings). And these two issues help drive the results in your firm (according to Maister and according to common sense too!)

“Excellence in excellence” is a worthwhile goal it seems?

And it seems a relatively small gain (10-15%) will generate a relatively large upside (40%).

Go for it!

Paul Shrimpling

PS if you want to learn more about the artist of the cartoon go here

Author of the free report ‘the 7 big mistakes accountants make and how you can avoid them’

Hello,

INSPIRING you is the goal of this page… and this very short video can’t not inspire you!

Staying on top of your game is an important, if not jugular, part of leading a firm of accountants, don’t you think?

Drop off top-form and you will negatively influence your team, your customers and even your family.

Such a negative influence can and will have an impact on your results, your profits. At it’s worse you can set off on a downward spiral. A spiral that’s hard to break, so do you…

…accept that your self-belief, your confidence, your enthusiasm helps determine your future success?

I think so too. 

Because it’s your job to lead, it’s your job to inspire those around you to perform.

Sometimes it is hard to inspire. Sometimes it’s very hard. Particularly when you yourself are less than inspired yourself. And when it’s hard you need what the NLP experts call a pattern interupt.

I received just such a pattern interupt last night from one of my team (thanks Karen) – an inspirational pattern interupt.

And you know what? Inspiration comes in all shapes and sizes – wait till you see this one!

As a business leader in your community it’s vitally important you stay inspired, wired, up-for-the-cup.

This 4 minute youtube video dragged me out of the frustrataion, impatience and dissapointment I was feeling about some technology issues, some project frustrations and a cock-up I made!

I’ll be revisiting this four minute video often when I’m feeling less than top-form.

What about you?

Enjoy the next 4 minutes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gc4HGQHgeFE

Paul Shrimpling

You and I both know there’s power in setting goals…

There’s clarity in setting goals.

There’s focus in setting goals.

But what sort of goals?

There’s a very strong argument to suggest financial (money) goals are self-defeating. They undermine your future performance. Sounds weird I know…

I recently read a wonderful piece by Roy H Williams (AKA the Wizard Of Ads). Here’s Roy’s argument against money/cash/profit targets or goals or objectives:

“Money fails as a compass because it can be found in every direction. Guiding directives and unifying principles are never merely financial.” 

If stacks of cash is your only goal you’re likely to be distracted at every turn. As Roy puts it:

“You can’t navigate a ship by studying the wind and waves. Fix your gaze on your goal, a non-negotiable, fixed position that can never change. Let that be your lighthouse, your reference point, your North Star.”

At just short of 460 words Roy’s article is well worth the reading time. IT’S HERE.

Certainly if you leave port without a fixed port of call to aim for you’ll be at the beck and call of the wind and sea. By definition monetary targets alone are not a good compass.

So…

Achieving crystal clarity on your firm’s future (vision) and your firm’s operating principles (values) provides an ADDITIONAL and powerful compass to guide your firm. Getting the buy-in from your key players also has a big part to play.

How would you describe your lighthouse guiding your behaviour and your team’s behaviour? What are the ‘directives and unifying principles’ steering your ship?

The latter half of 2009 had me experimenting with twitter, facebook and linkedin to see what it can do to support the marketing efforts of accountants.

LinkedIn seems to have the most potential and given it has become one of the most successful sources for recruiting team members in the states – chances are the same will happen here.

And twitter has given me this brilliant little article on ten technologies to watch in 2010 - an article you might want to share with your list of customers too?

I’m still formulating my thoughts and on the hunt for sites, info and materials to help reach my conclusions – just reading a brilliant book ‘six pixels of seperation’ which is providing some powerful insights – I’ll be reporting back on this stuff during 2010 and suggesting ways you fold these into the ideal marketing model for accountants.

Good hunting in 2010

Paul Shrimpling

In November 2009 I enjoyed the great privelege of interviewing Michael Heppell about two of his fantastic books – ‘FlipIt’ and ‘How to be brilliant’.

In our discussion Michael raved on about how good the Chris Evans autobiography was as a business and self-development book. So I was delighted when my mum bought me a copy for Christmas! Aren’t mum’s great?

I’m only a few pages in but Michael is right – it is a great read (so far) and has prompted the use of my highlighter already!

This quote stood out as a perfect focus for 2010. What do you think?

“Ultimately I look back and see a minefield of huge risks and high stakes in all aspects of my life, some of which went my way, some of which did not, but most of which I didn’t have to take in the first place, yet I still felt compelled to do so. Barring physical, mental and social disadvantages, I think this is the single most  common theme that links people who might be more  likely to exceed their so-called ‘expectations’ as opposed to those who don’t”

I had to read it three times to get it fully (my first day back after a two week break!), glad I did.

You may be contemplating some decisions and actions in 2010. Decisions and actions you don’t have to make but feel compelled to do so. If you do feel compelled then Chris’ insight should hopefully give you some strength and resolve.

I wish you remarkable success in 2010.

Paul Shrimpling

PS You don’t have to read good books but may feel compelled to try one or more of the three mentioned in this blog (just click the links above).

PPS If you want to hear one of the interviews with Michael Heppell (It’s completely FREE) simply click this link now to get your copy of the interview – it’s definitely worth a listen

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

So why don’t you?

Because if you could you would wouldn’t you?

What I mean is:

If you could choose to be successful you would wouldn’t you?

If you could choose to be happy you would wouldn’t you?

So why don’t you?

According to Michael Heppell you need to master just one skill.

The skill he calls:              FLIP IT!

I recently interviewed Michael and in just 18 light-hearted minutes he explained how this one skill can transform my results, my approach and my enjoyement. I think you’ll enjoy it and find it both practical and inspiring.

To listen to the interview click here and download the MP3 file

What will you find in the interview?
- Flip your mind set so that you turn difficulties into solutions
- Michael talks about how your problems are just answers in disguise
- How every problem you face can be creatively flipped using a simple ‘linking’ process to generate the solution you seek
- How challenging your habits creates new and powerful experiences
- And which of these two questions – ‘WHY?’ or ‘HOW?’ – would win in a boxing match!
- Plus how a UK hotel beat all the worlds hotels to be crowned the best customer service hotel in the world

I’m honoured Michael was happy to give this interview – click here and download the MP3 file

Why don’t you Flip-It?

Paul Shrimpling