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If you want to make partner, don't be a superstar

12th Nov 2012
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I was very fortunate a couple of weeks ago to interview two young, ambitious partners in regional accountancy practices. I was interviewing Toni Hunter, George Hays and Myfanwy Neville, Berg Kaprow Lewis LLP, as part of my 'fast track to partner' audio masterclass series. As you would expect if you have ever met these two lovely ladies, they were honest and frank! 

However, I wanted to pick up on just one of the tips given by Myf and Toni in this interview:

If you want to make partner, put your head above the parapet - but this doesn't mean you need to be your firm's superstar

So, what does this actually mean?

In our conversation, Myf and Toni, both agreed that the 1st step to becoming a partner, was believing you can do it, and taking responsibility for helping to make it happen. After all, it's not your partner's or your firm's responsibility for making this happen.

Toni: It’s about setting bigger goals, about having the confidence and seeking the opportunity yourself. You have to take responsibility for your own career path. If you sit and wait for other people to do it for you, then other more confident people will just take that role and you’ll be left there.

It's worth reflecting on this quote from Toni, and thinking about how it applies to you and your career. After all, have you decided that you haven't got what it takes to make partner? Who said you haven't got what it takes?

Myf and Toni, advised, the next step, after finding the confidence to want to go for partner, is actually telling the partnership that you want to go for partner. Makes sense!

Toni:  If it’s something that you aspire to do then find a way, make sure that you communicate the fact that  you want to do something, you want to build your career and people will listen and help you.

Myf:  I think what it was for me was someone to take the blinkers off and say “Do you know it’s a possibility? Why don’t you go for it?” and just going “Do you know what? Hell yeah, let’s do it” and everything changed from then, it was amazing.

Once you have committed to yourself and others that you want to go for partnership, it's time to put your head above the parapet. However, Toni and Myf both advised that it's not about striving to become the firm's superstar, but doing it in little, but personal ways. For example:

Toni:  The underlying key is that you have to put your head above the parapet, you have to say “I’m here, I’m worthy of being noticed” and how you do that is very personal to you and what your skills are. For me it was to provide a younger, fresher approach to the practice by building a portfolio from scratch.

Myf:  The sooner you start taking that responsibility upon yourself the better. I also made it my business to make sure that every part of the audit file I was working on I did myself, so that the very last thing the partner had to do, who was signing off my audit, was just tick a box. So I knew that actually I could take it from start to finish if I needed to and then the partners also saw was “Well, do you know what? Myf can do all of it from start to finish, so why don’t we let her be an RI?

Toni:  It’s that peer group that makes a difference and when I say put your head above the parapet, it’s little things like when you’re in a training meeting be the one to ask the question; be the one to query why you do things a certain way. Use your peer group to show that you have leadership skills and that you are thinking, in both a technical and business development manner. It’s all those little things that just segregate you from the average.

To listen to the rest of the interview, and find out how Toni and Myf established themselves as a partner and grew their client portfolios, register for our 'fast track to partner' masterclass series, which starts this evening.

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Replies (12)

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7om
By Tom 7000
13th Nov 2012 11:52

Easiest way to make partner...

Bring £200k of new fees in each year ;o) simples

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Heather Townsend - accountant's coach
By Heather Townsend
13th Nov 2012 21:14

Very true

Absolutely, no firm is going to refuse to admit a director to the partnership who is bringing in £200k of new fees each year...

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7om
By Tom 7000
14th Nov 2012 09:23

Bringing in fees

I bring in about £100k a year without trying too hard, if I put my back into it £300k wouldnt be an unreasonable target.. So £200k is straightforward.

 

 

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By justsotax
14th Nov 2012 10:56

ah...so actually

the article should read to make partner ...'be a great salesman..'?

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Heather Townsend - accountant's coach
By Heather Townsend
14th Nov 2012 15:33

to make partner... "be a great salesman"

Not always the case. Partnerships will normally always be happy to bring a proven rainmaker into the ranks. Your ability to win business is a key driver for whether you will make partner. However, you need to show other attributes as well, such as:

commitment to the firm and it's vision/strategyleadership and management skills

 

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By justsotax
14th Nov 2012 16:39

I have to say

I cannot think of anything worse than promoting someone to partnership based upon nothing more than their selling skills (no matter how much they bring in)....this is why these guys are often paid based upon success - because the thought of putting them in charge of anything can lead to disaster.....

 

Leadership and management skillls at the top of the list....every time all the time.....

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7om
By Tom 7000
15th Nov 2012 08:35

@justsotax

I take it you never made partner then ;)

Fundamentally, you have to sell something without this there is no business.

Its easy to hire qualified staff, rent buildings hire cars buy pcs etc and more quantifiable.

You only need one organiser to sort it all out,

 

So what do you end up with in the perfect world is a turnover of £5m and

a  'managing partner' that sorts out all the ''stuff''

A technical RI that signs the audits off

3 sales partners bringing the work in for the staff.

any one else want to be a partner,,,,??? Increase sales partners to 4 because you aint getting the MDs job or the RIs...

 

 

 

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Heather Townsend - accountant's coach
By Heather Townsend
15th Nov 2012 09:32

It's all about a balance

I think in today's climate, you have to be a proven business winner and a good technician, just to be even thought of as a potential partner in a firm.

Then, very often, the savvy partnerships will also be considering how you will lead and manage the practice, not just be successful at selling.

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By justsotax
15th Nov 2012 09:39

no i didn't....

not that i was looking to though....

I would say though that you are 'technically wrong'.....without a business you cannot actually sell anything.  So first you must have a business (idea/product/service etc)....then you must learn how to sell it....(call me pedantic if you like....)

I am still to be convinced that making someone a senior part of your organisation just on their ability to sell is the right way to go.  But if you are looking out for people for your business you may want to contact the banks....apparently they have managed to sell £millions of PPI cover to people who don't actually require it....how good is that......selling a product no one needs....there must be some great 'salesmen' in their other businesses you could utilise?

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7om
By Tom 7000
16th Nov 2012 12:09

PPI

When you are a partner or an FD or something similar, Rule no 1 is have enough money to pay the bills.There is no rule no 2

Theoretically you set up an office have qualified people, an infrastructure an HR policy, MLR policy, qualitiy control. You win a client you do some good work you bill him and wait 90 days to get paid.

 

Practically, you get a client to pay in advance, you send him a bill, you do some work, you consider if the quality is good enough ( if you have ethics...some dont) and you palm HR/ MLR etc off to your PA.

 

So theory and business are polar opposites.

 

All the partners care about is what profit share am I getting and will I be able to get a new car and go skiing in Switzerland in stead of Andorra and can I meet the school fees. Then possibly their mistress next and maybe work is about level 6 on the agenda. He said cynically.

 

If you know this and want to be a partner you realise you get made one if you can do something which ups the profit share. Being a technical wizard isnt usually going to do this...because thats a long way down the list and theres plenty of people can do that.

 

So you have to say to the partners...if you make me one this will be a jolly good idea because....YOU will all be wealthier....

Mind you I never made partner either...very simply my old boss told me and the tax guy we were both rubbish and now we were qualified we would be better off leaving....the tax dude immediately bought a small practice and 20 years later I guess he is 4x the size of our old boss. I got a job as an FD for a while and 10 years ago set up this practice from scratch and now I am 2.x bigger....

 

If he had kept us and made us partners..how happy would he be...I am guessing .his profit share would have gone from 100k to probably 700k.....but then I guess we were ''rubbish accountants'', ...strangely  we were both quite good at selling.

But then....what do I know

 

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By dl
16th Nov 2012 22:17

Be a superstar !
Hmmm, generally I agree with this post, but would like to see more ambition coming actoss on yhe post.

To be a partner, is that the end of the journey? Be a superstar I say, go and try and change the world. That's when it gets exciting...

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Heather Townsend - accountant's coach
By Heather Townsend
17th Nov 2012 09:42

More ambition may be needed...

I like your comment about being a partner is not the end of the journey - and yes, people should be striving (in what every way they can) to leave a positive legacy. Whether or not that means being a superstar is another matter.

All too often I find that professionals can only see to the next stage in their career, not beyond. There is generally no point talking to trainees about what they want from their career 5-10 years away, as all they can see and focus on is 'have to pass my exams so I can get qualified.... and then I will think about what I want from my career'

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