How do I plan for the future?

The partners in practice I speak to these days all seem to have a common line of thought; ‘how do I plan for my future when I am so busy working on the present?’ I have heard this so often I feel there is a need to outline what the small accountancy practice can do to safeguard its future and plan in a practical way that is both affordable and doesn’t take too much time away from the current day to day managing of the practice.

Here is a brief practical bullet point overview for any partner or practitioner facing these challenges to use as a point of reference;

• Set aside a couple of hours each week and book the time out in your diary to work on ‘business planning.’
• The start point is to jot down what exactly you want to achieve and in what timeframe. This may be in financial terms or in terms of reducing hours spent at work.
• Create a goal and write it down. What do you want your business to look like and what will be your role in it?
• Now work backwards! What do you need to build and work on to achieve this?
• What is your ideal client profile to suit your plan?
• Where will you find these types of clients and what is your strategy to win them?
• How many clients do you need and at what average annual fee to achieve your growth target!
• Can you draw up a ‘top 100’ target list of businesses you want to act for?
• How do you get noticed by this target list? Mail shot campaign, seminars, e-mail campaign, and telemarketing. Think about what is right for you.
• Plan how much time you can budget to spend on this marketing alongside costs.
• Remember, successful marketing initiatives always work best if they are targeted and followed up immediately.
• The ‘constant drip’ approach will also pay larger dividends in the long run and not just the one-off hit followed by a period of silence!
• What staffing levels are required to service your clients and new clients going forward?
• Plan your current practice work schedule for the 12 months ahead to see what capacity you have for extra work and identify when you may need to buy labour in.
• Think about what type of staff you need to service your clients. Do they need to be more highly skilled and more client facing?
• What is your recruitment plan to attract the right people?
• How do you keep your people happy and retain them in the business?
• What systems are in place to measure your success going forward?
• What systems do you have to help free up and manage your own time more efficiently?
• Write down what your role should be as a partner and compare it to what you actually spend your time doing. What areas could be done by someone else and where are the gaps re; what you should be doing as a business owner and are failing to.
• If you have staff, do they know and share in your business plans and roles? What do they think? Does it work for them too in terms of achieving their own personal goals? You need to get your people on board as they are your main asset and key in making your business plan happen for you.
• What resources can you look at to help you achieve your goals more efficiently? Do you know what is available in the marketplace?
• Keep thinking about your practice being there to meet your own needs and drive it to ensure it can deliver. Remember, you set up your practice or became a partner in order for that role to deliver something better than a job would. Does this still hold true?
• Think about your service offering to clients. Do all existing clients know what you can do for them? How do you know this and how do you get that message across?
• Consider ‘windows of opportunity.’ What existing clients do not buy some of your services and use someone else. An easy way to increase fee income is to do more work for existing clients.
• Whilst being focused on winning new business, do you also work just as hard on keeping the clients you have? How do you do this and measure it consistently?
• Referral systems- ensure these are in place and used consistently.
• Book a day at least quarterly to stop and review your plan. Update it, change it and work on it as a living document. Set a plan of action for each period ahead.
• Look at your gross margin. Is there a system in place to improve it?
• Cash flow- does this take up your time and cause you undue stress? Put in place simple robust systems to control how you bill and collect cash. Consider fixed fees and standing orders for example.
• Who do you use as a mentor to help you follow your plans up and provide an objective insight? Often this can keep you on track and speed up your progress.
• Practice can sometimes be a lonely place and it is of benefit to use someone with suitable knowledge as a sounding board.

The above list is by no means exhaustive and is designed to provide food enough for thought to get you started.

If nothing else, by reading this you will know that you are not alone after all and the challenges you face are commonly shared. The key is now for you to get going and actually do something about it in order to set yourself ahead of the competition and to find peace of mind and security for your future.

After all, failing to plan is planning to fail...

Finola McManus is a chartered accountant and a former senior partner of Landers Accountants in Bedfordshire. She is now a professional accountants’ coach and founder of Practice Perfect, a consultancy service which offers targeted solutions to help practices grow.

Finola McManus FCA
Email: Finola@practice-perfect.net
www.practice-perfect.net