i have built two accountancy practices from scatch. Had I not marketed I would have no clients. I tend to see good sales and marketing as helpng clients to take an informed decision about the best adviser for them - once is becomes pure sales and marketing puff you are quite correct you lose the essence of professionalism. One point of concern is that I speak to several accountants each week who are clearly not charging enough. They may very well be great accountants but just do not have the bottle to bill what they are worth - I do not see that encouraging them to be brave will affect their professionalism.
As soon as marketing was not mentioned the alarm bells went off however you can separate sales and marketing from good quality tax and business advice. Clients in my experience are not stupid and even if they do not know when an accountant is not sharp being technically sharp, being technically sharp and thorough helps the sales process.
I disagree with you John. In my training I received a lot of input on start ups, cashflow forecasts budgets but absolutely zero training on sales, pricing and marketing. These are key to building a successful busines and significantly more important than the technical training I received.
Dear First Tab Thank you I totally agree with you that gaining trust is the most important first step. I have therefore amended the final paragraph removing the suggestion people get in touch with me althought personally I did not think it was selling. I wish you well and hope that one day you will be brave enough to reveal your identity so we can speak and possibly even go for a coffee. Alan
I am not sure why you consider I do not have a good track record but I had hoped that taking a financial services business from 3M to 9m turnover in a four year period building my first accountancy practice from scratch and taking it (in today's terms to 250K of turnover) when local firms went from typically 50-25 staff would help you reach a different conclusion. My linkedin recommendations are also quite persuasive.
However this is all irrelevant because had we followed your logic Liverpool would never have appointed Jurgen Klopp as their manager (he was not such a good footballer) ditto Porto and Jose Murinho - what is relevant is what difference I make to my mentoring clients. You can read my linkedin recommendations if you want to know the answer to that.
Also is it possible you could come out from behind the cloak of anonymity so we can assess your track record?
As regards whether people should spend money with me, if your audience do not want to spend money there is a lot of free material on my youtube channel and would appear that as there are 10K of views over the last year not everyone shares your view of my usefulness to the world.
1 I have retired from accountancy because I am adding more value to clients by being a mentor. For example a client said to me yesterday "I would have gone bust if it was not for you - now my prices are 30% higher and looking like turnover will go from 250K to well over 1m this year". It is unlikely i would have had the time to do that when i was an accountant as I was too busy dealing with compliance.
2. I did contact the people at sift and told them the sort of articles i was planning on writing - judging by the feedback I get on my seminars some people love the input.
wow that is power stuff. I would add that more clarity is needed that the IP will cease to act or the business post appointment and will start to act for the creditors. I would like to see Directors given an indication of post appointment claims pre appointment so they can make a decision about whether to put the company into liquidation. Also it is regretable that no legal aid is available for directors as it puts the balance too far in favour of the liquidator or insolvency service. For example many directors give in rather than face the risk of costs in a disqualification hearing. Alan
My answers
i have built two accountancy practices from scatch. Had I not marketed I would have no clients. I tend to see good sales and marketing as helpng clients to take an informed decision about the best adviser for them - once is becomes pure sales and marketing puff you are quite correct you lose the essence of professionalism. One point of concern is that I speak to several accountants each week who are clearly not charging enough. They may very well be great accountants but just do not have the bottle to bill what they are worth - I do not see that encouraging them to be brave will affect their professionalism.
As soon as marketing was not mentioned the alarm bells went off however you can separate sales and marketing from good quality tax and business advice. Clients in my experience are not stupid and even if they do not know when an accountant is not sharp being technically sharp, being technically sharp and thorough helps the sales process.
I disagree with you John. In my training I received a lot of input on start ups, cashflow forecasts budgets but absolutely zero training on sales, pricing and marketing. These are key to building a successful busines and significantly more important than the technical training I received.
Dear First Tab Thank you I totally agree with you that gaining trust is the most important first step. I have therefore amended the final paragraph removing the suggestion people get in touch with me althought personally I did not think it was selling. I wish you well and hope that one day you will be brave enough to reveal your identity so we can speak and possibly even go for a coffee. Alan
Dear First Tab
I am not sure why you consider I do not have a good track record but I had hoped that taking a financial services business from 3M to 9m turnover in a four year period building my first accountancy practice from scratch and taking it (in today's terms to 250K of turnover) when local firms went from typically 50-25 staff would help you reach a different conclusion. My linkedin recommendations are also quite persuasive.
However this is all irrelevant because had we followed your logic Liverpool would never have appointed Jurgen Klopp as their manager (he was not such a good footballer) ditto Porto and Jose Murinho - what is relevant is what difference I make to my mentoring clients. You can read my linkedin recommendations if you want to know the answer to that.
Also is it possible you could come out from behind the cloak of anonymity so we can assess your track record?
As regards whether people should spend money with me, if your audience do not want to spend money there is a lot of free material on my youtube channel and would appear that as there are 10K of views over the last year not everyone shares your view of my usefulness to the world.
Dear First Tab
To answer your questions:
1 I have retired from accountancy because I am adding more value to clients by being a mentor. For example a client said to me yesterday "I would have gone bust if it was not for you - now my prices are 30% higher and looking like turnover will go from 250K to well over 1m this year". It is unlikely i would have had the time to do that when i was an accountant as I was too busy dealing with compliance.
2. I did contact the people at sift and told them the sort of articles i was planning on writing - judging by the feedback I get on my seminars some people love the input.
How is your accountancy practice going btw?
Alan
wow that is power stuff. I would add that more clarity is needed that the IP will cease to act or the business post appointment and will start to act for the creditors. I would like to see Directors given an indication of post appointment claims pre appointment so they can make a decision about whether to put the company into liquidation. Also it is regretable that no legal aid is available for directors as it puts the balance too far in favour of the liquidator or insolvency service. For example many directors give in rather than face the risk of costs in a disqualification hearing. Alan