ConvergenceCoaching, LLC Inspired Ideas

Economic Recover Strategy: Track Your Sales Opportunities!

In this time of economic uncertainty, a critical recover strategy is getting a tighter handle on your engagement opportunities. By reigning in your firm’s sales process, you can apply the right resources, at the right time, to the right opportunities, and close more new business.

To begin managing your opportunities, start simple.  Set up a sales pipeline report to track each engagement opportunity in the firm, keeping track of the prospective client organization name as well as the contact name, telephone number, and e-mail address. In addition, you’ll want to track a brief description of each service and/or product that’s of interest and the source of each lead for tracking the effectiveness of marketing campaigns and for determining which marketing activities to favor.  If you don’t already have a contact management or CRM system in place, we have a great Excel template for you to start with – access it by clicking here.

As you’re setting up each opportunity, you will need to assign a probability that each engagement will close -- we use a simple A, B, or C probability rating in our firm.   An A opportunity is one that needs services we can fulfill, their budget is within our range, we’re talking to the decision maker and their timing to close is within the next 60 days.  B opportunities are 61-90 days out in terms of close date, or ones where we are still qualifying the need to ensure we’re a fit.  We rate opportunities a C if their timing is 91 days or more away or if we may not be a fit on service need or budget.  By rating your prospects, you’ll be able to prioritize and focus energies on those most likely to close in the near term.   

Each opportunity should also be assigned a single owner within your firm that is responsible for driving the engagement through the sales process and for updating the pipeline with the last date of contact, and the next follow-up action and date.  These dates provide firm leadership with the exact status of each opportunity and can help identify any technical or leadership resources needed to support the sales process and help project future service and/or product demand, to assist in capacity projections, too.  In this time where most firms have more resources than they have work, it’s critical to be able to project out the future capacity needs of the firm and the pipeline is a rare leading indicator of your firm’s upcoming performance.  Using it strategically can help you apply more marketing and sales resources to avert over-staffing issues and/or take necessary steps to reduce headcount if opportunities simply are not materializing or maturing as needed.

There has never been a more critical time to have solid information about your firm’s potential pipeline of new work – please start gathering this data in a sales pipeline report today! 

If you’re already using a sales pipeline report, we’d love to hear from you on what solution you’re using to track and manage it, how often you produce the report, who reviews it and any other wisdom you have to share with our readers.  And, if you are thinking about tracking your firm’s pipeline, we welcome your questions, too.  Post away!

Gratefully,

Jennifer Wilson

Happy 233rd Birthday, U.S.A.!

On Saturday, we’ll celebrate the 233^rd anniversary of the incorporation of our fine nation, the U.S.A.  The entrepreneurial spirit that has defined our nation was certainly in full glory when our founding fathers struck out on their own to found an independent entity where life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness were critical core values.

 

I thank God that I was born in this nation, where I am allowed  to pursue my goals, travel freely, marry the man of my choosing, worship openly, challenge norms, express my views, choose my leaders and live the American dream.  I give thanks for the amazing topography, beauty and bounty of this great nation.

 

I also thank the men and women of this nation who have dedicated themselves to a life of service for our country – whether in government, politics, community service, non-profits, public education and so many other noble professions that give strength and power to our nation’s infrastructure.

 

I especially thank the brave soldiers who serve, or have served, in our armed forces, including my father, mother, grandfather, uncles, cousins and many friends.  The sacrifice and courage of those who protect our nation and lend support to those in other countries who need it is staggering and humbles me as I compare my daily contributions to our nation’s commerce.

 

I am proud to be an American and to have the good fortune to celebrate yet another anniversary of our nation’s birth.  God bless you on this holiday weekend and God bless the U.S.A.!  Enjoy your favorite 4^th of July tradition.

 

Gratefully,

 

Jen

 

P.S. Please note that ConvergenceCoaching will be closed on Friday, July 3^rd to celebrate the holiday with our families. For some fun facts about the 4^th of July and our nation, visit the U.S. Census Newsroom by clicking here.  Feel free to post a comment on our blog about your favorite 4^th of July tradition!

“Wow” Your Clients – Ask Them for Feedback!

Many firms we know are renewing their commitment to quality and exceptional client service in 2009.  It’s not that they haven’t been committed to it in the past, but candidly, with the abundance of work and shortage of staff we’ve experienced in recent years, most of us have not gone above and beyond to deliver exceptional service and increase the value we can offer our clients. Now, during this uncertain economy as we take an honest inventory of many aspects of our firms, we find that there is an opportunity to enhance our client service – and our value to clients – to a whole new level!

 

How do you “wow” your clients?  Start by asking them.  Whether you conduct a full-blown client survey using an online tool like Zoomerang or Survey Monkey or you conduct a face-to-face survey to a select sub-set of clients, you’ll find that asking your clients a few questions about their business, personal goals, and concerns will reap many benefits for your firm when you follow up on the information they provide.  Touching base with your clients, formally or informally, will help you increase your value to your clients simply because you’re being proactive.  According to a recent survey by CPA News, “CPA clients want their CPA firm to:

1. Take an active interest in their client’s business.
2. Suggest other ways the CPA can assist the client.”

 

If you aren’t proactively asking your clients about their goals and objectives, concerns, and what’s keeping them up at night, you won’t know how you can help them achieve their objectives or solve their problems.  In addition, when you check in with your clients, you can determine if there are any gaps in your level of service that you need to resolve or if your client is referenceable.  Lastly, you will often identify new service opportunities you can provide your existing clients.

 

Consider the following questions adapted from the article, “Top Ten Client Feedback Questions” and how you can use them to learn more about your clients:  

•        What was the greatest benefit you derived from the service(s) our firm provided?

•        What would you like to see more of when you work with our firm?

•        How could I improve my service/how could our team improve our level of service?

•        Is there anything you would like to see me or our firm stop doing?

•        Is there anything you didn’t get from my or our service that you were looking for?

•        Has my staff treated you with care, attention, and courteousness?

•        Is there an issue that I have not spent enough time on for you?

•        Am I providing all that you need?

•        Where have we been less than proactive in addressing your concerns?

•        Is our billing clear?  Are you getting value for your money?

 

You can use these questions, and add some of your own, to solicit feedback from your clients and find out how you can better serve them.  You can survey your clients at the end of each engagement, while meeting with them for a meal to “check in,” or by using a formal client satisfaction survey that also uncovers new service opportunities.  For a sample survey template you can customize and weave in some of the suggested questions above, click here.

 

If you are truly interested in your clients’ feedback, clearly identify how and who will obtain it.  When we conduct client surveys for our clients, we help set clear expectations about how each survey owner should report back their findings, how to centralize the feedback so that one person captures it all and when meet to review it as a group so you can make decisions about appropriate follow up and next steps. 

 

A word of caution: if you ask for feedback from your clients, be sure you take it!  Use it to decide what changes you can make or actions you can take, such as addressing individual behavioral changes, providing training, improving the documentation of processes, or enhancing communication between you and your client.  Be sure to thank your client for the feedback, too, and let them know what you’ll do with it – or why you can’t in certain situations.

 

The “slower” summer months are a perfect time to “wow” your clients and proactively reach out to them to understand how you can enhance your value to them and provide exceptional client service.  What can you commit to do to learn more about your clients and increase the value you provide to them? When do you survey, and what are your favorite questions?  Please post a comment to share how you will proactively solicit feedback from your clients and then let us know the outcome!  We know you’ll be glad you did – and so will your clients!

 

Warmly,

 

Tamera

Marketing Strategies to Drive Your Firm’s Growth – Promotion

This week, we wrap-up our five week series of posts on Marketing Strategies to Drive Your Firm’s Growth with the fifth P - Promotion.  Too often, firms jump right into marketing promotion without first defining the other four P’s (Positioning, Product and Service Mix, Pricing, and Place) in their marketing strategy.  Unfortunately, when you start your marketing planning with this last “P” – Promotion – your firm will not realize the results that are possible from your marketing investments.  However, once the first four P’s are defined, you’ll be ready to develop your firm’s promotional plan, leveraging your firm’s “story” and competitive differentiators so that you can effectively target your marketing activities.

 

Your Firm’s Story

Your firm’s brand identity – or how your partners, staff, and products and services are viewed in the marketplace is much more than your logo, tagline, and colors, which are simply the physical manifestations that signify your brand to others.  You have truly defined your brand in its entirety when you have written your firm’s “story.” Your firm’s story should address the following:

• Who are you?
• Why are you different?
• Who do you serve?
• How do you deliver solutions?
• What solutions do you offer?
• Why would a client choose to work with you?
• What difference will you make for me?
• How do I reach you?

 

In the promotion step, you will simply put all the preparation you have already done in the first four steps together to create your firm’s story to target your ideal client base. Once you have written your firm’s story, you can then drill down and create “mini stories” for your key niche initiatives, products, and services that you want to promote independently, using a similar format. You can view a sample firm story by clicking here.

 

Promotional Plan

Once your story is developed, you can then develop a promotional plan that includes a combination of branding and lead generation activities.  First, weave your story into your firm’s various marketing materials, including your letterhead, business cards, newsletters, web site, brochures, and proposals.

 

We also recommend that you weave your story into your verbal communications.  Craft an elevator pitch, which is a shortened and succinct version (one or two sentences at most) of your story to support you in conveying who you serve and what benefits or outcomes you help clients achieve.  Then, prepare some additional supporting points to expand on your elevator pitch when people ask to hear more about what you do and how you do it.

 

Next, consider specific branding and lead generation activities such as direct mail, teleprospecting, surveys, advertising, sponsorships, public relations, networking, alliance development, conferences and trade shows, live or web seminars, client roundtables, and more.

Remember the key rule of marketing as you are writing copy for your promotions: include a clearly stated benefit for your target prospect or client when they engage you for the service you are promoting.  This benefit statement is sometimes called WIIFM, or “what’s in it for me?”  By answering your audience’s question, “so what?” or “why do I care about what you are saying to me?” in your promotional materials, your marketing message is much more likely to produce real results.

 

A diversified plan that includes a balanced blend of both branding and lead generation activities occurring throughout the year will produce the best results.  Be sure that you are investing in marketing activities that speak to your four main audiences - your internal leaders and staff, existing clients, prospective clients, and referral sources. Your promotional materials should consistently brand your firm with your logo and colors, other key graphics, and your tagline if appropriate. 

 

Be sure to track your activities in a marketing calendar to easily see what you have planned, the timing of each, who in your firm owns the activity, and what resources you will need.  You can also use your marketing calendar to measure the outcome of your activities and make changes to the plan as needed to focus your firm’s future resources on those promotional activities that produce the best results.

 

When you build your firm’s marketing plan around the Five P’s in the proper order, your chosen promotional activities will support your marketing and firm strategies instead of “accidentally” creating a marketing plan based on outcomes from “haphazard” activities as Jennifer Wilson said in her first post on this series.  Undertake the steps outlined in our series of blog posts on the Five P’s and start experiencing the benefits of a well-thought out marketing approach that will produce the “right” kind of business for your firm.

 

Reminder: For a step-by-step methodology to achieve practice growth, check out our self-study video course developed with the AICPA, Marketing: Successful Strategies for CPA Firms. Friends of ConvergenceCoaching can receive a 20% discount when you use code SGH by August 15.  Visit www.cpa2biz.com for more information.

 

Warm Regards,

 

Michelle

Marketing Strategies to Drive Your Firm’s Growth – Place

We started our series of posts on the 5 P’s of Marketing three weeks ago with Jennifer Wilson’s post on Positioning.  Then, Krista Remer introduced us to the next two P’s, Product/Service Mix and Pricing.  In her post on Product/Service Mix, Krista introduced strategies for identifying your “front-burner” products and/or services. Once you’ve identified your firm’s front-burner products and/or services, your next step is to identify – or reconfirm – the “place” you will sell your products and services by defining the ideal target client for each product or service that your firm decides to put on the “front burner.”

 

Begin by describing the ideal client for your product or service in as much detail as you can. Include characteristics like size (by revenue, number of employees or personal wealth), industry, age, cultural background and any other characteristics that will would help you, your team members and referral sources identify them as a potential client.  A good exercise to help you gain clarity around your target market is conducting a current client analysis.  Reflect on which clients in each service area you consider to be the “ideal” and what defines them as they are likely to be the type of clients you want to attract.  Some people resist defining their ideal target client because they’re afraid they’ll miss out on opportunities.  But, the benefits of doing so include ensuring that you have profitable clients your team enjoys working with and that are a good fit given your firm’s culture and specialty areas. 

 

Once you have a clear description of your ideal target client by product or service line, you’ll also want to consider where you will find them.  Start by looking within your existing client base because you may find that some are ideal targets for additional products or services your firm offers, which would allow you to provide your clients additional value.  Examine what trade publications your ideal target client might read, conferences they might attend and associations to which they may belong so that you can consider advertising or writing for those publications, attending the same events and joining associations where you will find them.  In addition, consider creating a short profile and script of key questions for your staff to use to identify potential clients.  Be sure to include who your staff should go to with possible prospects for each of your firm’s products or services to further qualify the opportunity.

 

The more specific information you have about the characteristics of your ideal target clients, the easier it will be for you to reach those ideal targets with your marketing messages. A clear and detailed definition of your target clients for each of your firm’s initiatives will simplify the process of buying lists, choosing which trade conferences to attend or sponsor, identifying publications in which to advertise or place articles and making other key marketing decisions on the activities you should undertake (which we’ll explore further in our next blog on promotion).

 

Once you’ve defined your ideal target client for each service and product and where you will find them, the next step is to carry out your promotional activities. Next week we’ll wrap up our series on Marketing Strategies to Drive Your Firm’s Growth with a post on the fifth P, Promotion, where we’ll discuss the activities to implement your marketing strategy.

 

Do you have a clear picture of what your ideal target client looks like?  Does your staff? Are you afraid to define your ideal target client because you don’t want to exclude potential clients?  Please post a comment to share how you define your ideal target clients and educate your team on how to identify them! 

 

Warm Regards,

 

Michelle

Marketing Strategies to Drive Your Firm’s Growth – Pricing

For the past two weeks, we have been sharing the steps to strategically market your firm - starting first with the definition of your firm’s positioning and then your product and service mix.  Now it’s time to discuss your strategy for pricing the products and services you will market.

 

Pricing is often one of the first questions you are asked from a prospect as it’s a quantifiable differentiator if they are considering other firms, and they can easily determine if their budget is a match for your services without a lot of additional research.  That certainly doesn’t mean that you should strive to be the least expensive in your market.  Instead, your pricing strategy should consider - and be in line with - the differentiators, core competencies, and market positioning you have defined for your firm (see our previous blog on this subject).  

 

Rather than simply adding a certain percentage or dollar amount to increase your fees each year (which is a common scenario we see), how you price your products and services deserves serious consideration in your marketing planning.  Two common strategies include:

 

•        Cost-plus pricing.  This method is the traditional CPA firm method where you establish fees based upon the actual cost you incur to deliver the product or service.  To do so, you take a multiple of each staff person’s estimated cost, and then price engagements based upon the number of hours you believe the job will take.  In firms with IT practices, pricing for software might be based on a mark-up of your cost to purchase the product.  Before you reaffirm cost-plus pricing as the right pricing strategy for you, you should also consider the impact that the shortage of qualified accounting staff and increase in compliance, regulation, and complexity have on rates.  Our readers from CPA firms could get a better understanding of what other firms your size in your geography are charging by exploring benchmark surveys like the AICPA PCPS MAP Survey (www.aicpa.org/pcps).  After reviewing the MAP Survey data for our “cost-plus” clients, we’ve discovered that, in many instances, they have room to increase their fees - so you may, too!

•        Value-based pricing.  Value-based pricing is essentially pricing your products or services based upon the perceived or projected value of the product or service and the difference it will make for your client.  This method of pricing is different from the strategy above in that the price you set is not tied to your cost to deliver the service or produce a product, but instead on the value your client receives.  When you are trying to determine the value, consider factors such as what your client will save as a result of the service, what they will gain when they use it, and also the availability of that particular product or service in your market.  To learn more about value-based pricing and decide if it’s the right strategy for you, read any number of Ron Baker’s books including Pricing On Purpose and his Trashing the Timesheet booklet.

 

When you talk about pricing, you also need to consider packaging.  Most CPA and IT firms sell their services individually, but you might also explore offering a number of like services together as a package or bundle.  For example, you may be able to package some of your most frequently used small business services – tax planning, tax filing, bookkeeping, payroll processing, and financial statement preparation - together as a Small Business Services Package and price the services together as a bundle, billed monthly, versus individually. 

 

Be sure to publish a rate sheet to make your pricing consistent among all who sell products and services for your firm to minimize confusion and inconsistency and maximize your firm’s profitability. Further, consider implementing a pricing policy that requires those who wish to make exceptions to the firm’s pricing strategy to get concurring support from their department head or the Managing Partner.

 

Whatever pricing and packaging strategies you employ, start by determining your firm’s intended market positioning so you can ensure that your pricing fits into that positioning.  Share the strategy with your team so all are on the same page when selling your firm’s services.  Then, as you market based on this strategy, the factors that set your firm apart and the difference you make will be at the forefront for your prospects, too.

 

What pricing strategy does your firm employ?  What are the benefits and/or challenges you encounter with your chosen strategy?  Please post a comment to add to this discussion! 

 

Warmly,

 

Krista   

Marketing Strategies to Drive Your Firm’s Growth – Product/Service Mix

In last week’s blog, Jennifer Wilson shared the first – and often forgotten - step to strategically market your firm – positioning.  Positioning your firm ensures that your leadership team agrees upon how you want to be thought of and remembered in your market and is unified around your firm’s mission, vision, values, core competencies, competitive differentiators, and market positioning. 

The next step in marketing your firm strategically is to assess and redefine (or reaffirm) your firm’s product and service offerings and identify the priority in which you will market them.

Many times, firms are content to simply offer products and services that they’ve offered for years – and often a few that clients have asked them to deliver or those that were the “pet project” of a particular partner in the firm.  Unfortunately, this can result in a long list of services that may or may not be profitable and/or strategic to your firm.  Instead, it is important to regularly evaluate the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats for all of your firm’s products and services (and those you are considering) by conducting a SWOT analysis on them every year.  Download a SWOT template from our web site by clicking here to facilitate this analysis with your leadership team.

When examining each product and service initiative, consider the following elements and determine if they are strengths or weaknesses:

•      Revenue and profitability of the service

•      Number of staff who can sell and deliver that product or service

•      Number of new clients you have added this year

•      Ratio of new business to existing business

•      Number of satisfied clients who are using the service

•      Efficiency and quality of your processes and technology in this area

If you are debating about whether an attribute is a strength or a weakness - as it may appear to have “some of each” - it belongs in the weakness column because it has a degree of weakness.

Opportunities to list on your SWOTs may be a growing market inside and/or outside your existing client base, a competitor that is not as focused in this service area, or an employee with background that can be applied.  Threats to consider may be an extensive list of competitors with good market presence, the economy, or activities occurring within your community or the profession that may make selling or delivering the product or service difficult.

Once you’ve conducted honest SWOT analyses for each initiative, refine the list by considering which should be placed on your firm’s marketing “front burner” (not very many!) and which should be placed on the “back burner” for the time being.  Those to invest in now will likely have a long list of strengths and opportunities in comparison to their weaknesses and threats.  I like to conduct the (not very scientific) squint test on a completed SWOT.  If the page looks to be weighted heavily right (where the weaknesses and threats reside) when you squint your eyes at it, that service line is an investment area that will take a considerable effort to make successful; if the page looks heavy on the left, you have a lot to work with!

Conducting this exercise each year in your strategic planning process will help you prioritize your marketing dollars and activities and choose to market and invest in the products and services that have the best chance for success.

Are you diligent about assessing your firm’s product and service mix each year?  What tools or reports do you use to facilitate the decision to front-burner or back-burner certain services?  Who makes the decision?  Please post a comment to share your ideas and get feedback from our readers!

Warmly,

Krista   

Marketing Strategies To Drive Your Firm’s Growth

This May, all of our CPA and IT firm clients are returning to the basics of business development and “firing up” their marketing and sales engines to ensure that they have enough work to weather this economic downturn.  Unfortunately, our anxious desire to jump in and “do something” often leads to failed activities and a negative perception about the firm’s ability to truly to a good job in this area. 

To help you be more strategic about your firm’s marketing and sales investments and ensure they make the impact you need, examine your firm’s approach to the Five P’s of Marketing that include:

•      Positioning – defining how you want to be thought of and remembered in your market

•      Product/service mix – assessing and reaffirming your firm’s product/service offerings and identifying the priority in which you will market them

•      Place – defining your firm’s ideal target client for each product/service and identifying the “place” where you will most easily find them

•      Pricing – gaining agreement on how you want to be price positioned for each product/service you offer as a firm

•      Promotion – developing a calendar of all of the firm-wide and individual branding and lead generation activities you and your people will undertake in the coming year

In this blog, we’ll explore these elements over the next month or so to help you as you ensure your firm’s plans pack maximum punch.  Today, we’ll look at the best way to develop or refine your firm’s positioning. 

Positioning

When you create or refine your firm’s positioning, you define the very essence of your firm, including the following elements:

·       Mission – why your firm exists and the difference it makes for others

·       Vision – your leadership team’s “dream” for the future of your firm.  Your vision should be a stretch for your firm and exciting and challenging to consider.  Your vision includes the size you want to be, the services you’d like to offer and how you envision your firm three to five years from now  

·       Values – sometimes called your guiding principles, your values are your firm’s most important ideals and are things for which you’re willing to be held accountable

·       Core competencies – these are your firm’s genuine strengths, areas of specialty or expert ability and the things for which you are known

·       Competitive differentiators – differentiators are value-based advantages that set you apart from other firms and cause prospective clients and employees to choose you over others

·       Market positioning -- Based upon your firm’s competitive landscape and core competencies, your leadership team must determine the best positioning – whether you want to be known as the “low-cost leader” (Wal-mart’s strategy), the “high-value provider” (Nordstrom model), a niche or specialty player or something else that is unique and allows people to know where to place you in their field of options

Defining your firm’s positioning has to be done before undertaking any marketing activities.  Without clarity, your clients, prospects, team members and prospective employees will be “fuzzy” about what you stand for, where you’re headed, what they can expect when they work with you or why you’re different, which can lead to a desire to work with someone else whose positioning is clear and compelling.

Gaining clarity around your positioning will also unify your team and drive it forward.   Because of its importance, developing your firm’s positioning is not a task to be delegated to a marketing professional; it is one that must include the active participation and buy-in of all of your firm’s leaders.

When you build your firm’s marketing plan around the Five P’s, starting with your firm’s positioning, your promotional activities will have the best chance of success and, when they generate opportunities, they will support your strategy instead of “accidentally” creating it. 

For a step-by-step methodology to achieve practice growth, check out our self-study video course developed with the AICPA, Marketing: Successful Strategies for CPA Firms. Friends of ConvergenceCoaching can receive a 15% discount when you use code SGH by August 15.  Visit www.cpa2biz.com for more information.

Watch future blog posts for an exploration of the other P’s.  In the meantime, what have you done to position your firm?  Do you have samples of your firm’s mission, vision, values, differentiation statements or other positioning elements that you’re willing to share?  Post links!

Gratefully,

Jen

Living In The Now

Lately, I've noticed myself juggling three very interesting and exciting work projects.  I've been feeling pulled by these cross purposes because when I am working on Project A, I'll get a call on Project B and shift my focus.  Then, when I am thinking about Project B, something new turns up on Project C and so on, which leaves me not fulfilling completely on any of the three projects, a bit overwhelmed and definitely not present to the difference I’m making. 

 

I want to change this cycle and start living in the present moment so I can be more effective with all three projects.  I know we each experience this phenomenon at some point, so I am writing this blog to share how you can live in the present and be more effective in your commitments.

 

Several years ago, I attended a seminar with Dr. Gerald Jampolsky, a psychiatrist who specializes in work with terminally ill children.  One of his basic principles for healing is the statement, "Now is the only time there ever is.”  He emphasizes the importance of being present in the moment wherever you are, with whomever you are with, and keeping your focus on what is right in front of you.  He listens to the dreams of children who are suffering. He encourages their creative thoughts and activities regardless of the stage of their illness.  He is able to witness many magical moments, some of which include spontaneous healing.  The children tell beautiful stories, write poems, do artwork, and find many other ways to express their feelings.  Staying in the present helps them avoid the anxiety that stems from fear of an unknown future.  It also prevents the feelings of guilt, anger, and sadness that sometimes can take over when we’re locked in the past with regret. When we live in the present, we are better able to accomplish our commitments.  You can do this by:

 

1. Remembering that you can say "No." Taking on too much makes success less likely in all areas.
2. Making a decision about where to focus your energy.  What project will you work  on first?  Determine the priority and timing for each commitment and start with highest priority things first.
3. Committing time, resources, and attention to your chosen work.  Plan your work and work your plan.
4. Having a clear expectation of the desired outcome. Define the result you’re committed to producing for each commitment so you’ll know when you’ve achieved it – and others will, too!

 

Now, as I approach my work, I begin with feelings of gratitude to have these three dynamic work opportunities.  Each project allows me to learn, grow, and give back to the universe the good that has flowed so abundantly to me.  I also get to make a difference in the businesses and personal lives of my clients.  When I shift my attention and focus completely to the work at hand, time is not a concern.  I give what is needed in the moment.  I decide how much I can do, the necessary tools, and the process that is most efficient for getting the desired result, and then I get it done.

 

I keep reminding myself that, "Now is the only time there ever is."  To paraphrase from the movie Kung Fu Panda, “The past is history.  Tomorrow is a mystery.  Today is a gift.  That's why we call it the present.”

 

What can you do to live fully in the present right now?  Where is your focus?  Post a reply to share how you stay focused on the present and fulfill on your chosen work.

 

Warmly,

 

Sylvia Lane

Network While the Sun Shines!

As we enter the summer season of “making hay,” we’re receiving a lot of requests and having many discussions with firms across the country about their renewed commitment to business development.  It made me think of the importance of the activities I highlighted in my January 28, 2009 post, Must Do Busy Season Marketing Activities, and specifically on the need to broaden your team members’ involvement in personal networking.

As Brian Tracy, a best-selling author said, “Get around the right people. Associate with positive, goal-oriented people who encourage and inspire you.” Expanding your network of potential influencers and creating quality relationships are a few of the many benefits of networking.  If you’re like most professional service firms, your practice relies heavily on referrals and word-of-mouth marketing.  Because of that, networking and referral relationship development are critical to your success.

So, how are you doing in your networking activities? Do you have regular networking activities on your calendar on a monthly (even weekly!) basis?  Are you teaching others in your firm to network?

Consider a few networking “must-dos” that will help you smooth out the peaks and valleys in your revenue stream:

•      Get involved – Find an organization to which you can commit – or recommit – to actively participate.  Make sure it’s one that you’re inspired by and where you can build quality relationships and referral sources.  If you’ve been involved in an organization or group for awhile, identify a new leadership role you could take on or evaluate whether you should join another organization or association to augment your current networking activities.  

•      Participate in online networking activities – At a minimum, join LinkedIn! Yes, we consider online social networking technologies, like LinkedIn, Plaxo, and Facebook, to be worthwhile networking investments (see my partner Jennifer Wilson’s post on Social (On-line) Networking – It's For Real! from September 23, 2008). You’ll be amazed at how many people you know, and more importantly, want to know, who are out on LinkedIn waiting to connect with you.  You can begin by connecting with me and Jennifer at www.linkedin.com/tameraloerzel or www.linkedin.com/in/jenniferwilsonprofile.  Then, “vampire” off of our connections to see how many of those we know are your colleagues or potential business resources and connect with them, too.

•      Integrate your contacts into your other firm marketing activities – Add the people you meet through your networking activities to your firm’s database so they receive your newsletter, seminar or training event invitations, and other marketing communications. Doing so will keep them informed about what is happening with your firm and keep you top of mind between meetings.

•      Ask for referrals – You network to uncover new business opportunities and so do the people you meet at the networking events you attend. Don’t be shy about this. Find out what their objective is, what kinds of clients they are looking for, and what problems they can solve and the value they provide to clients.  Then share this same information about you and your firm and explain your ideal client profile and firm products and services to them. Ask who they know that could benefit from your products or services and offer up any ideas for how knowing you could be of benefit to them.  Your goal is to create a win-win relationship with each referral partner so that you can increase your value to your existing clients by making appropriate referrals and develop new client business for your firm.  

•      Mentor others – Teach others in your firm the art of personal networking. Take at least one “up-and-comer” with you to each of the networking activities you attend.  Share your goal or objective for each networking activity with them and the background about the organization.  Don’t assume that they know networking basics and teach them to bring their business cards, practice their firm elevator pitch, practice their hand shake and making eye contact, and create their own personal intention for their networking activities.  Also, encourage them to “shop around” and join networking organizations where they feel comfortable and that inspire them; if they aren’t truly interested in their networking organizations, they won’t participate meaningfully.

Networking is a long-term marketing strategy that could generate short-tem results when you actively participate. A referral occurs as soon as there is a need, so you want to be sure that you’re top of mind when those you network with have that need, and the only way to be top of mind is to be present and participating.  

Commit – or recommit – to your personal networking plan and enroll others in your firm in doing the same.  One way to do so is to attend our web seminar on networking on June 9^th.  Invite others in your firm to join you and refocus on networking so you each can do your part to brand your firm, develop referral relationships, and create a steady flow of new opportunities. 

What action will you take to focus – or refocus – on personal networking? Post a comment to share your commitment with others and learn what they are doing in the area of networking, too.

Warm Regards,

Tamera