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We talk about businesses being teams, but it’s rare that I meet an owner of a CPA business who really trusts every member of his or her “team” to do what they should do, all the time, whether the “boss” is in the office or not.
Sports teams can’t work that way. When the members of any athletic team are focusing on their individual tasks, they have to trust that their teammates will do their jobs, too. If the pitcher is busy supervising the outfielders, he can’t do his job. In order to be able...
•What Does Your CPA Practice Have in Common With McDonald’s?
An important criterion for success as the owner/operator of a CPA practice is to see your practice as made up of systems. Like McDonald’s, like any business, an accounting practice has to manage, efficiently and consistently, a number of tasks. As the owner/founder, it’s your job to make sure systems are in place to do that, for the sake of you, your employees, and your clients.
You need systems to be able to deliver your accounting and tax services in a predictable and consistent way. All...
•Transforming Your CPA Practice With a Vision Statement: Moving From Dream to Reality
An essential step toward success in your CPA practice is to have a clear vision. CPA practitioners need to be dreamers to become successful. They should have the ability to dream big and envision in their mind the desired end result. The end result is some time in the future. It could be 3 years, 5 years, 10 years down the road.
You begin to develop your vision by asking yourself some crucial questions:
•What is the big picture for your practice? Think of your practice as a product. What does...
•Don’t Have Enough Time to Market Your Accounting Practice? Here’s How to Make Time!
In my work as a consultant helping other CPAs to market their CPA firms, one objection I hear often is “But Salim, I just barely have enough time to do the work to deliver my services to my clients. I simply can’t spare a lot of time to think about marketing.”
My first answer is that if you want to grow your CPA practice, you don’t have any choice: you simply must make time for your CPA firm marketing.
My second answer is that I know you’re busy. But, as we all know, having time for...
•Amazing But True Testimonials - The Cornerstone of Marketing Your Accounting Firm
Testimonials are one of my favorite low-cost but high-impact tools to grow my CPA practice. Getting testimonials from happy clients is an important thing to do and creates a powerful tool for marketing your accounting firm. They create believability, credibility, and a sense of security for your prospects. They help to break down the natural barriers and distrust that skeptical prospects may have towards you or your CPA practice at the onset. If you watch any infomercial, you will see that they...
•Most CPA Practice Websites Suck! How to Create One That Grows Your CPA Firm
Most accounting practice websites suck. They’re passive. They say, “Here we are. We exist and we offer services, just like every other CPA.” This does nothing to differentiate your practice from your competitors, or to magnetically draw clients. But done right, your website can serve as a powerful tool to differentiate yourself and grow your CPA firm.
Before I share with you my formula to create an effective website, there are at least two reasons why you would want a website: first, just...
•Grow Your CPA Firm Using Killer Marketing Materials
Truth be told, you don’t have to be an award winning copywriter to create effective marketing materials for your CPA practice. I found out a number of years back that even the “pros” use templates to create ads and sales letters that get results.
Before I share my template, it is important to first understand some of the objections that may be going on in the mind of the prospect whenever they see your advertising. You will want to make sure the marketing piece you create overcomes these...
•Good Things Come In Packages: How To Leverage Package Deals And Cross Sell Services To Grow Your CPA Practice
When it comes to selling things, the human tendency to package can make life easier. When you’re marketing yourself and trying to sign on new clients, you’ll want to take full advantage of aspect of human psychology. Bundle services together and suddenly a new client will be bringing you as much business as two or three clients in the past.
When it comes to buying things, packages are attractive because they seem to simplify the client’s life. If an insurance company offers me a package deal...
•Newsletters Can Build Your CPA Business: Send One Your Clients Will Actually Read
With the ease and low cost of electronic communication, some CPA practitioners question the value of continuing to send paper newsletters. Paper newsletters serve some functions that electronic communications can’t, and that makes them valuable as a way to grow your CPA practice.
A customized newsletter that is sent to all your clients and prospects can be a very powerful tool to increase client retention, cross sell other services and obtain referrals. They still prefer paper to electronic...
•Focusing Like a Laser Beam on the RIGHT Target Market For Your CPA Practice: Marketing Step One
Most CPAs don’t have a strong enough foundation on the subject of marketing. Even in college, we focus a lot on accounting theory and hardly learn anything about real world marketing, despite the fact that many CPAs will be, effectively, small business owners running their own practices. If you’re like most CPAs and haven’t spent much time thinking about marketing, let’s start with fundamentals.
I think of marketing as the 3 M’s:
1. Market
2. Message
3. Media
Market first, message second and...
•Why CPAs Must Keep in Touch With Clients and How
As the owner of an accounting business, you know that finding clients is an important task, but retaining those clients—especially once you’ve started to tap your ideal market—is just as important.
You can have the best marketing system in the world bringing in new clients but if you don’t have a client retention system in place, you will not have much growth.
Client retention can be challenging: if you knew a problem was developing, you would fix it. So by definition, when you lose a client,...
•Is Your Business Engaging in Poor Marketing Strategies?
It is so easy for a business owner to get caught up in the daily operations of their business. The inventory ordering, order processing, data input, putting out fires and more, can become all consuming. Then, one day you look up and wonder what happened to the business. If you fail to consistently market your business’s products and services, you will be out of business before you know it.
Even if you have a strong customer base that produces re-orders for your business regularly, there is a...
•Have You Made the Mistake of Delegating the Financial Responsibility of Your Business?
Many business owners make the mistake of delegating ownership of their financial matters completely to another party. While it is important to engage the professional assistance of CPA’s and internal CFO’s to manage and oversee the financial affairs of your business, it is still crucial to take full ownership of them. Even if you hire someone to handle your accounting and bookkeeping there are still things you, as the business owner, should not totally surrender responsibility for.
The...
•How Effective Are Small Business Owners at Utilizing Their Time?
The main reason I have found why so many small businesses do not perform to their appropriate level is because the owner does not properly use his or her time; that is, they don't prioritize which of their efforts create their best results so that they know where to focus their time. Without knowing who your best customers or clients are or what the best use of your time is, you inevitably waste time on things that don't produce desired results.
Let me give you an example. Say you want to earn...
•Is Cash Really “King” in Small Business?
Although cash is critical, most small business owners put emphasis on profits instead of cash flow. The dot-com bust is a painful reminder that profitability does matter – but that “cash is king”. I’ll even go one step further – managing cash flow is THE most important financial measure in any business. Knowing how much cash is coming in versus the amount required to go out, not only helps you understand what amount can be re-invested into the business, but can also determine whether a company...
•Do You Pay Yourself First?
Small business owners need to put something aside from every check they receive in order to save for their futures. I call it “Pay Yourself First” and it is one of the cardinal rules of running your own business. Yes, I know, you have a lot of bills. Join the club. But before you pay any bill, take any trip, or buy any car, you need to pay yourself first, every month.
The rule to consider is that 10% of your net income (or 1% of your gross income) should go towards financial investments for...
•Do You Seek the Right Kind of Advice For Your Small Business?
Do you have professionals providing your business with quality advice? In business, you should surround yourself with a variety of professionals including a lawyer, a CPA and a business advisor. One of the most important professionals that touches your business’s heart, its cash flow and profitability, is your CPA. Yet, many businesses don’t put a great deal of time or effort into choosing their CPA.
The CPA firm that you choose for your business should be the best that you can afford. That...
•Do You Know What the Key Financial Indicators Are in Your Business?
Most accountants will only keep track of historical numbers like gross sales, gross margins and net profits. While these can be useful, there are other equally or more important numbers that should be kept track of that most “old school” accountants are not aware of. You cannot improve factors that you cannot measure within your business.
The sad fact is most business owners have no idea what their numbers are. And that means there’s no good reason they should expect their business to improve...
•Are Your Business Overhead Expenses Out of Control?
Businesses are always searching for ideas and concepts to generate profit. Some of these concepts include increasing sales, while others include decreasing overhead. No matter which way you look at it, the name of the game is to generate positive net profit numbers as well as positive cash flow.
There are three ways to make more money in your business:
1) Sell more products and services
2) Raise your prices
3) Reduce your overhead
Businesses that underperform from a financial perspective...
•Could Your Business Be Paying More Taxes?
Income taxes are the single largest expense that a small business owner will encounter. This amount is often larger than their home or the cost of getting their kids through college. It is apparent to me that one can never build any real wealth without first getting their income taxes under control.
I am often amazed at the number of business owners looking for ways to reduce expenses. I have seen time and time again many small business owners spending hours fighting over a $200 charge by...
•Are You Under Pricing Your Products and Services?
Pricing is critical to the success of any business. In fact, many books and articles have been written solely on the subject of pricing. Far too many small businesses have thinner profit margins than larger companies because they tend to under price their products or services.
If you sell a product a low price, your company may not be able to cover all its costs or you might be leaving potential profits “on the table”. If the price is too high, there may not be any sales or enough sales to...
•The Top 10 Bookkeeping Mistakes Made by Small Businesses
Keeping accurate records for your business is a crucial task. But, many business owners fail to take the necessary steps to ensure that this task is completed properly. Bookkeeping is essential for ongoing record keeping, legal protection and accurate tax filing. By understanding what the most common bookkeeping mistakes are, your small business can work to avoid them.
Here are the 10 most common small business bookkeeping mistakes:
1. Poor Receipt Record Keeping- Many businesses keep...
•Top 10 Small Business Start Up Mistakes
Millions of people each year start up small businesses around the world. And, the vast majority of them will encounter challenges along the way. By learning what the most common mistakes made by new small business owners, you can work to avoid them as you establish your own small business.
Here are the top 10 small business start up mistakes to avoid:
1. Lack of Market Research- Before you start a new business, be sure that you complete a thorough market analysis of the industry, the local...
•13 Items to Address When Hiring an Employee
While many companies seek to hire new employees every day, many do not take the proper steps to protect themselves and their businesses. Employers need to become familiar with the hiring process, the required documents for their area and any associated taxes required to be withheld or paid by the business or the employee.
To learn more about hiring employees, review this list of 13 items that must be addressed:
1. Employer Identification Number (EIN)- Each new hire must be associated with an...
•Donating Cars to Charity - Beware of New Tax Rules
It was on June 3, 2005 that the IRS released guidelines on donated vehicles as charitable contributions. This came after the American Jobs Creation Act (AJCA) radically changed how much of a deduction taxpayers can claim when they donate a car to a charity. For those wishing to donate a car, it is important to know the basics in order to ensure a proper tax deduction.
Fair market value vs. actual sales price
Initially, taxpayers were able to deduct the fair market value of a vehicle that they...
•Your Business Plan is Your Roadmap to Success
It seems like a cliché, but running a business is not unlike running a football team. If you think about all the things that a football team needs to be successful at during a game, the playbook is one of the most important items. For a business, the strategic business plan is like the playbook. That strategic plan helps the business chart out what it is going to do during a specified period of time. Unlike a playbook however, a strategic business plan is itself the play that the business will...
•What Every Small Business Owner Should Know About Record Retention
If you are like most small business owners, understanding which records to keep and which are okay to throw out with regards to your business records can be challenging. Business record retention is important for several reasons including: future business sale, succession planning and for potential tax audits. While you can never predict future events, it is certainly best to be prepared. Even if you have a bookkeeper or CPA for your business, it is still important and recommended to keep...
•Retirement Plans For Small Business Owners
While every small business owner would like to believe that they will sell their business at retirement, this is in reality not the case for most. In fact, a very small majority of small business owner are able to sell their businesses at retirement. This means that a small business owner will need to take their retirement future into their own hands by establishing and saving into retirement plans.
But, with several options to consider, many small business owners find the proposition of self...
•Succession Planning - Do You Need It?
One of the most common questions I receive as a small business advisor is how to properly prepare your business for succession. Succession planning refers to planning to hand off your business to another party. Common reasons for succession planning can include a business sale, a business partner divorce, premature death, premature disability and retirement. Understanding the importance of succession planning and how to properly implement the strategy will help to protect both your business and...
•Bank Charges: You Might be Surprised
A lot of people do not request a fee schedule from their bank because they believe that they already know what types of fees the bank can charge to them. They know their monthly service charge is, that ATM fees exist at other machines, and they know the amount of the charge if they overdraw their bank account. That's all they need to know, right? Actually, that is not all they need to know. All of us should be aware of the charges the bank can slip in without informing the customers. That is...
•Credit Scores Are Vital to Your Financial Health
A credit score is a number that serves as a guide for lenders when making the decision of whether or not to extend credit out to an individual. This simple three digit number that ranges anywhere between the numbers of 300 and 850, the higher number being the better, helps the lender predict how likely a borrower will make payments on time. As for how the score is calculated, it depends on what type of information is reported in the credit report.
The type of information you will find in a...
•10 Mistakes to Avoid When Starting a Small Business
While we all make mistakes, in small business, there are a variety of mistakes that are common. Learning from other people's mistakes can enable you to avoid many of them. These are 10 mistakes that you should work to avoid when starting a small business:
1. Not Doing Market Research - When selecting a small business to start, it is vital to research the industry and the current market for the products or services to be offered. Search online, research at your local library and talk with your...
•12 Overlooked Strategies to Boost the Cash Flow of Your Business
Did you know that you are likely overlooking simple ways to boost the cash flow of your business? In any business, and in particular small businesses, cash flow is king. Cash flow is directly linked to the profit of a business and bottom line, to your pocketbook. Consider the following 12 strategies as possibilities to boost the cash flow of your business.
1. Speed up Your Accounts Receivable Process - One of the largest issues for many small business owners is the length of time that it takes...
•10 Important Financial Tips For 2008
What steps have you taken to improve your financial picture for this year? When looking to improve your personal financial situation for the year, it is never too late to begin taking action. Saving more money is at the top of everyone’s New Year’s Resolution list each year, yet only a handful of us put our ideas into motion. Whether you have started to take action or are just getting started, these 10 financial tips will enable you to improve your financial situation before the end of the...
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