Questions Questions Questions
I find it perplexing that Accountants do not ask enough questions. Asking questions shows you have high self esteem and willing to learn. You’re not afraid what people think of you and you are open to new ideas. Asking questions shows you are curious and intelligent.
It seems most Accountants sit back and just wait all the time. After 19 years (about to enter my 20th year) working with Accountants I still do not know the answer as to why Accountants wait and are very reactive.
You can ask a question online, in a meeting or at a seminar. You’re not supposed to know everything. I am doing a seminar tour at the moment. Hundreds of people, not many questions. Go on! Ask away – the answers might surprise you!
Built to Sell – John Warrilow
I interviewed John last week for our annual conference. John has personally built and sold 4 businesses and then he wrote the book on doing so. He has a fantastic story to tell about how advisers can help their clients structure their businesses for sale. A MUST listen to if you are an Accountant or Consultant to business.
He lives in Paris and he is speaking at my conference in 2013 in Queenstown NZ. March 17-21. Details on conference here.
Coaching morning with Accountants @Xero
This morning I had the pleasure of addressing 65 Accountants in Auckland. The team at Xero had invited their awesome ‘silver’ partners to a special forum with me. Very humbling. The content I covered was a snippet of content that we deliver through our coachingclub program.
Here are the highlights of what I presented:
- You only have X many days before you die – make the most of what you have left with your clients
- Success is “Doing what you want, when you want, with whom you want in a manner you want”
- It’s your business, you should design it the way you wan to
- Partners of Accounting firms should be making >$1M per year (minimum) – that’s my belief
- Compliance will be a commodity in the future and your margins will be squeezed
- Cloud accounting will ‘wipe out’ some Accounting firms – and a lot of the current compliance revenue
- Adding value to your clients (and gave examples) is the only way to go
- You set the workflow rules with your clients
- The one that sets the rules wins the game
- Toxic clients need to go
- Low margin clients need to go
- Toxic team members need to go
- Team engagement is critical
- Accountants are the trusted advisor – the need to walk the talk
- There is a big difference from flying economy to first class -
- Your clients want you to be successful – after all they are following you
- What services are you providing now – versus what you could be providing
- If you want a different result, you must first make some decisions then follow through with actions
- We covered off in depth ‘how to set the price’ of a project
- Value belief and value articulation are the keys to pricing – not a daft “time X rate” formula
- Stop promoting inputs and start selling outputs
With examples, questions I covered quite a bit in 2 1/2 hours of workshop. Pretty cool. I also let the group know of a webinar I am running next week on Value Pricing – 1 hour of power just on the topic of pricing. You can register for free here.
Also, I announced a partnership for Xero “Silver & Above” partners – where each Xero firm will receive 3 months of free online coaching from us. Pretty cool, worth thousands!
The group enjoyed it. Xero even baked some muffins!
Cloud Accountants – an interview with Tim Molloy
Another interview with a 20 year veteran of the Accounting profession – Tim Molloy. Tim knows the technology space and he knows Accountants. He was initially at Ceedata (acquired by Solution 6) in the 90′s then onto Solution 6 (acquired by MYOB) then he started his own company, Exonet, which was subsequently acquired by MYOB as well. Tim was the ‘chief evangelist’ @ MYOB until he exited the business in late 2011.
Enjoy the interview.