Today's Features
Disruptors: Nicole Davis & JW Davis Show How to Create Your Own Pipeline
Change your business model, change your life.
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The Disruptors
With Liz Farr
What would an accounting firm look like if you had never worked in public accounting? Because Nicole Davis, CPA, and JW Davis, a registered investment advisor, didn’t follow the traditional path to firm ownership. They reimagined what a firm could look like, starting from a blank canvas instead of the regimented, structured, paint-by-numbers design of traditional accounting firms.
MORE PODCASTS and VIDEOS: Dawn Brolin: Grow Your Firm By Shrinking It |Jason Blumer & Julie Shipp: Move Leaders Out of Client Service | James Graham: Drop the Billable Hour and You’ll Bill More | Karen Reyburn: Fix Your Marketing and Fix Your Business | Giles Pearson: Fix the Staffing Crisis by Swapping Experience for Education | Jina Etienne: Practice Fearless Inclusion | Bill Penczak: Stop Forcing Smart People to Do Stupid Work | Sandra Wiley: Staffing Problem? Check Your Culture | Scott Scarano: First, Grow People. Then Firm Growth Can Follow |
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Nicole is the founder and principal of Butler-Davis Tax & Accounting in the Atlanta area, while JW is the CEO.
Like many Disruptor-led firms, JW explains that ”one of the really big things we focus on was work-life balance.” Nicole adds, “If your culture is one of stress and long hours, then you really need to rethink your business model.”
Six Steps to Start Value Pricing
Change is inevitable. Value pricing has reached this critical stage.
By Jody Padar
Radical Pricing – By The Radical CPA
Can you remember doing business before cell phones or social media? You really don’t have to be too old to remember because change happens fast. In fact, if you are over 50, you probably remember when every home had a landline, firms advertised in the Yellow Pages, and accountants charged hourly for mundane compliance tasks.
MORE: Stop Selling Time | Why Pricing Is So Disruptive | The Radical Pricing Model: Start with $25K | Three Critical Factors Drive the Value Pricing Trend | Accounting Disruptors Are Heading Your Way … with Deep Pockets | The Convergence of Trends Makes Pricing Changes Imperative | Stop Looking for Talent that Does Not Exist | Advisory Work Must Be Priced by Value, Not Hours
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It really wasn’t that long ago when the internet was intriguing rather than indispensable.
At some point, change becomes inevitable, and I would argue that value pricing has reached this critical stage.
Calculate the Cost of Losing Clients
Follow this simple formula.
By August J. Aquila
Price It Right: How to Value Accounting Services
Although most of my posts deal with gaining new clients and bringing in new projects, it’s important to remember that the most valuable asset of any professional services firm is its clients.
MORE: The Secrets of Great Business Developers | How Life Cycle Changes Your Marketing | Clients Buy Solutions, Not Features | Make Sure You Know What You Will Get from Your Marketing | Three Pillars Support a Successful Accounting Firm | Clients Have Six Reasons for Needing You | Six Ways to Market Your Technology Consulting Practice | Sixteen Marketing Activities to Try | The Four Steps of Your Personal Marketing Process
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Losing clients can be costly, but do you really know how much it can cost you? Let’s find out.
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Want to Close a Deal? Set a Deadline
Five ways to make it work.
By Sandi Leyva
The Complete Guide to Marketing for Tax & Accounting Firms
In the accounting profession, there are a ton of deadlines. Month-end, quarter-end and year-end. Payroll taxes, sales taxes and corporate taxes. And extension deadlines, filing deadlines and payment deadlines, to name just a few.
MORE: How Mindset Affects Your Marketing | Three Steps to Becoming a Millionaire | How to Use ChatGPT to Create Images | Create a Bad Website in Ten Easy Steps | Leverage Your Strengths to Beat Stress | Are You Crossing Off Your Business Bucket List? | Ten Ways to Make Your Business Irresistible | Five Ways to Target the Low-Hanging Fruit | Are Your Revenue Projections Realistic? | Six Strategies to Make More without Working More | The Art of Prompt Engineering for Accountants | Calculate Your Business Relationship Ratios
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All of these deadlines may be a headache to business owners and accountants alike, but they are a marketer’s dream come true. How can you use deadlines to your advantage in marketing your services? And what if you are selling a service that is not in the accounting profession? Keep reading and we’ll answer these questions and provide you with five ways to woo your prospect with deadlines.
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Bissett Bullet: Do Your Homework
Today’s Bissett Bullet: “How often do you sense-check your proposals against previous projects? You have a wealth of information at your disposal. Before you present your solutions to a prospective client, do your research.”
By Martin Bissett
Does a precedent exist? How much did you charge clients in the past for the same work and more importantly, did you achieve an acceptable level of profitability as a result? Did you allow for everything you delivered or was there a degree of scope creep and in hindsight, did you price that work correctly?
Remember to take into account changes in your own circumstance as well as inflation, the benefit of the experience you have gained and any professional development you have subsequently undertaken.
Today’s To-Do:
Check a recent proposal against something similar in the past. How do the fees compare? Would you quote differently bearing in mind the above?
See more Bissett Bullets here
Steve Yoss, Quick Tech Talks: When A.I. Does the Heavy Lifting for Tax, Accounting and Finance Professionals
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Quick Tech Talk
With Steve Yoss
CPE Today
Besides OpenAI, Microsoft, Google, Facebook and the others you know,there are a number of really interesting and useful niche AI applications that are popping up as well, says Steve Yoss in this Quick Tech Talk.
These AI tools can leverage large language models, generative AI, machine learning, and more. They can do the heavy lifting for you. So you’re still in the position, in the driver’s seat of interpreting that information, making it useful and meaningful for your client. But you’ve got these robot workers that can do the heavy lifting for you to hopefully save you a bunch of time.
German Researchers Develop EV Motor with No Rare-Earth Magnets
Researchers may have found a way to speed up the shift to electric vehicles worldwide.
By Rick Richardson
Technology This Week
Currently, 95 percent of the rare earths come from China. Today, electric vehicle (EV) motors include rare-earth magnets, and if China decides not to share their supply, it will be catastrophic for the EV marketplace.
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Of all the obstacles to transportation decarbonization, electric motors present one of the most compelling. Researchers are currently working on a development that could speed up the shift to electric vehicles worldwide: a tough, small, strong electric motor without rare-earth permanent magnets that can withstand high temperatures and has a high power density.
‘Radical Pricing’ Launches June 4 at AICPA Engage
The step-by-step process for building a more client-centric firm.
By CPA Trendlines
In Radical Pricing: How To Optimize Profits, Delight Customers and Build A Top Value Firm, which launches on June 4, Jody Padar guides accounting professionals through their pricing evaluation and remodeling.
Key points will be discussed at AICPA & CIMA Engage 24 conference at the Aria in Las Vegas on Tuesday, June 4, rom 7:00-7:50 a.m., sponsored bt ADP. Following the session ADP will host a book launch party where the first 50 attendees will receive a free autographed copy of the book. Registration is required at https://bit.ly/RadPricing.
The book and its accompanying workbook and tools are being published by CPA Trendlines and can be preordered at www.cpa.click/RadPricing.
Known as The Radical CPA®, Padar advocates for accountants to lead next-generation firms, and shares in her latest book why moving from a ticking clock will help firms retain talent, increase efficiency and create more loyal customers.