Golden Practices

Save Tons of Time and Subscribe (Free) To Blogs. Wanna Know How?

Wanna know what RSS is and how it can save you tons of time every day?

Subscribe to your favorite blogs (like this one!) and each day, you merely visit ONE LINK to see a very quick recap of any new posts to blogs you add to your most enjoyed list.

I use bloglines.com and it is a friendly, fast to set-up, and free resource that saves me lots of time yet it keeps me from missing my favorite posters like Andy Havens, Brand Autopsy, Harry Joiner and about 2 dozen others.

A great place to quickly read about RSS feeds and how to use them is at Blogwrite for CEOs where Debbie Weil provides "RSS 101: Really Simple 5-Step Guide to Get Started."

Check it out and don't forget to "Sub with Bloglines" next time you're on my blogs!

Thinking About Starting A Blog?

Some professional service firms are doing it, but most seem to be watching to see what happens with blogs in the service sector.

Not a surprise, really.

Blogging for professional service providers is not going to be all that different from other initiatives that have the potential to designate you as an expert.

You still have to do the thinking, writing, idea generating and follow-through that you would have to do for articles or speeches.

But, it's a lot easier because you'll create shorter, less formal writings. However, you have to do it a lot more often...

The opportunities to be seen as an expert in your area are vast. If you're committed.

A St. Louis techy lawyer, Dennis Kennedy, posted a good FAQ about blogging on a collaborative lawyer blog, Corante, in their special "Between Lawyers" section. Dennis aptly filed his FAQ post in his "Provocations" category...

"Who's Who" is Not Bio Worthy

I've been saying this to professionals for years and it is a discussion that keeps coming up.

Larry Bodine posted a summary of a recent Lawmarketing Discussion List thread on whether or not there is value in a Who's Who listing.

Tom Kane, in his May 20 blog post says about adding Who's Who listings to a bio:

From a marketing point, I don’t see it adding very much to your biography. In fact, it may detract from it with those who like Forbes consider it a “vanity publication.”

I think Tom's point is right on and the Forbes article he referenced, entitled "The Hall of Lame" (http://www.forbes.com/fyi/1999/0308/063.html) is pretty good for supporting the argument about why NOT to put Who's Who in ones bio (be patient, though, it will take awhile to download).

Marketing is About Doing the Right Thing

Seth Godin (the permission marketing guru) posted on his blog a great list: "What Every Good Marketer Knows" and Brand Autopsy developed a cool PDF poster of the content that you can download from their excellent blog.

This list is full of gems such as:

• Making promises and keeping them is a great way to build a brand.
• Marketing is the way your people answer the phone, the typesetting on your bills and your returns policy.
• People all over the world, and of every income level, respond to marketing that promises and delivers basic human wants.

There's Tax Season, Then There's the 'Rest of the Year'

Patterns persist, much to the detriment of CPA firms. As someone who watches from the sidelines and understands the cyclical nature of CPAs' activity and buying cycles, I've got a few observations to share.

Most CPA firms simply don't start their planning early enough.

Of course, given the volume of time-driven work most firms take on, it's extremely difficult to focus on anything but tax returns, 12/31 audits, 1099s and y/e financials between January and April. Add to that the firm's own year-end financials and possibly some kind of motivational rah-rah presentation for the whole firm and there's pretty much no time for proactive work on the firm (this is partly because firms tend not to have very many non-technical personnel to run the business of the firm).

So what happens for most firms is that partners come out of April exhausted, due for vacation, overdue for time with family, and lined up for CPE and conferences in May and June. Most firms will have some sort of partner retreat in May or June to begin planning for the "rest of the year."

Beginning to plan in May or June for 'May through December' is far from ideal. First off, from a marketing perspective, June through Aug is a lousy time to catch your serious business prospects. They're in summer mode, too.

From an operational perspective, if newly established plans include major infrastructural change (new time & billing systems, paperless, etc) July and August are usually evaluation months leaving Sept as a "decision" month and a holiday-filled calendar quarter to implement. Right?

Year after year, not enough happens.

May and June tend to be lost months. July and August are used for evaluating options (and procrastinating on getting started) and September is final decision time ("well, we better move forward, only 3 months left before next busy season..."). This was almost half a year lost, right here!

And we mustn't forget those accounting deadlines in August, September and October! Then it's easy to write off November and December as busy holiday months. So this leaves October. Sort of.

No wonder firms report their progress is too slow or lacking altogether.

This year, plan early and start fast.

Then, for 2006 planning and beyond, hold your strategic and marketing planning retreats in the prior October/November so you can properly budget, evaluate products or vendors in Nov/Dec/Jan, and truly hit the ground running on April 16. (Or May 1 if you'd like to take a few days off...)

Briggs Bunting & Dougherty Listens to Their People

About two years ago, the Pennsylvania CPA firm's marketing & recruiting director, Erin McClafferty, initiated the firm's first "internal climate survey." I asked Erin this week about the long-term effects of that initiative and what she told me in reply is pretty impressive: she's made collecting and publicly reporting employee feedback into a positive routine.

Two years ago, their anonymous survey (which Golden Marketing facilitated) provided the firm's management with important insights from everyone in the firm including partners. Erin and her firm's partners shared the results at an all employee meeting.

Thus began a process of reassuring employees that their opinions matter and that they can impact change in the firm.

Erin took this "reassurance" a step further after the survey. She created a new and on-going venue for employee feedback in the firm's monthly employee newsletter BBDispatch. She calls the feature "The Five Spot" because the firm polls employees on 5 questions each month and then presents the poll results in the column.

I asked Erin a few questions about her idea to do this and what has occurred as a result. Here's what she said:

Greetings from the Big Easy

Checking in from the TIAG (The International Accounting Group) and TAGLaw (sister legal network...3rd largest in the world) joint annual conference in New Orleans.

Yep, that's me, courtesy of my cellphone. The associations' members and guests--after a lovely cocktail hour where beads and masks were distributed liberally--were led in true New Orleans fashion by a marching band in a street parade many blocks from the conference hotel to dinner. Everyone was encouraged to "take their drinks" and wear comfortable walking shoes. The members (and me, too) were in awe of our own loud, jazzy, traffic stoppin', slow movin' group (under police escort, even) that was the focal point of tourists and locals alike.

Probably the anonymity of the masks helped (as did the wine), but we all had a wonderful time throwing beads to the amazed and smiling onlookers. What a blast! All the participants I talked with, whether from the U.S., Montreal, Uruguay, Norway, etc. agreed that they never imagined themselves being the focal point of a parade through the French quarter in New Orleans!

The associations are managed by The Appleton Group who did an amazing job of creating a true "experience" for their members and guests.

Havens on Branding

Andy Havens is my hero. I wish I could write like this man. He delivers his messages with such style and humor! That's why I love his Legal Marketing Blog. I've enjoyed his discussion list posts for a long, long time, but his blog is "Andy unleashed"!

See his post on branding. He covers lots of excellent points on the subject including the fact that advertising isn't a necessary element of establishing a brand: a common misconception. He explains why.

Make it Easy for your Prospect to Call the Right Person

I feel the burning need to share a pet-peeve:  it bugs me when companies list multiple contact people and don't explain why. What is the difference between the people?

Last week, a client and I were discussing an ad we were developing for one of their practice groups. We started out by listing two attorneys because the two attorneys had initiated the ad on behalf of their multi-person practice area.

Though having two names listed is typically against my better judgment, I went along with it for three reasons:

1. One is female and the other is male. Let's face it, some people have strong preferences.
2. If someone who is interested just happened to recognize one of the names, whether they would be moved to call that person or avoid that person, we were covered.
3. Both of them are strong marketers. Either could convert an inquiry with no problem.

But it never stays simple, does it?

I received a phone call. The ad contained client testimonials. One of the clients had a different key contact person so that attorney wanted HIS name on the ad, too. Well, with only two other attorneys in the practice group, maybe it made sense to add the others as well... right? 

Oh No! It is never a good idea to confuse a reader with too many choices. Especially when it is for the sake of ego.

Since that conversation, I've been noticing instances everywhere (print, Web, etc), in all types of businesses, where multiple contacts are provided. (It's kinda like when you buy a silver car and suddenly notice how many silver cars there are...)

If more than one contact person is listed, do the smart thing and make it very obvious as to why. Are they in different departments? Does one handle private clients while the other handles businesses? Are they covering different geographic regions?

Then say so. We all have enough decisions to make every day.

Make it easy for your prospect to call the right person--the person who is best able to successfully field the call.

New Marketing Person Asks "Where Should I Begin?"

Q.  "I was recently hired as a marketing director for a public accounting firm. This firm has never had a marketing person so I'm not sure where to begin."

A.   Interviewing each member of your firm's team (every level) is a perfect first thing to do.

1) Introduce yourself and describe a little bit about the firm's marketing initiatives and your role (represent yourself as high-level as possible--avoid painting yourself as a task person or you'll find it hard to get out of that "box").

2) Obtain and review the person's bio before the meeting. If bios don't exist, look in proposal documents or ask personnel if they will share a copy of the person's resume so you can learn about them before you meet. They will be flattered and appreciative that you've taken the time to know a little about who they are. This also sets a good example because they should be doing this before meeting with a client or prospect.

3) Conduct the meeting as an interview. If you take good notes, you could use the info you learn not just to gauge the person's potential role in future marketing plans, but if you take good notes, you could also have a good draft of a new bio! (2 birds, 1 stone = bonus points)

Things to ask:

• Use the opportunity to learn what each person likes and doesn't like about their practice. This way you can help them more aggressively market what they like to do versus what they don't enjoy.
• Find out what he or she is most and least comfortable doing both socially and from a sales/communication standpoint so you can best determine where they will fit into your next step (marketing plans) and if sales or other training might be needed or wanted.
• Discuss how they would envision participating (i.e. meeting with prospects or helping behind the scenes with articles, research, etc).
• Ask them to describe what they think management expects, and to tell what leads them to those conclusions. Ask also what they believe needs to be done that may be in addition to management expectations or perhaps in contrast to it. Simply addressing this with them -- letting them know you understand there is probably a variance between the two -- will help create a sense of trust and understanding between you and the people you speak with.

I strongly recommend interviewing the staff people first, especially if you are new to the accounting industry because you can usually feel more comfortable asking them to explain things (e.g. "do you mind helping me to understand the difference between an audit and a review?"). This way you'll be better equipped for your conversations with the partners.

Take great notes and transcribe them so you can quickly review from time to time. This also allows you to search your notes for keywords so you can quickly find a fact -- for instance, you may later wonder "who was it that told me they've always wanted to do fraud work?" when a partner mentions there doesn't seem to be anybody interested in expanding into new practice areas.

Learn a Great Trick From My Embarrassing Mistake

Oh, this is so embarrassing, but I am telling this story in the hope that even one person will be spared a similar trauma.

I was invited to be a guest speaker for a group of CEOs... Yesterday, the presentation was hosted at the immaculate, first-class office of one of the CEOs. It started out fine...had the flip-charts up and ready when the host CEO recommended that it would be better perhaps if I used the whiteboard.

Sure. I briefly illustrated my point on the whiteboard and resumed the discussion. 

A bit later, someone had a question and asked if I could demonstrate something. I erased the first drawing and started drawing again on the board. Several long lines across the board, and a few words into the diagram, I realized -- with enormous dread -- that I was now holding the flip-chart marker...a permanent one.

I turned to the CEO and reported: "I am so sorry. I've just ruined your whiteboard, I will buy you a new one." Several light jokes had already been made by his friends around the table that indicated he was meticulous about his facility and very proud of how perfect it is. He handled my confession very calmly. The show must go on. I picked up the correct marker and continued the diagram.

At the end of the meeting, I made arrangements (or tried to, he insisted they would take care of it) to replace the board. I returned to the board and wiped clean the dry-erase ink from the wall noticing that, in the few places where the dry-erase lines intersected the permanent ones, the dry-erase marker ink had lifted the permanent ink!! So I scribbled away over the disaster and it disappeared.

The CEO was amazed and pleased and I was remarkably relieved. I share this story because -- just maybe -- if you ever grab the wrong marker, you'll be saved the horrible dread I sat through for an hour wondering how much that big porcelain board was going to cost and how quickly I could get it to him. 

Or maybe you, like me, will never keep permanent markers in reach of a whiteboard again!

Good Practices for Distributing Press Releases

Gone are the days of mass snail-mailing press releases each with a black & white head-shot photo.

E-mail has fortunately changed everything!

Building & Maintaining Good Media Lists

At Golden Marketing, when we build our media lists, we include all obvious news publications, but we also include other related organizations such as:

• industry publications
• associations in which the firm members are involved
• alumni publications where firm personnel attended school
• hometown news publications for personnel, especially if their families still live there

We contact every potential recipient to ask their preferred method of press release receipt. In a typical market, all but two or three entities specify e-mail is their preferred method. The ones that don't want it by e-mail say to fax it, hands down. No one wants snail-mail.

We also confirm the names and e-mails of the recipients when we make that call, and ask their preference on photos...do they mind if we attach one? If they don't mind it, we ask about their preferred format and file specifications? (e.g. JPG, TIF, resolution, color/bw etc). If they want a printed photo, we will courier or fed ex it so they have it on file, but it is very rare that they want a physical photo. ALWAYS send a picture if you can. Even if they don't run it, they'll keep it on file which can prove very useful (I'll explain below).

We keep their delivery preferences in our media contact spreadsheets for easy reference and so we don't "screw up" by forgetting to send it just the way they like it. Also, when we build our contact lists, we determine if the contact person is different for personnel related releases versus business news type releases (it often is) and note accordingly in our spreadsheet.

Lastly, we verify the contact info about every six months or so and, of course, whenever we get an "undeliverable" on the e-mail.

Following up With the Media

As to following up by phone...it is not a bad idea the first time you send the release via e-mail because of spam filtering. We note if it was received okay in our spreadsheet once we confirm that. If there were problems we'll definitely follow up again the next time.

Personally, I've found that for general personnel related releases the media finds it annoying and sees continued calls as wasteful of their time because they have a process for managing those releases and a phone call won't usually positively influence whether it is picked up.

If the purpose of your release is to pitch a story, don't approach that through a standard release. Instead, contact the reporter by phone and run the idea by them (selling them on it) and bounce around with them what they like about the story concept and how they might use it so you can be more assured they will pick up.

How to E-mail the Release

Don't attach your press release as a separate document. And be sure to make good use of the subject line by putting the subject of the release in it. Don't just put "Press Release." 

With the volume of e-mail that journalists and editors receive, you need to make it easy for them to decide if your item is useful to them. The subject line should say: "FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: insert headline relevant to the recipient and not so long that it can't be viewed in an typical "outlook" screen view

Virus threats alone can make them leery about opening your attachments. Just paste the text you've formatted in your word processing software right into the body of the e-mail. If you attach pictures, make sure they are e-mail friendly and not multiple mega-bytes in size! A color photo saved to 300 dpi resolution at a print size of 2x3 will suffice for most publications.

Why Send Pictures?

When run photos, they keep those photos on file in their vast databases. There is an important advantage to having photos of all the people in your firm on file especially with your local news media.

You see, when they go to run a story that relates to, or even slightly mentions your firm (whether or not your people have been interviewed) at that last second when the production people realize they have a little extra space, somebody hollers, "Hey, see if we have a picture we can run." There is no time to call the firms. They check the data-banks to see what they've got. If they don't have your photo, you can miss out in a big way.

Case in point: 
A news story came out recently talking extensively about Brown Smith Wallace, a firm here in St. Louis. The story was 90% about that firm. There was one small reference to the competitor firm, Rubin Brown Gornstein. Guess whose picture they ran? They ran the photo of RBG's managing partner, Jim Castellano. You can bet BSW was hacked! Here's this great story mostly about them, and their biggest local competitor gets a nice big picture attached to it. Wonder whose firm didn't have a usable photo in that publication's database?