Golden Practices

"Thank Yous" Even When You Don't Close the Sale

On Duct Tape Marketing, John Jantsch posted about "Saying Thank You to No Too."

It's a good reminder that it's more than great manners to say "thank you" even when you are not selected--it's smart business. Take the opportunity to show you're a quality business-person by exhibiting a classy reaction. Jantsch says:

"Here's the philosophy behind that strategy. At the moment your prospect is telling you sorry - they are never more receptive to a positive marketing reaction from you. Your ability to say thank you to the no is the start of your next pitch to that client. I guarantee you that they will remember how you reacted, particularly if you demonstrated in the moment when you seemingly had nothing to gain that you had their best interest at heart."

Great points and I have a little more advice to add.

If the feedback was good about your presentation and all, then that conversation is also a good time to make the simple request, "We hope you'll consider us next time around." and even a suggestion, "Perhaps when your acquaintances are looking for options, you might mention they consider us, too."

And don't take the prospect off your "people to stay in touch with" list. Don't harass them or anything, but sending them information of relevance and value from time to time will be appreciated. Even introduce someone to that could do business with them or would be a good referral source for them. They won't forget it.

Don't forget referral source thank yous too.

You never want referral sources to think you only appreciate them IF you can close the deal. A verbal or written "thank you" to your referral source should be delivered as soon as you learn of the referral.

And if you're going to do a big thank you gesture, the timing is important.

If that referred party meets with you, right after the meeting, but BEFORE you learn the outcome of the meeting, thank the referral source--as appropriate--by sending the wine, a plant, a gift basket or gift certificate, or other show of appreciation. Then the referrer knows you genuinely appreciate the referral itself, and not just the newly closed deal. Another side benefit is that the referrer may put in an extra good word for you before the final decision gets made...

You've Just Removed Yourself From the Marketing Committee

"You've just removed yourself from the marketing committee" is what you should tell lawyers [or accountants!] who, when considering a novel marketing idea, ask whether there is a precedent for any other firm is doing it.

This is according to Richard Levick who spoke today at the 11th Annual SuperConference sponsored today by the Alliance of Professional Associations and the PM Forum in Chicago. Levick is president/CEO of Levick Strategic Communications. More of his comments are found on Larry Bodine's Professional Marketing Blog.

Well said, Richard!

Cool Powerpoint Tips

Lately, I've personally felt that a liberating PowerPoint tip is to not use PowerPoint at all. And some audiences have actually applauded it! 

But there are lots of scenerious where a slideshow makes sense--especially when you want to graphically illustrate your points, so I 'point' you to Tom Kane, over at the Legal Marketing Blog, who posted here about some cool resources to spruce up your powerpoint show.

Some of the neat-o and easy tricks he covers are:

• Making the screen blank at the touch of a button when you want the audience to focus on you
• Moving through your slides out of sequential order
• Using an onscreen pointer "John Madden" style
• Create a Countdown Clock for your Break

Of course, please always remember the 5 PowerPoint basics:

1. Don't ever go smaller than 18 or 20 pt font
2. No more than 5-6 bullets per screen and no writing in full sentences
3. Never, ever, read from your slides
4. Estimate average of 3 minutes per slide when considering presentation time
5. Unless you're an extremely sophisticated speaker with your presentations impecably timed, don't have bullet points slide in one-at-a-time on a mouse-click because it annoys audiences

Sales Results Tied to Employee Treatment

In today's e-newsletter from Jim Blasingame, The Small Business Advocate Newsletter, there are a couple pearls of wisdom on sales:

Perhaps the two most important things salespeople can understand is:

1. The information in their own head is not as important as the yet-to-be-mined information in their prospect's head
2. Knowing how to talk little enough and listen long enough, to be able to mine that gold

Blasingame is addressing owners of small businesses, but the suggestions hold absolutely true for professional services firms of every size.

His suggestions encompass fostering the talents and minds of employees as well as better understanding prospective customers. He continued:

The lesson is similar for small business owners who've gone to a lot of trouble and expense to hire smart employees. We already know what we know; we need to know what's in the heads of the members of our brain trust.  We need our folks to be open and productive with their ideas about problem-solving and business strategy.

How do we do that?  Not by behaving like we're sitting on our throne with all the answers, that's for sure. Instead, let's consider the thinking of author and management guru, Peter Drucker, who said, "My greatest strength as a consultant is to be ignorant, and ask a few questions."

I know you're very proud of what you've learned and how much you've accomplished. And you should be.  But if your business isn't hitting on all cylinders; if your plans just aren't coming to fruition like you intended; if you don't seem to be getting the most out of your investment in the other humans in your business; perhaps you should try acting ignorant and ask a few more questions. And don't forget to listen.

The Role of Creativity and Innovation

Your firms are filled with highly intelligent knowledge-workers (not laborers) yet few firms create or maintain an environment where new ideas, creativity and innovations are welcome, much less encouraged.

Ever heard "Because we've always done it that way." spoken aloud in your office?  Case in point.

Sidenote: For a chuckle and a slap in the face of how pronounced this problem is, internally, read this staff accountant's collection of actual partner review comments followed by his sarcastic "wishful thinking" replies www.dumbassreviewnotes.com.

Anyway, if you think how you treat your employees (i.e. not listening and not encouraging innovation) is unrelated to sales or to the admitted lack of well-developed sales and consulting skills among today's "up-and-comings," you're dead wrong. 

The Root of the Problem

Partners continue to complain that associates (managers, supervisors, seniors, etc) don't know how to develop business and don't know how to even spot additional service opportunities whilst serving clients.  Senior partners frequently complain about the same problem with some of their younger partners.

Excellent Example of CPA Site and Blog

A great accounting blog focused on the health care specialty group has emerged. I'm extremely impressed not just with Reed Tinsley's blog, but with this CPA's website. This is the next website we'll feature in our Golden Web Reviews.

Here is someone doing it right.

• Commiting to a speciality
• Fulfilling the desire of his clients for frequent, good information (i.e. killer content)
• Offering services, even as non-traditional as web development, to meet his clients unique needs

I cannot say enough about Reed's terrific approach.

In addition, he has a couple posts on his physician geared blog that are applicable to ALL companies including CPA and law firms:

1) How to Audit a Mission Statement

Take every principle and ideal mentioned in the mission statement and turn them in to questions. For example, some mission statements say "Employees are our number one commitment." If true, draft a question like "Does our practice make a 100% commitment to our employees?"

Once the questionnaire is completed, hand it out and have the employees, physicians, etc. complete it and return it to management. It will be interesting to see if indeed the practice is really following its own mission statement (or is it just a bunch of dribble?).

2) Wonderlic Testing for Physician Practice Applicants/Employees

The Wonderlic Personnel Test provides an excellent overall index of general intelligence. For example, The Wonderlic Personnel Test (WPT)is an established test of general intelligence used for selection and placement of business personnel and for vocational guidance. The WPT measures an individual’s ability to learn, adapt, solve problems, and understand instructions. It is a valid predictor of future job performance, and may be used for positions ranging from routine to complex.

For more information, go to http://www.wonderlic.com/.

Choose: Do What You Want or Achieve What You Want

Summing up sales, marketing and even planning, is Larry Anderson's One Sentence Journal from Jun 26:

The Price of Achievement

All of us, at times, must do things we don't want to do in order to achieve what we want to achieve. That is the price of achievement. Then you must decide which you prefer, doing what you want, or achieving what you want.

So true. Which do you choose?

Marketing Salaries in CPA Firms

To follow on yesterday's post about law marketing salaries compared to accounting marketing salaries, below are the figures from Association for Accounting Marketing's 2004 member survey (released Jan 05). The full survey is a member benefit but can also be purchased from AAM by contacting them via their website.

2003 total annual compensation (U.S. dollars)

3%	Under $30,000
22%	$30,000 to $44,999
31%	$45,000 to $59,999
21%	$60,000 to $74,999
6%	$75,000 to $89,999
8%	$90,000 to $109,999
2%	$110,000 to $129,999
3%	$130,000 to $149,999
4%	$150,000 or more

The largest portion of survey respondents (31%) earned from $45,000 to $59,999 in 2003, followed by twenty-two percent who earned $30,000 to $44,999 and twenty-one percent who earned $60,000 to $74,999. The remaining twenty-six percent of the survey sample is dispersed among the remaining salary levels.

To put these figures into context, here are the survey demographics:

222 respondents.

Their firm size breakdown is:

2%	Big four
10%	National ($200.1 to $2000)
12%	Large Regional ($70.1 to $200)
21%	Midsize Regional ($20.1 to $70)
20%	Small Regional ($10 to $20)
35%	Local (Less than $10 million)

Respondent job title:

25%	Marketing department of one (non-partner)
5%	Marketing staff (no reports)
9%	Marketing mid-level (coordinator/have reports)
29%	Marketing leader/manager (department lead)
3%	Marketing professional with firm ownership
4%	Sales/Business Development professional
23%	Chief Marketing and Business Development Office/Marketing and Business Development Director
2%	Technical partner/owner with marketing/business development oversight

Marketing Salaries in Law Firms--Why is the Accounting Industry So Far Behind??

This just in...according to the new Legal Marketing Association "Roles and Compensation Survey" that will be released July 22,

"Marketers with the word "Chief" in their title earn an average of $225,208 and a median (half are above/blow) of $200,000, according to statistics released today.  The compensation for marketers with "Director" in their title averaged $111,696 in salary and a median of $99,000.

The average annual base salary for 51% of all law firm marketers combined is less than $75,000; however 26% receive $100,000 or more.  At the same time 17% of marketers said they received no annual bonus; 51% received a bonus of only $5,000 or less."

Larry Bodine broke the news on his blog today. He also reports the findings of recruiter Bill Crooks:

Crooks said that in his placement work, he found the following salaries being paid:

• Marketing Assistants (e.g., who do data entry work) at a Top 200 firm are paid $30K to $40K.
• Marketing Coordinators are paid from $40K to $70K in large cities like New York and DC.
• Marketing Managers earn $75K to $110K depending on their duties.
• Practice Group Managers $80K to $180K.
• In the future the higher salaries will be in business development, not marketing.

Some great tips from contributors mentioned in Larry's story:

• New marketers should make certain that there is a mechanism in place for marketers to get sales reports from partners and feedback on sales calls.  Otherwise it's difficult for the marketer to demonstrate ROI to the firm.
• Make sure that the partners know what you are doing for them.  "Provide a report on what kind of activities you're doing on their behalf," she said.
• Marketers must provide competitive intelligence on salaries. 
• Elizabeth Lampert credits the LawMarketing Listserve and the LawMarketing Portal Jobs Page for requiring employers to state the salary in a job posting. 

Maybe accounting marketing should be more up-front about salaries, too. The openness is doing wonders for their legal counterparts.

The spread between law and accounting firm salaries seemed much smaller only five years ago when Association for Accounting Marketing did a comparison between its compensation survey and that of Legal Marketing Association. At that time, law firms led accounting by about $30,000 in the average marketing salary.

The Five Basics of Marketing (a la Kotler)

The good folks over at Brand Autopsy have a great post on THE 5 basics of marketing. They refer to an excellent and brief article on CNN.com sharing the expertise of Kotler with his "five top tips for marketing success." Snippets, here, but go read the whole article on CNN.com. It's a gem.

Note the emphasis on emotional appeal, creating a customer experience, strategic choices in product, continual differentiation and commitment to being superior at whatever you choose to go into. 

1. Come in under the radar

"The key to brand-building is to have something good that you roll-out in a very intelligent way. Maybe even invisibly for a while because you want to be under the radar screen of competitors." (a la Corona Beer, the largest selling in the U.S.)

2. Know your customer

"There are still too many CEOs who identify marketing with selling and advertising... Don't just go after everyone. Define the target market carefully through segmentation and then really position yourself as different and as superior to that target market. Don't go into that target market if you're not superior."

3. Own your branding

"We are not in a state of competition anymore; we're in a state of hyper-competition. So people are desperately looking for handles -- functional features, emotional appeals -- that will draw people to their product. We should think of owning a word or a phrase that helps to build customer retention and loyalty."

4. Stay ahead of the competition

"The worst thing is that if something works, your competitors are going to clone it and before you know it anything that you had as a differentiator is imitated by the others. So you're in the business of constant innovation. Constantly asking yourself, 'Three years from now, what will our differentiator be?' ... Markets change, so marketing has to change."

5. Make it an experience

"There's a big movement to say, 'we're not just adding services to our business and our product, we're actually trying to design an experience.' You'll see that language being used. We're in the experience design business."

Don't Worry About "Building Relationships" Anymore

Forget the marketing objective of developing "relationships." You know what? Just completely scratch that off your list. It's far too vague and it's not adequate, anyway.

Replace it with something far, far more potent.

Conversation.

Have lots of them. With clients. With people you just meet. With referral sources. With people you buy from. Everyone.

Have frequent, sincere conversations and your business will improve.

And when you're having these conversations, don't forget to smile. There's a wise, old Jewish proverb: "Don't open a shop unless you know how to smile."  It's amazing how many business people forget to smile. Especially while they're having a conversation.

What is an Effective Website? (for a cpa firm or law firm)

I'm asked the question a lot: "What would make our site more effective?"

'Effective at what?' is usually the follow-on question.

There are two answers I get: Well...we need prospects to be impressed. And we need good accountants and accounting grads to find us and want to work for us.

Good websites help bring in business. They also attract employees. Likewise, a poor website can deflect an otherwise interested person.

Web readers visit your site to find out about you—how different you are from whomever they are working with now. And to learn what you know. Despite this, most firms use the Web to say all the same stuff other firms are saying!!!

The degree to which your site attracts people or new business depends primarily on depth, originality, and usefulness of your content. Oh, and communicating what the reader needs to see/hear from you.

To be truly effective, your site must cover the “ATEs”:

Articulate. Your site should inform readers on stuff you are expected to know about, AND it should surprise readers by sharing things they don’t realize you know. Provide info that readers can’t get elsewhere to position yourself as a resource they’ll visit time and again.

Illustrate. You’ve got to demonstrate your expertise. Enough with the same-old, shallow descriptions of services, industries, and your own talent! Convince people as to why they should hire you. Create powerful bios that reflect your accomplishments and show how you contribute to the well-being of those you serve. Develop impressive case studies describing how you’ve solved problems to satisfy readers’ desire for evidence of your value.

Differentiate. Study your competitors’ sites and trust the knowledge that yours should be UNLIKE theirs in a way that is far better. And we aren’t talking about design, colors, or logo. If you want to land that client and impress that highly motivated college student you say that you want, your business must believably express how and why you are unique. Identify distinctions that your readers will feel are important.

Celebrate. It’s time to feature ALL of your people. Your whole team is important to website readers. Put aside the ridiculous fear of headhunters (they are calling your people already) and be proud of your team. Show them and the rest of the world that you know they are essential to your business.

Substantiate. Instead of just making the same tired claims to “timely, quality services in a cost effective manner,” back these common (though not unimportant) promises up by providing actual testimonials supporting these statements.

These factors bring people from your website to your phone handset, e-mail inbox, and lobby.

See more here about how to make your website more effective for you.