Golden Practices

Letters From Russia

My friend Julie Lindy is doing an amazing and wonderful thing. She's given up three months of her life and is paying her own expenses as a volunteer working in Russia with orphanages, underprivileged children, and the elderly.

Many readers from the accounting industry will know Julie. She was senior editor for INSIDE Public Accounting for several years (formerly Bowman's Accounting Report) and before that was managing editor for Public Accounting Report (PAR). When she returns from her trip, she'll resume her career as a freelance writer, ghostwriter, and editor.

Julie is telling her story and her heart in a delightfully written blog called Letters From Russia. If you know Julie or if you have any interest in gaining insight into what Russian culture is like for a visiting American, you might enjoy reading her blog.

Moving from Strategy to Action

Gerry Riskin's brilliant post yesterday asks law firms to interpret a recent post on the blog of business guru, Guy Kawaski wherein Guy interviewed Harvard doctorate and author Michael Raynor.

The post discusses the planning roles and considerations of people at various levels in a business/firm hierarchy. This important step generates the action items or steps that are needed to put a plan into action.

Read Gerry's post to see where the various levels of people in your firm should be focused, and then consider Gerry's "punchline" at the end of his post. Enjoy the full interview on Guy's site--he asked some great questions of Raynor.

Sorry? Sorry. Sorry!

Do you know how to apologize? Anybody who's read my blog for awhile will know that I consider the art of apology to be an essential song in any business person's repertoire.

As I've said in past posts, it's not IF you'll make a mistake, it's how you handle it when you do...

• See Blame Avoidance. Why It's a Fatal Error.
• See Lost Clients? "Reasons" Are Symptoms, Not Cause

I even described in my post about what not to put on your website that instead of just touting your accuracy, a real differentiator would be to say what you do when a mistake does occur. It's particularly engaging these days when we acknowledge that we *are* human, after all--especially in our immensely digital world.

But more on apologies...a post the other day by Seth Godin (he so consistently has gems on his blog, please subscribe if you don't already!) describes apologies that just don't cut it and built up to apologies that do work. He ranks them on a scale of 1-10, 10 being best:

• "You can always take your business elsewhere." (1): Thank you, I will, and so will all of my friends.
• "It's not our fault." (2): This is a non-apology, where you are not seeking to redress the issue, nor evincing any sort of sympathy for the injured.
• "We're sorry that you feel that way." (3): This is also a non-apology, which roughly translates into "It pisses us off that you feel that way. If you didn't feel that way, we would be happy." It also doesn't take any responsibility for the problem, and places all of it onto the injured party. Be careful of any apology that starts "I'm sorry that you..."
• "We're sorry if we did something wrong." (6): This is getting there, but doesn't really accept responsibility either. You are not acknowledging that you did anything wrong; you're still hoping that you haven't. You are offering an apology for appearances sake.
• "We're sorry that this occurred." (7): You are sorry, but as a matter of principle you're still trying to insist that it wasn't really your fault.

(oops, the last one was one way I suggested to apologize...I definitely like the next two better!!)

• "We're sorry that we caused this problem." or "We're sorry that we have let this happen." (9): This is a full apology, and is what the customer needs to hear. Frankly, it doesn't matter that it was really the post office's fault, and not yours; the customer doesn't care. Most people hearing this cannot help but respond with some sort of graciousness, such as "Well, all right then, these things happen. What are you going to do to fix it?" This is the target level that you want to hit for your customer service. But for the record, there is still one level to go. The complete apology is:
• "We're so sorry that we caused this problem; we are really distressed over this. Please know that we take this very seriously. This is a huge oversight on our part. I will immediately notify my supervisor, and we will review our procedures to ensure that this cannot happen again. In the meantime, that is no consolation to you for our lack of service! What can we do to regain your trust? We will be sending you a little surprise as a token of our appreciation of having you as a customer." (10) In truth, this little speech goes on until the customer interrupts. And it is followed by a few more apologies as the conversation closes, as well.

As usual, Seth is on target. The only improvement that can be made to his advice is to replace all the "we" references to "I" -- as in "I'm sorry" is a lot more potent, and personal, than "we are sorry."

I was talking with my friend Ed Kless yesterday about my post the other day where I described how impressed I was with a Lt. Col. who took "full responsibility" for a problem with recruiters that report to him.  Ed e-mailed me afterward saying apologies seemed to be big news yesterday:

From the front page of MSNBC

è  http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17136318/ (Daytona apology)

è  http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17166299/ (JetBlue apology)

è  http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17160685/ (Hardaway apology)

Maybe, as a society, we're all ready to be more accountable and to accept others who show proper remorse when they goof up? I sure hope so!

Hate Your Partner?

A little partnership humor for a Friday. Thank goodness I don't know any firms that are this troubled...

Below are three short videos that just appeared on YouTube a couple days ago. They are created by ihatemypartner.com, a company that helps dysfunctional partnerships. Gotta credit them for some great marketing.

All Three

Lick

Choke

Poke

2nd CPA Industry Niche Blog Launches: Geared to Ministries

I'm excited to announce that Stanfield & O'Dell, a CPA firm based in Tulsa, Oklahoma has launched a blog tailored just for Christian Ministries addressing their operational and fiscal concerns. It's called Transparency in Ministry and is found at www.theministryblog.com. The effort was led by Becky DaVee (at right) partner and CPA who serves clients including (per the blog):

• Joyce Meyer Ministries
• Fellowship Church
• Life Changers International Church, and
• Fellowship of the Woodlands

The firm's ministry practice group has been hugely dedicated to this effort and started writing their backlog of content last summer so their blog is already chock-full of information. They are launching now with a fanfare.

I believe that Stanfield & O'Dell's blog is only the second industry niche blog produced and actively maintained by CPAs/CAs. The other is a healthcare blog produced by Reed Tinsley. If readers know of other industry specific blogs, I'd love to hear about them.

There are about two dozen blogs that are authored by CPAs/CAs about taxes, business valuations, fraud, and technology services, but these don't focus on particular industries or sectors served. In other words, they are service-based and geared to a general audience.

In the interest of full disclosure, Stanfield & O'Dell is a client of Golden Marketing.

Can Business Learn From the Military?

I saw something last night that I don't see very often. It was moving and impressive.

Last night, a St Louis news channel ran a story exposing various instances of military recruiters (several branches) who were misleading potential recruits or saying inappropriate things.

Most of the incidents picked up on the 'secret cameras' used by undercover reporters regarded the downplay of danger in serving in Iraq or Afghanistan. Certainly, these techniques aren't acceptable and no one in their right mind would try to defend what was blatant misinformation caught on camera.

Or would they? In the corporate and business world, it seems that we often see footage or photos and hear spoken words, yet corporate representatives stand up and make statements that refute what we've seen and heard with our own eyes. Sometimes it's blatant denial and sometimes it's fuzzy logic attempting to explain or justify away what observation or logic tells us is so. 

But do you know what the military did upon being confronted with this troubling news story?

One human, one man, took complete responsibility for the whole thing and took immediate action to correct it. I quote the news:

Lt. Col. Junio-Omaru Barber is the Army recruiting commander for Missouri and southern Illinois....After learning about the I-Team's findings, Barber ordered retraining of all 180 recruiters under his command.

"I'm responsible. I take full responsibility for everything that happens in the St. Louis recruiting battalion," said Barber.

I commend Col. Barber and admire the accountability he demonstrates. Wouldn't the business world do well to emulate this level of responsibility more often?

EU Offers Impressive List of RSS Feeds

Thanks to Scott Vine's Information Overlord blog for pointing to this highly customizable (or customisable as the case might be :-) list of EU offered feeds for "rapid syndication":

• European Commission: press releases of the day
• European Union: press releases by political domain
• European Commission: speeches by comissioner
• European Instututions: press releases from each of thirteen institutions

When Time is (Too Much) Money

A really interesting comment about the mindset of professionals who charge by the hour really got me thinking.

Bob Sutton has a post about The Billable Hour Turns People Into Workaholics in which he wrote:

...how people in jobs where “time is money” fall into a trap: They start devoting more time to their jobs, and less time to “unpaid” activities like family, friends, and leisure.

I think there's a lot to this.

I'd like to add another key thing or two that often lose out when competing for attention against a chargable hour. These things are 1) desirable forethought before undertaking an activity, and 2)appropriate time for reflection on or about the activity after it's done.

Neglecting both of these exercises impacts so many things: staying sharp and on top of our game; being as organized as we can possibly be; effectiveness; learning from our experiences; and thinking of how we can do better.

That ol' chargable hour sure has some nasty side effects!

Asking Means Acting

Whenever a prospective client asks me if I can help them implement a customer satisfaction survey, be it written, by telephone, or via face-to-face interviews, I respond with a question:

Are you prepared to act on the information you receive?

I know it sounds like a no-brainer, but it's not. We get busy. We mean well. But we screw up. Then we end up with customers who feel like Seth Goldin who posted this about his recent car maintenance experience:

The last time I took it in [for an oil change] I picked up a freshly washed car, it was a new free service they offered. Cool I thought....They also started giving a follow up phone call to make sure customers were happy with the service.

I wondered if they would wash my car this time, I assumed not. Not in January, too cold. I was right, the car was not washed when I picked it up. I understood. But the next day I did get the follow up phone call.

I said I was happy with the service, but...mentioned that after my "30 point inspection" my windshield washer was still bone dry and one front tire was still visibly low. "Well I guess we messed up" was the response "I'll have Paul call you back so we can make it right". Well that was Monday, today is Friday and I'm still waiting for the call back.

I guess my point is that if they hadn't washed my car the first time, and hadn't phoned me to see if I was happy with the service I would have more impressed than I am now. To raise someone's expectations then not fulfill them is worse than mediocrity.

I write often about the importance of managing customer's expectations. If you're not likely to act when people talk about what they don't like, I'm not suggesting at all that you don't ask.

Instead, I'm suggesting to ask often and make it a priority to act promptly. It really is the only way to safeguard your reputation.

After all, not asking doesn't mean the customer isn't unhappy, it just means you might not know in time to do something to reverse it!

Also, let me ask you, which was the worse offense in Seth's story?

Going the extra mile once and not doing it again? Or messing up the basics?

Good Writing. Bad Writing.

A great post on the Bad Language blog by Matthew Stibbe details what Matthew considers Seven Types of Bad Writing.

I think his 7 boo-boos nicely recap what professional service firms sites are particularly guilty of. (I, too, struggle with a couple of these.)

He writes:

What comes out of most companies is bad. In my experience there are seven types of bad writing:

1. Thinks too much of itself. The UK satirical magazine, Private Eye runs a regular column lampooning the abuse of the word ‘solution.’ For example, Dow Corning’s “Innovative solutions for wound management,” which means “bandages.” This kind of word inflation devalues meaning and arouses the scepticism of readers.
2. Is too clever by half. For some reason, people are afraid to write how they speak. They want to sound big, grown-up and clever. So they use big words and long sentences. For example, I was presented with this beauty at a school board meeting once: “the Governing Body are agreeing this budget as the financial mechanism to support the education priorities of the school as identified in the School Development Plan and will adhere to the best value principles in spending its school funding allocation.” It meant, “We approve the budget.”
3. Gets hyped up. Press releases often include frankenquotes. These are made-up quotations that bear no resemblance to normal speech. For example: “Nortel has established a legacy in innovation and will continue to push the envelope…” Try saying that in a pub to your friends. See if they still listen to you afterwards. Or trust you.
4. Tells lies. In the UK, journalists score low in public trust. Somewhere near politicians and spin doctors. However, good journalists are obsessive about research, accuracy, good reporting, details and, yes, truth. What works for newspaper stories also works for business communication.
5. Ignores the reader. As a writer, the greatest skill is to think about what the reader needs to hear, not what you need to say. It takes an imaginative leap. For example, Google says “Please read this carefully, it’s not the usual yada, yada.” Microsoft says “This software is licensed under the agreement below.” Which one is more likely to be read?
6. Needs to go on a diet. Most writing can be improved by liposuction. Consider the Gettysburg Address. Antoine de Saint-Exupery said it best: “A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.” This is especially true when writing for the web, when you need to cut the word count by about 50 percent.
7. Has no direction. My favourite tutor at Oxford told me that I had to take my essays and drive them like Ayrton Senna (a famous racing driver). Good writing has a strong purpose. Bad writing has either no direction or has too many.

In fact, Matthew has an entire CATEGORY on bad writing!!

Hat tip to Dan Hull at What About Clients? for directing readers to Matthew's excellent blog (in a September post that I saved and finally went back to!!)

Accountants Round Up

Today is a very special day!

My associate, Sue (over there in the picture), and I are really excited to "unveil" our new blog: Accountants Round Up (pun intended!) that is aggregated accounting industry news. Shortcut URL is accountantsroundup.com.

Here's the powerquote about why we've created this:

"Accountants Round Up is created to introduce more accountants to the blogosphere. Skeptics by nature, they’ve been slower to understand and utilize this technology than many other industries, including law. While this is probably a result of information overload, we aim to show them how much more quickly and easily they can stay abreast of news for their own industry," explains Michelle Golden, president and CEO of Golden Marketing, Inc.

"Our hope is to also demonstrate just how useful RSS technology is for professionals who want to stay attuned to the industry news of the clients whom they are privileged to serve—specialized knowledge being a core element of high level service."

We won't claim originality, though. We were clearly inspired by the wonderful job Nancy Stinson does over at the Stark County Law Library blog providing similar information for the legal profession. If I have no other blog reading time in my day, I am sure to skim Nancy's aggregated news to be sure I'm catching the best posts of the day. The Stark County Law Library blog has been going strong for many years.

Maybe one day, Accountants Round Up will be that same sort of "can't miss it" resource for CPAs and Chartered Accountants, too.

Hope you like the new blog. We're pretty excited about it. Sue manages it and does a really great job. She posts a few items a day. There's about 2 months' worth of content out there now, so please go check it out! And if you like it, it's available by RSS feed or email through FeedBlitz.

Happy reading!

(See our press release on the launch: Download accountants_round_up_launch_pr.pdf )