Golden Practices Blog

Women and Work; Where We've Been, Where We Are

So much chatter about why the percent of women on the earth isn't the same as the percent of women in this business or that industry or the boardroom down the hall. 

Reach back and dust off something we were ALL told, probably sometime between ages 3 and 5:

Boys and girls are different.

When we were told this, we were NOT told that one was better. Because one isn't better. Just different. So what.

We can keep making a big deal out of how we are different and why we are different, and how to "fix" or "equalize" it (God help us) or we can accept and embrace the simple fact that boys and girls are different and SHOULD BE. Know why? Because PEOPLE are different. So what.

Love the differences. Work with the differences. Respect the differences. And quit obsessing about HOW & WHY people are different. 

In a very vulnerable and real piece by my refreshingly unlawyerly friend Heather Bussing, I think you'll find the reasons to celebrate and love the difference.

"Being a woman is a million different things, and nothing in particular. Labeling work and life questions as women’s issues is at worst, a distortion; at best, a distraction."

Read her story: Personal Questions: Women and Work on HR Examiner. 

Set People Up For Success. Be a Bob.

Setting people up for success is something of an art.

Bob had it down pat; he was the consummate professional. He’s retired now, but his reputation of wisdom and effectiveness was earned over decades of consistently demonstrating both of these traits. In his role as a senior partner of his midsized CPA firm, he was kind but firm, and always sincere. Bob never said something unless he meant it.

Bob’s exactly the kind of guy you don’t want to disappoint. And exactly the kind of guy people want to hire.

It was almost noon and I stood in his firm’s lobby awaiting my lunch mates. As I waited, I witnessed one of the finest business lessons I’ve seen.

A somewhat shy new guy—a bright young auditor right out of college—stood near me. Let’s call him Dan. It was Dan’s first day so he’d been hurriedly introduced to everyone in the office. Now he was waiting for some of his team members to take him to lunch.

Bob entered the lobby from the interior offices right as a couple people came in the front door. Bob warmly greeted the clients who appeared to be meeting him for lunch. Always thoughtful, Bob turned and introduced the receptionist, then me. Then, he did something pretty extraordinary.

Without missing a beat, Bob took a couple steps positioning himself beside Dan and, in a fatherly sort of way, put his hand on Dan’s back, kind of behind his shoulder. Smiling, he announced proudly:

“And this is Dan! He is going to be on your audit team this year and you’ll be in excellent hands with him.”

Several great things had just happened.

It's Time to Stop Talking About "Women's Issues" in Business

Law and accounting grads are consistently over 50% female, yet the percentage of female firm owners has just reached 20%, up from 19% several years ago.

It's easy to blame the mommy track for high female turnover. Or maybe discrimination. As a fix, firm owners and consultants strive to "retain women" and to make women more "promotable." To this end, they create women's support groups and development programs, both centered on the "unique issues that women face."

Despite the good intentions, I believe these women-oriented programs miss the mark. In fact, they hurt more than help. I'll explain why I think that, explore what it is that firms are actually trying to accomplish, and offer up some alternate solutions.

The Women's-Issue Myth

When you look at the topics of these women-only programs, you'll see that every issue or situation they address exists for men, too. 

All the issues named as "women's issues"—save one—are actually just people issues.

Selling Profitable Work When the Fee-Squeeze is On

The chatter everywhere in the accounting world surrounds what a hostile selling environment we're in. It was bad 2-3 years ago and it isn't any better today. Hand-wringing CPAs are convinced there's nothing they can do.

But there is.

You really can break free of the low-price wars. But there are a few things you'll need to do. And they take practice. To get started, check out this article (shared with AAM's permission).

PDF: Selling Profitable Work When the Fee-Squeeze is On

It's the Oct feature article for Association for Accounting Marketing's Growth Strategies magazine, and it is a nod to the type of content in my next book: Pricing to Win. Landing the Right Work at the Right Price. 

Would really love your feedback and your questions. They'll help me know what to address within the pages of the book! Thanks!!

 

 

Top 10 Marketing & Sales FAQs for CPA and Law Firm Partners

I wrote these FAQs several years ago for my original website and, when renovating that site, I posted it on a magazine site I used to contribute to. But I just discovered this content is no longer online. Yikes!

It's evergreen material and lots of partners and marketing professionals have said that it's useful so I'm happy to share it again for your reference. 

Top 10 Marketing and Sales FAQs

1. Why do we need to market when we can barely staff the work we have?
2. What is the difference between “marketing” and “selling?”
3. Can I expect a marketer to generate new business leads?
4. How should sales and marketing functions be aligned?
5. What does a marketing person do?
6. How can I tell if our firm needs an in-house marketing person?
7. What level of marketer does my firm need?
8. To whom should the marketer report?
9. When can we expect to see marketing results?
10. How might marketing’s cultural changes affect my firm?

Why do we need to market when we can barely staff the work we have?

Perhaps you don’t.

Trusted Advisors Don't "Surprise Bill" if They Want to Stay Trusted Advisors

Just had an interesting experience with my daughter and my "very highly trusted" dentist.

My phrase is in quotes because CPAs and lawyers frequently tell me their clients don't mind their surprise after-the-fact hourly bills because their "clients trust them." I'm sure they do. Just like I have always trusted my dentist.  

I've trusted my dentist because a) he's a really good guy, b) his office staff is nice, and c) he has always priced me fairly. Sound familiar?

He's not the cheapest in town, but he's reasonable, especially in light of my being a private-pay patient whereas other dentists sometimes charge inflated (as they would for insurance) prices even for private pays.

This recent experience has caused my past unquestioned level of trust to shift to a more skeptical trust. It's because I was surprised with a post-treatment bill that was about 50% higher than I thought the visit was worth.

I don't want this to be seen as one of those gripey, sour-grapes posts. Rather, I want to illustrate how someone whose bill I've never, ever questioned became someone whose prices I will now inquire about in advance—how someone who hasn't been a price-sensitive buyer, is now going to behave like one.

Reaching Gen Y: How DIY, Web Research & Social Media Factor In

I found this article about Gen Y and financial planning (and social media and web research) pretty interesting: "Firms Must Embrace Social Media to Reach Gen Y."

I don't know that I agree that financial advisory firms (or other businesses) MUST embrace social media, per se, to reach Gen Y. But it's a wise approach for exposure since social media dramatically increases your ability to be found online, and Gen Y peeps most definitely turn to the web to find ideas and solutions. And as the article's author Hannah Wu points out, the ability to communicate with your advisors using alternative channels can be perceived as an added benefit.

I think my friends (and past clients) Michael Goodman and Annette Clearwaters, when they co-founded Clarity a few years ago, created a brilliant approach with their DIY-and-as-needed-assist approach geared for exactly the folks Hannah describes. Check out their Glossary, for instance. For beginning investors, the ability to quickly define terms that are new to them is extra comforting.

Annette worked with Michael in his wealth-management practice Wealthstream Advisors which, like most financial-advisory practices, serves people of high-net worth and has higher investment miminums than most people who are starting out will have. Wanting to also help beginning investors who aren't a match for Wealthstream (yet) and both understanding and appreciating the DIY approach that Hannah describes, they launched Clarity. 

How helpful might a DIY or start-with-research person find your website or blog? 

Marketing by Teaching

Since 2005 (for years and years) I've raved about the effectiveness and amazing coolness of sharing your intellectual capital in order to build business. 

It's still one of the most effective and affordable means of marketing out there for professional firms. Today I came upon a recent(ish) post on Mack Collier's blog called "5 Reasons Why You Need to Stop Marketing and Start Teaching." Couldn't agree more. 

To take Mack's post a step further, there are a handful of problems or missed considerations I see in execution, or things that I am asked about when professionals want to know how to get started. Here goes:

1. Let go of the fear of sharing. This is a tough one for CPAs and lawyers. You can't get away with semi-sharing. Hinting that you know something doesn't gain you any cred. Gotta demonstrate it. "Giving it away" isn't going to hurt you and the best business developers have always been the most generous ones. I implore you to watch Jason Fried's video at the bottom of Mack Collier's post. Even if you watch only the first 5 minutes...
2. Know who you're teaching. You cannot overthink when it comes to defining your ideal audience. What you share is going to depend on whose interest you want to catch and hold. If you don't know who your buyers and referrers really are or what they care about, you'll miss the mark. I go into how to define your audience deeply in my book. 
3. Engage with others who create content that relates to yours. One of the best ways to build an audience is to interact with others who have similar interests. Engaging is another word for building relationships. Compare this to referral-source marketing. It's critically important.
4. Don't talk down. This ties in to "know who you're teaching." Good teaching involves clarity and simplicity, but this doesn't mean that you should assume that your audience knows nothing at all. Just be really careful to keep the level appropriate to your readers. I see too many firms err on the side of dumbing it down. Better to err on the side of too-high-level content.
5. Jealousy of the "teachers" among colleagues is dumb. Stop it. Rock stars are good for everyone associated with the record label, right? Your company is the label. Your other people are the emerging artists and your rock stars bring attention to you all.
6. Don't be pitchy. You don't see Emeril blatently hawking his cookware on his cooking show. But he might be using it. Subtlety, people. Nuff said. 

Stop Billing and Ducking, Start Pricing With Options

"Bill and duck" is a term I coined a few years ago.

In the case of CPA firms, billing and ducking is the process of proposing a price (as with an audit), and later billing an extra amount that the client didn't preapprove. The "bill and duck" practice is acting on a temptation to capture result of scope creep combined with a lack of communication.

The scope creep can take a couple forms. Either the original (usually time-based) budget for the work was higher than the price a firm proposed (to get in the door, the firm reduced their price to some amount below budget—probably a number close to the prior-year auditor's fee), or else "other issues arose."

Most commonly, these "other issues" are pinned on the client for not being ready when the job starts. And further blamed on "staff not telling partners before proceeding with the work." (These are actually both the firm's fault, which I discuss in "Retraining Clients When You've Taught Them to Abuse You.")

Billing and ducking is just ugly. So are write-offs. There are better ways.

When a firm wants to get in the door, a low price will often do it. But do yourself a favor and make sure of two things:

1. Scope better. Be very, very, very, very clear about the scope of work—both with the client and with your team.
2. Offer options. By offering options, you can show your lowest (walk-away) price, but you can also move most buyers up.

How Effective is Your Social Marketing?

Veteran CPA firm marketer Katie Tolin had posted an article on the need for a social marketing audit in a LinkedIn group I manage a while back and I just spotted it (yeah, I know, my bad).

I commented there with some specific recommendations and thought I'd share them here with you, too. Here's what I wrote, slightly modified for this blog...

I think it's important for the marketing departmant to have their arms around who in the organization is doing what online (only relevant to the org, of course) and to help those individuals learn the best, most effective ways to interact on the Interwebs.

Knowing where people "are" is a good start, but we (as their marketing educators and supporters) want to help them focus their efforts and be aware of signs of true success so they become increasingly encouraged when they occur.

The signs can be quite subtle and might go unnoticed!

Daylight Savings Time and Your Lost Billable Hour

A Facebook friend said today that she misses her hour. (I miss mine, too.)

It got me thinking about billing by the hour and what someone actually does when he or she works into the wee hours on one of those Saturday nights when an hour is lost (or gained). 

I then remembered with great fondness a terrific blog post I read years ago by The Anonymous Lawyer:

Saturday, April 02, 2005

This is a terrible day. Every year it frustrates me. For no good reason, tonight at 2 A.M. we lose a billable hour. Daylight savings time is ridiculous. Individually, it's not a big deal, but think of it on a firm-wide level. That's hundreds of billable hours. Gone. Without a trace. And don't tell me we get them back in October when the clocks turn the other way, because by October everyone forgets about the debt they incur back in April, and just uses the extra hour to sleep. It's a useless waste of valuable time, and I hate having to tolerate it every single year. Definitely on the list of things I will change when I become chairman of the firm.

Jeremy Blachman's satirical blog about life in Big Law is a riot. You can read about The Anonymous Law Firm here. Is it really fiction? You decide. I think he left law and went on to write books. It's easy to be happy for him...

Ready to Join Firms Who Are Breaking Old Business Models?

Changing workforce mentality, evolving customer/client needs, and transparency of service are shining big, scary spotlights on many of the flaws in the professional-firm business model of old. 

Some problems inherent in the traditional business model are:

• Running firms as democracies instead of visionary businesses precludes innovation and differentiation because decisions result in the common-denominator option that so often comes from "concensus"
• Micromanagement so typical in today's firms doesn't inspire people to do their best work and perpetually decreases morale
• Butts-in-seats or 9-5 culture that doesn't work very well in today's business climate
• Billing customers for work after the fact instead of offering them certainty in price

If you'd like to learn how to break free of these and many more symptoms of a business model that somehow survives (definitely not thrives!) despite its detriments, join VeraSage Institute's educators at one or more of these upcoming events! 

Firm of the Future Forums in Australia - March 2012

Details and tickets available at this special event website for dates as follows:

• Hobart - 2 March
• Melbourne - 5-6 March
• Brisbane - 12-13 March
• Sydney - 15-16 March

The events are organized by VeraSage Senior Fellow John Chisholm (John Chisholm Consulting) along with five enlighted friends of VeraSage: Matthew Tol (Mta OptimaChartered Accountants), Michael Bradley (Marque Lawyers), Michael Stewart (Integrity Wealth), Matthew Burgess (McCullough Robertson Lawyers) and Steve Major (Trusted Authority Partners). 

VeraSage Las Vegas - June 2012

Immediately following the AICPA's PS/Tech & AAM conference (10-13 Jun) VeraSage will host 2 separate but related programs in Las Vegas at the Aria! (The AICPA hotel room rates will apply) 

• Wed, 13 June, 2-6pm
  FREE event open to anyone and will feature Ron Baker, CPAs of various firm sizes who've led their firms through these business-model changes, and will culminate with a live THRIVEcast! Join us for this special edition of the popular podcast series during which Jason Blumer and VeraSage Fellow (& stand-up comedian) Greg Kyte will grill interview Mark Koziel of the AICPA and Tom Hood of Maryland Association of CPAs. For a hint of what they might cover, see Greg's February Accounting Update (video below) tackling the recently released AICPA's CPA Horizons 2025 report.

• Thu, 14 June, 8am-6pm
  Program (not free, pricing TBA soon) features back-to-back plenary sessions led by VeraSage Founders Ron Baker and Dan Morris and Senior Fellows Michelle Golden, Ed Kless and Jay Shepherd in the morning. Dynamic workshops follow in the afternoon covering the subjects of Setting Price & Scope, Conducting the Value Conversation, Project Management, and Managing People in a Timeless Firm. Registration will be open to anyone and details will be available soon. 

• If you'd like to be notified when registration opens, email me with "VS-LasVegas" in your subject line!