In the good old days, the Accountancy Profession relied heavily on audit revenues. Like a car MOT it was something that was needed every year and Accountants enjoyed the stability that audit work provided; even though clients occasionally moaned about the fees very few ever switched to another firm.

As the audit threshold slowly increased over the past 10 years many a small firm paid the price for their complacency as they watched the foundations of their business dissolve. Those who survived were forced to provide services that their clients actually wanted.

As firms struggle through the financial crisis once again revenues have been hit. Perhaps it’s time to find a hungry crowd.

Where do you start?

Admittedly I’m bored of hearing about how social networking is changing the way we live and work; some use it for mindless blurting about nothing. Common Craft provide an excellent explanation of how Twitter can identify local and national trends and inform local businesses.

ACCA regularly tweets news updates on a variety of subjects. This is easy to duplicate but Blogger Mark Lee suggests that accountants should go a step further and use twitter to monitor what their clients are saying about them. This creates an opportunity to explore new business opportunities and monitor existing relationships.

In the right hands these social networking platforms become cost free market intelligence tools with negligible training costs.

Even for a risk averse accountant, the numbers speak for themselves…

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I normally keep quiet about resources like this, because I’m not a very sharing and caring person. When you get to be an old curmudgeon like me, you start to get selfish with your resources. Notice that I didn’t give you the names of the other two resources I subscribed to? Now, breaking this habit is hard, and the only reason I am writing about this secret resource because this week he wrote in his newsletter about something near and dear to this old accountants heart … checklists.

In his newsletter, which you can find at this weeks Denny Hatch's Business Common Sense, Denny gives a checklist he created for Direct Marketers, and which he has updated for today’s electronic world, as well as “The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right” by Dr. Atul Gawande. The book is available in hardcover or audio.

Getting a handle on all the things you have to do to market your practice can be as simple as building a checklist and following it.

With a checklist, you’ll have the ability to delegate mundane and repetitive tasks, and check your progress as you go along. Even knowing where you are and what comes next will reduce your stress and increase your skills by relegating even the most complicated tasks to an orderly process.

Checklists were first introduced by the U.S. Air Force, and have enabled pilots to fly even the most complicated aircraft. Today, every pilot has a checklist to go through before they even fire up their engines. Checklists are even being adopted in hospitals to help doctors and nurses respond to everything from flu epidemics to avalanches.

In his book, Gawande explains how checklists can be used to achieve striking and immediate improvements in every process. The Checklist Manifesto is essential reading for anyone working to build and run a successful practice.

Developing Rainmaker marketing skills will help you achieve that goal. But, if you want to know if all the stuff you are doing is working, you need to track your progress. Here are the five best measures of that progress …

1. Brand Awareness is a measurement of the propensity for a client or prospect to recall your firm. To the uninitiated outsider, accounting and the related tax services are a commodity. There is no discernible difference in the product between one practitioner and the next. Prospects will make their selection based on recall and association with the predominant message in their mind. As a local practitioner, you can measure your Brand Awareness through techniques such as attendance at your public seminars and speaking events, or mentions in articles and requests for interviews by local media.

2. Test Drive is also very important when it comes to measuring your progress. You may be closing a high percentage of your presentations, but if you’re only getting in front of a handful of people each week, then you likely aren’t getting very many new clients. There are many ways to measure how many prospects you are developing, including enrollments in workshops and classes you give and subscriptions to your newsletter. If people like the services you offer, your client count will increase. These folks will also tell their friends about you, and then the viral loop will continue as they tell their friends about you.

3. Churn is another key metric for evaluating practice improvement. The industry average in the accounting profession is a twenty percent churn rate. This means that each year you have to replace one out of every five of your clients. If you are losing more than twenty percent of your clients in an average year, then your client retention is below average. You can increase client retention by increasing the share of your clients wallets through higher fees, additional fee based services and improved service quality. Simply adding additional services can have a marked improvement on client retention. The churn rate for a practice offering five or more specialty services is less than ten percent!

4. To evaluate your progress you also want to keep tabs on your Customer Satisfaction. Ideally, your clients will be so happy with your service that they will become Evangelists for you and your practice. That’s a goal worth pursuing, considering many clients consider accounting and consulting services as a utility and become inured to your presence. A simple measurement can be the response to a question such as “Would you recommend our practice to your friends and neighbors?” giving your client an opportunity for a simple up or down yes/no answer.

5. Close Rate is also worth measuring. Your Close Rate is the ratio of the number of presentations you make to the number of client engagements you close. If you have a low close rate, your presentation and offer value isn’t engaging prospects. You also aren’t captivating prospects if they aren’t requesting presentations.

Let’s stay in touch!

You have knowledge and experience, and you have a passion that you wanted to share with the world but it was not necessarily what the world wanted to hear.

To avoid the waste of both time and emotional energy caused by failed projects you need to understand the mindset of a client. Your client doesn’t care where your degree is from, or how good your grades were, they don’t even care if you have a license or certification from the state.

All your client cares about is whether they can trust you to do your job.

And just exactly how do you get that across to your clients and your new prospects? How do they discover the trust you want them to have?

The easiest method is to become recognized as an expert. As an expert, you are looked up to and trusted.

But here, we’re not just talking about being knowledgeable, we’re talking about marketing yourself in a way that you are perceived as knowledgeable. We’re talking about getting speaking engagements, writing reports, articles, and white papers. We’re talking about becoming an author and getting published.

Sounds like a lot of hard work doesn’t it? And then youre faced with the problem of how to create all the papers, speeches and other work product youll need in order to appear to be a knowledgeable expert.

You could try to hire yourself a booking agent to get you speaking engagements, plus a ghostwriter to prepare speeches, articles and reports.

Since a booking agent works on a commission, you’ll probably have a hard time convincing them you have any value as a commodity. The typical booking agent is going to be looking for somebody who can start at $2,000 to $3,000 per speaking engagement.

It’s pretty easy to find a ghostwriter, but quite hard to find a skilled and knowledgeable ghostwriter, who can write about bookkeeping, accounting or taxes. If you find a writer who is skilled in these fields, then you’re probably looking at something like $1,000 a page to write a typical report. Certainly not the $5-$10 a page you find people quoting on the Internet.

When you are presenting yourself to your local market, you need to be able to present knowledge and expertise, whereas on the Internet it’s mostly about having relevant keywords that match the search engines spider’s algorithm.

You try giving a speech full of keywords (commonly referred to as buzzwords) to the local Chamber of Commerce, you will absolutely lose any credibility you may have had.

Probably the easiest solution is to find yourself a mentor, possibly a retired accountant or financial professional, with a penchant for writing. If you get lucky, they may even have a drawer full of old reports and speeches they developed when they were in active practice.

If so, then they may be willing to let you use their materials as a resource. Be prepared to pay a small price, either by purchase or royalty, if necessary.

Alternatively, you may be better off subscribing to an online resource, such as and selecting from an inventory of pre-written speeches, articles, reports and other materials. When subscribing to an online service, you usually have the assurance that the material you receive will be the most up-to-date available, plus many such online services also provide Print-on-Demand services for your materials, as well as private label materials they provide.

Once you have developed or acquired an inventory of material you can use for articles, reports and speeches, your next step is to present this information in a way that will get you recognized as a knowledgeable expert, whether it is as a speaker in front of a group, such as a local civic organization, or in a printed form, such as a workbook or manual for business owners.

Many times, in addition to providing materials and resources, online subscription services also provide advice and guidance getting speaking engagements as well as methods on how to generate income from your speaking engagements.

By becoming recognized and remembered as a knowledgeable expert, either through your own expertise, or through the use of a volunteer or paid mentor, you will gain the reputation necessary to earn the trust in the minds of clients and prospects that should create a deluge of clients and fees.

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When I advised them that I wasn’t qualified, they said “You have a website and you had several accounting offices, can’t you help me out a little bit? I only have a 1040 and a few schedules to fill out.” (They turned out to be Schedules A, C, four E’s, and a bunch of D’s. And, oh, they wanted me to do a Cost Segregation Study. After all, I am an accountant.

The first thing that went through my mind was “Why me?” But then I kindly explained that taxes and accounting rules change over time. Taxes every day, accounting rules, every year or so. Me, I haven’t done a commercial return in over twelve years. I didn’t even know that homeowner basis rollovers were gone until my wife told me.

The things that don’t change are the principles of marketing. And, when you’re an old geezer like I am, change is not something that floats my boat. So I talk about what I know, and what professionals can use that is in my area of expertise.

Rainmaker style marking involves positioning yourself as a knowledgeable and skilled professional. That is the essence of the Rainmaker Strategy. Rainmaker strategy and tactics are what this site is about. It’s what I discovered along the way in building four small offices. It was the method I enjoyed, and it sure beat the heck out of cold calling.

In a nutshell, or in a small wafer like cone, whichever analogy you want to use, you can get your Rainmaker Marketing program started by getting up in front of groups and speaking. You can give classes and coach small business owners. You can get articles published in your local newspaper, or even get your own book published. These are things you can start working on while you are sitting at your desk, or while you are at your kids Little League.

You can also develop practice specialties. Payroll, Cost Segregation Studies, Tax Problem Resolution, Niche Auditing, or any other field that sets you apart.

If you want to get started, just bookmark this site and come back on a regular basis and see how you can build that million dollar practice you’ve always wanted.

Let’s stay in touch!

If someone wants to start giving speeches on business management topics, instead of writing their own, if they are a member or subscriber, they can download one here. If they want to kick-start their teaching and coaching, we have seminars and training courses, complete with teacher guides, handouts and lesson plans. They can download them here. We provide a bunch of ready made stuff the consultant can download and use as a starting point in their practice building.

We also provide PLR materials that will give them credit as the co-author of their own book. PLR stands for “Private Label Rights.” The subscriber gets to label the work as their own and receive credit as a co-author.

So finally I’m sending out samples of a fantastic new title to a group of subscribers who will each share in the authorship, and will get to label the book as their own, and use it in marketing their services. It has been a chore developing this title, and six weeks past its expected publication, it is scheduled to ship on Tuesday.

But, let me tell you, this weekend I have been stuck in the print shop from Hades. For six weeks it has been write, format, edit, rewrite and reformat. Over and over on something I thought was finished and my customers were chomping at the bit for.

So Wednesday, finally it’s ready …. yeah, right.

First, I have to print the document to PDF to make sure the formatting holds, and that the odd and even pages are aligned right for chapter breaks. Okay it looks good in Word, so let’s create the PDF.

You guessed it. My hard drive is full and there is no room to save this enormous PDF. Road Trip!

I live in the woods. I mean in the woods. It takes me fifteen to twenty minutes to get to the public road. It then takes me an hour and a half to get to a store where I can get a hard drive. (Big plug here for in Marietta, GA) I get one. A whole day used going to town and back.

Thursday, I go to town again to get the large format 11×17 book covers printed. Full color, glossy, one for each co-author to be. Thursday night I try to install the hard drive. Have to call tech support for help in formatting and partitioning (Old folks don’t do those things, you know.), but it’s after hours. Another day gone.

Friday, I get tech support and partition the hard drive, and now have enough space to save the file and send it to the printer. Printer jams and I can’t find the sliver of paper that is causing the problem. Off to Marietta on Saturday to buy a new printer. Getting the gist of the story here, are you?

Buy a new printer. Sunday I start installing it when my toner and printer guy returns my call from the day before. Walks me through finding the problem. Old high speed printer working again. Get books printed, eat supper and go to the bindery.

So I bind the books and they’re looking good. I get ready to trim them. Trimming takes three cuts, one on the outer edge and one at each of the top and bottom.

I start trimming with the outer edge. I get them all done but the last one, which gets caught in the paper cutter when the release wheel breaks off in my hand.

It’s bed time.

Who woulda thunk it? But, when I looked at my traffic logs (Google Analytics), traffic was up by over 4,500%, just in the week since I added the feature.

As you can imagine, I’m sorry that I had to take that thing down if it was going to be such a major draw. But, I guess it’s a case of the brighter they burn, the faster they burn out. (Is that why I’m so tired? LOL)

What’s the point of this?

Well, almost all marketing is like that … move too fast, and you run the chance of overload or burn out. On the internet, Google will actually penalize marketers who build too rapidly, especially if they think it is an artificial push to get noticed.

Now, showing the Tweets of Tweeple I Follow wasn’t intended as a rapid traffic generator. I did hope it would generate some interest, and only included Tweeple I thought might have something to say. I didn’t realize that other folks might think they had something to say. I thought they were all talking directly to me.

Which is something that a good Rainmaker has to do. When you are in your practice building mode, you must talk directly to each person. You are marketing to an audience of one, and you must talk with them, not to them. That’s why I was following these folks, and that is why other folks were following them.

Keep that in mind. I know I will.

Let’s stay in touch!

Well, bend over. The IRS wants you to help them help you.

Now, it’s not as bad as it sounds. Or, is it? The IRS is seeking public comments on proposed regulations that will add a new form and new disclosures to all corporations with over$10 million in assets. If you’re in construction, that’s maybe two cranes, and small asphalt plant. Whoops, did we just say, almost every small business?

They want you to disclose your clients tax position on any questionable matter you might include in their return, and they want you to figure what their additional tax liability might be if they rule against you. Frivolous position, taxes and penalty. Large savings estimate, potential audit target. Doing the form, research, fees, and risk. What’s the upside?

Only thing I have been able to figure is showing “good faith” when you make disclosure of a position that you have a reasonable expectation of being upheld.

Don’t do it, and you’ve tacked on another penalty for lack of “good faith.”

You can read more about it at John Cummings Blog

This is where I say something sarcastic like “Have a nice day.”

See you soon

Tax preparation is a hard way to make a living.

Oh yeah, it’s alluring to think of all that money you’re going to make in just three months of hard work, and it’s wonderful to think about being able to take the rest of the year off and lie on the sunny beaches of Bora Bora. But, in addition to the annual rite of tax education, software updates and training, stressful deadlines and clients upset about their tax bill, there’s the question of whose business is it really? Does the tail wag the dog?

This year it is dawning on a lot of preparers that the RAL business is drying up.

In my recent post I talked about the problems Jackson-Hewitt and Liberty Tax were having with their RAL funding. H&R Block dodged the bullet by having previously purchased their own bank as a funding source. Liberty Tax has been shopping for a bank for over a year, but can’t seem to get the financing pulled together.

However, last May Congress passed the CARD Act — short for the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009. Among its provisions, hidden deep in the bowels was language that limited interest rates on loans from Federally regulated depository institutions to 36%. This provision extends to banks funding Refund Anticipation Loans, effectively drying up the market for products that were sold with add-on fees that caused the APR to reach over 100%, a rate banks needed to have in order to pay practitioners to market the product, and to cover loan losses for a very risky product.

Banks are getting out of the RAL business!

I’ll repeat that. Banks are getting out of the RAL business.

Liberty, Jackson-Hewitt and H&R Block all built their businesses on the back of the RAL return. H&R has already started re-positioning itself in the market. The instant return type of marketing is being replaced by ads encouraging taxpayers to ask questions and look to H&R for advice. Liberty and Jackson-Hewitt locations haven’t quite made the change, but I can guarantee you it won’t be long.

There is a big lesson to be learned here.

These guys put all their eggs in one basket. They were essentially sales reps for bank loans, working on commission selling someone else’s product.

Their product was not their tax return preparation business. Their product was the banks RAL that they sold. Their profit came from the commissions they earned on that sale. Are you a tax preparer or a salesman for a bank? What is your business model? Do your clients look at you as an expert, or do they look at you as a representative for someone else?

Maybe it’s time you took a good look at your business model and decided which you were more comfortable at. Being self sufficient and secure offering your own services and products, or getting that commission check by represnting someone else’s products … whether its RALs, Mutual Funds, Cost Seg studies, or whatever.

Decide whether you want to own the product, or be dependent on the ability of your vendor.

I’ve got some cool tools available here on this website. Maybe you should take a look at some of them and see if they can help you break out of the rat race.

See you soon,

Probably not. But a better question is “Will public speaking make your clients and prospects THINK you’re an expert?” If that’s the question, then the answer is probably “yes.”

You see, most folks are afraid to stand up in front of a crowd and run their mouth. I’ll bet you are, or were, also. You probably still have reservations, else you wouldn’t be researching the subject and reading this page. Makes you all warm and cuddly inside to know folks can read you like that, doesn’t it?

You see, folks who are hesitant about getting up in front of an audience, are usually insecure about their knowledge and expertise, and their first assumption is that if someone has the courage to do that, then they must know their subject well, otherwise they would be too afraid to step up to the podium.

Well, I’ll let you in on a widdy biddy seecwet.

Every one of them is scared. They have the same heebie-jeebies you do, every time they get up in front of an audience and start to talk. They may have developed a way to handle their fears, or disguise them, but they’re still sweating bullets. I guarantee you.

Many, many, years ago. Almost to the dawn of recorded time, I went to the left coast to seek my fortune, and became friends with a guy who was a big-time movie star. His name was Arthur O’Connell, and he was rather well known for his acting ability. To the point where he had been nominated for at least two Academy Awards, back when they meant something.

I met Arthur and his wife while he was performing on the main stage at the small college I was attending. Arthur was so nervous during the performances that I remained behind stage with a thermos of herbal tea for him. He would drink some of this herbal tea just before each time he went onstage, to help him relax and finish his performance.

I’ve spoken hundreds of times before prospective clients, and each time, I was nervous. These days I give several webinars a month and I’m still as nervous as a newbie. It doesn’t go away.

But, Arthur became known for his acting skill, despite being nervous. I have been recognized as an “expert,” but I still don’t feel like one. But, both of us faced our fears and stood up to be counted.

You can do the same. All you have to do is take action.

Let me know what you think of this idea.

And, let’s stay in touch!

PS - If you’re wanting to get started using public speaking as a tool to build your professional practice, take a look at