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(New articles last added: July 20, 1997) Filler Articles for Your Newsletters One of the visitors to this site suggested that I provide some legal/accounting marketing "filler" articles that could be used in internal newsletters. Here you go! Use these any way that you like. I'll add to this page periodically, so check back. Please just use this attribution on any that you reprint: Copyright 1997-98 by Kaye Vivian If you find any good short tips to share or want to pass along a good quote, send me a message. Be sure to cite the source. Choose a category to jump right to it or scroll down the page
Creating an Interactive Web Site Today an increasing number of professional services firms have web sites on the Internet. Unfortunately, most of these web sites are little more than the equivalent of an on-line brochure. The web is a dynamic medium, and effective web sites invite participation rather than viewing. To energize your web site and get people to spend time there getting to know your firm, try the following:
What's Hot in Web-Based Communications? Most companies have Internet and/or Intranet web sites these days. And while ``flashy technology" is not what drives successful communication endeavors, it's still important to plan your sites now based on what is coming down the road. Here are some quick explanations of terms you may already be hearing about. Java. Java is a programming language used to create ``applets" that can transcend various operating systems. A primary business use is to access legacy databases of information in various formats and make them available across platforms. Dynamic HTML. A new version of HTML, the language used to program web pages for display. DHTML allows designers to design in layers and use style sheets without losing tables. It can also access databases. XML. Considered ``the next big thing" for the Web, XML provides a range of options that will involve the whole computer interacting with the Internet. Upcoming versions of Microsoft and Netscape browsers will support XML. ActiveX. Primarily used on Windows-based machines, ActiveX is a Microsoft program useful for companies with a lot of DOS-based operations, allowing them to run from Internet web pages. Marketing Is Marketing an Expense or an Investment? Since most professional services firm accounting systems treat all strategic costs as expenses, it can be difficult to make the shift to thinking of marketing as an investment. Expenses are costs to be reduced where possible. Yet marketing is an investment, and like any well managed investment can increase firm value and partner income. Thinking of marketing dollars as strategic costs, rather than expense costs, it is easier for firm management to set the ground rules for how to invest those dollars to get the best return. Like other strategic costs, it is a long term investment. Firms that fight the urge to reduce their marketing investment in the bad times and increase it in the good times will have a better payoff over the years than those with a more short-term view. How Much Should We Invest in Marketing? Various studies by the AICPA and MAP indicate that most accounting firms spend between one and three per cent of their firm revenue on out-of-pocket marketing costs. This average does not typically include the value of staff time spent on marketing related activities. Other surveys have shown that firms spend 2-5%. These typically include all marketing related costs. Four Building Blocks of Marketing Priority Four audience categories should be included in marketing planning: clients, referral sources, target markets and the general business community. The way you market to each group is different because the outcome you want from each group is different.
While the marketing tactics used to reach each group helps to build awareness, build the firm's reputation and get face to face contact, it's still the personal partner or professional staff's involvement that gets the business. The Advantages of Cross Selling Cross selling or selling add-on services is one of the most profitable uses of marketing time. Tradition tells us that existing clients already know and trust the firm and are likely to be receptive to suggestions for other services that they need. The advantages are:
Ask yourself whether your existing clients know that the firm has specialties in other areas. Consider ways in which you can introduce firm specialists to each of your existing clients. You'll score points with your client, with your partners, and with additional billings. What's in Your Personal Marketing Toolbox? For different people trying to reach different audiences, different tools do the job better. Which of these tools do you use? Which others can you develop in order to reach more prospects?
Proposals Tips for Managing a Q&A Session Whether following a proposal presentation, in a client meeting, or after a seminar presentation, everyone can use these pointers for managing a Q&A session better.
Important Things to Highlight in Retention Proposals Reproposals or retention proposals for existing clients are some of the most difficult proposals to prepare because the service team often feels in a defensive position, particularly if there have been challenging service issues. There are a number of reasons why clients ask for proposals, including management changes, Board requirements, regulatory requirements and mergers or acquisitions where another firm performs similar services. In a retention situation:
If there is new management, spend time documenting the history of the firm's relationship, achievements and concern for the client's best interests. Express willingness to adopt new procedures and help hold down costs, a certain concern of every new executive. Planning (to come)
Want to Grab the Broadcast Spotlight? More and more professional services firms are using elevision and radio for marketing. It's important to research your target programs or stations thoroughly before making contact. Here are some tips to help you grab the spotlight:
Sales Mistakes CPAs and Attorneys Make in Selling
Make Sure Your Direct Mail Answers All the Questions Before you sit down to write a direct mail piece or advertising copy or flyer, write down your answers to these questions:
According to Richard Connor and Jeffrey Davidson in Getting New Clients, It's not just knowing what to say when you make your calls, but you also need to know when to call. Some times of day are better than others for contacting prospects. Get to know the ebb and flow times of your contact's work environment and industry. You may be more successful if you phone:
Other Topics Gesturing can reinforce your message and make your presentation more interesting to watch. It can also help you to relax. You don't want to overuse gestures, but most people can gesture more visibly and more often during a presentation than during normal conversation and have it look natural. When you are at the podium, what may seem an exaggeration to you will actually come across as natural. Try these tips.
A speech you prepare is a big investment of time and effort. Be sure you get the most possible mileage from your speeches.
Networking is an important way to develop new business opportunities, yet for many professionals it's their least favorite marketing activity. These pointers can help you networkbetter and get results.
vw New wv ``The future is in the hands of those who can give tomorrow's generations valid reasons to live and hope." --Pierre Tielhard de Chardin ``The best way to predict the future is to invent it." --Alan Kay ``A desk is a dangerous place from which to observe the world." --John Le Carre ``It is better by a noble boldness to run the risk of being subject to half of the evils we anticipate, than to remain in cowardly listlessness for fear of what may happen." --Herodotus ``Next to being shot at and missed, nothing is really quite as satisfying as an income tax refund." -- F.J. Raymond ``He who walks in another's tracks leaves no footprints." -- Joan L. Brannon ``Success is often just an idea away." -- Frank Tyger ``Business and life are like a bank account--you can't take out more than you put in." -- William Feather ``I found that the men and women who got to the top were those who did the jobs they had in hand, with everything they had of energy and enthusiasm and hard work." -- Harry S. Truman vw wv "A potential client could care less as to whether a firm thinks it has the best professionals or the most sophisticated approach or that they have previously obtained outstanding results. The [potentiall] client's question is What can you do for me and my problems?' This is a question that professionals must ultimately address if they are going to successfully market services to potential clients." --McNeil Stokes "Most account failures are not caused by incompetence but by incompatibility between the client's most pressing needs and the firm's top skills." --Alan Towers "You need to give your people enough time to market. It's hard to get excited about marketing when you're already working more than 50 hours a week and it's only August." --David Cottle ``Remember that the goal in developing written proposals should be to move away from standardized text and toward a proposal so specific to each prospective client's needs that it cannot be used as the basis for any other proposal opportunity." --Kaye Vivian "If in the last few years you haven't discarded a major opinion or acquired a new one, check your pulse. You may be dead." --Gelett Burgess "The key to marketing success is not how good you are, but how you're perceived." --David Cottle "To improve the quality of your service, lower client expectations or raise their perceptions." --David Cottle "Unless you advertise a specific service in terms of a specific need, or solution to a problem, your ad isn't even going to get read, much less make an impression. Offer a solution to a specific problem, and you might get some attention." --Bruce Marcus ``Choose your service team strategically for proposals, and consider their experience within the specific industry. The prospective client will not be impressed by availability." --Kaye Vivian "Most CPA marketing plans are really quite good, but the breakdown comes when the planning and image building is not followed up by an aggressive selling effort. Good strategy without strong execution is a losing game." --Fred Labowitz "The key to marketing success is not how good you are, but how you're perceived." --David Cottle "Advertising, even when millions are spent on it, and eve if the ads perfectly reflect and project the position, won't produce a single client if there isn't a well-rounded support program that includes some projection of specific capability." -- Bruce Marcus "To improve the quality of your service, lower client expectations or raise their perceptions." --David Cottle "Most CPA marketing plans are really quite good, but the breakdown comes when the planning and image building is not followed up by an aggressive selling effort. Good strategy without strong execution is a losing game." --Fred Labowitz "CPAs make two mistakes. One, they give up too quickly. Two, they think that what you send out from a CPA firm should be very technical. They're wrong--it should be just the opposite." --Melvin Poteshman "A proposal is much more than a document--it is a process of persuasive communication." --Kaye Vivian "CPAs make two mistakes. One, they give up too quickly. Two, they think that what you send out from a CPA firm should be very technical. They're wrong--it should be just the opposite." --Melvin Poteshman From the AICPA marketing conference in 1988 (and still true!):
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