Author: admin

Last night I had a conversation with 4 accountants who appeared to be in a contest for “who has the worst, barmiest, annoying client” competition. It is amazing that even these “switched on” accountants still work with these types of clients. Each admitted that they consume huge amounts of time and energy and are bad…

Have you ever met someone and found it difficult to strike up a conversation, don’t necessarily ‘get’ what they’re saying?  Chances are they don’t have the same values as you. Your values and beliefs differentiate you as an individual and attract like-minded people to you. Those with the closest values are your loved ones, your very close…

For a Father’s day get together, my family and the families of my two sisters had arranged to take my parents out for dinner. For a variety of reasons, we agreed on our local Harvester pub and on the following Tuesday since Father’s day itself didn’t work for us all. So we pre-booked a week…

I often hear this phrase about an employee… “They are really sweet but I just can’t trust them to do everything they are supposed to!” Sound familiar?   Well, you have 2 choices: Get rid of them – if you can’t trust them to do the work you will be constantly worrying about it and…

A common set of metrics that are measured within an Accountancy Practice might include: – Turnover, Gross Recurring Fee Income, Profits, Average Fee Per Client … Do these resonate with you? Do they move and inspire you? Some of these don’t reflect success and some are consequences of doing the right things. What’s the right thing for you? Drive to strive…

Observation 1: Most Accountants hate selling Observation 2: Most Accountants are great listeners   Let’s face it, few of us enjoy ‘selling’ in the conventional sense of the word, it feels uncomfortable, you sense that the guard goes up when you begin discussing products and services that are over and above what your prospective client –…

Trying to get your business off the ground but it just won’t fly? The analogy that you are bumping along the runway, seatbelts fastened and awaiting the take-off, but it just doesn’t happen……. It’s frustrating and regardless of the amount of time and effort you put in….. you are still bouncing along. Sometimes as you…

Today I heard a wonderful example of combining great customer service with “fun with a serious intent” Val at Beyond the Numbers was telling me how her team had realised that many of their conversations with clients include jargon that we expect clients to understand.  Phrases like “we’ll journal that in your accounts” or “we…

It can be quite lonely running an Accountancy Practice can’t it. In our personal lives we have family and friends who we can share companionship with, air feelings, frustrations and emotions with.  But in our business lives we don’t always get the chance to do that do we?  Even having a team of people or…