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Measuring your success
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…
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Asking for what you don’t want
A strange thing happened the other day. I was at the gym with my personal trainer and he set me a really horrible exercise. The exercise itself doesn’t matter, the point it is left me absolutely knackered. Muscles hurting, chest pounding, lungs bursting. “How was that?” he asked. “Bloody horrible,” I said, “I’m in pain…
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Selling vs Listening
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 –…
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How Much Do You Actually Need To Be Financially Safe ?
A few months ago, I was introduced to a successful businessman – let’s call him Dave – who agreed to be interviewed for research towards my next book. The theme of the book is around drive, motivation and purpose and it became clear that Dave was, indeed, a very driven person, with numerous financially profitable…
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Accountants – they are all the same
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…
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“Fun with a serious intent”
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…
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Being part of something special
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…
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My Shock at Accountex
I had the pleasure of attending Accountex this year for the full 2 days, being able to take some time to speak to accountants in practice about the challenges they are facing at the moment. There seems to be a lot of talk about what to use as a practice management tool, with there being…
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How AVN helped Goddards Accountants grow by 30% in one year
In a nutshell Goddards Accountants is based in West Molesey, Surrey and is an independent firm made up of highly experienced finance professionals. Manager, Derek Williamson, is passionate about the future of his firm and the accounting industry, that’s why he has built a team of young and enthusiastic qualified and part-qualified accountants. The team…
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How to Prioritise Systemising your Business Part 3
In two previous articles, I spoke about different ways in which you can systemise your business. The first of these was to take a look at your to-do list and look at which things would be easy to systemise. The second was starting with your customer facing systems and ensure that every time you interact…
