How much better our society would be if everyone did what is right. I choose not to watch the news much because it’s so depressing but I made an exception last night and, as predicted, it was depressing. So much so that I feel compelled to share Continue reading “Financial literacy raises its head again”
Category: Your Clients
The Why and the How to Measure Customer Lifetime Value
They–the nameless and faceless people who make predictions about everything from the weather to the stock market–say it costs 6 times more to acquire a customer than it does to retain an existing customer. Interestingly, the literature contains references to acquisition to retention cost ratios ranging from 3:1 to 30:1. Quite frankly, I don’t know if the 6:1 metric is an urban myth or a thoroughly researched observation but I do believe Continue reading “The Why and the How to Measure Customer Lifetime Value”
Why Most Small Businesses Fail or Only Achieve Modest Success
Studies of business survival over many years reveal a disturbing fact: five out of ten businesses do not survive more than five years and as few as 3 out of those that do survive the first five years live to Continue reading “Why Most Small Businesses Fail or Only Achieve Modest Success”
The Three Business Owner Types and Why You Need to Know Who They Are
There are 3 basic types of people involved with business ownership. They are Investors, owner-managers who primarily work “IN” their business so we’ll call then IN-guys, and owner-managers who primarily work “ON” their business so we’ll call them ON-guys. If you want to grow the business advisory side of your firm you need Continue reading “The Three Business Owner Types and Why You Need to Know Who They Are”
Worthy Cause Marketing is a powerful tool for being good and doing good
Michael Houlihan and Bonnie Harvey founded Barefoot Wine in 1986 almost by accident. They knew little about wine and had no idea what they were letting themselves in for at the time. They sold the business to E & J Gallo in 2005 and what they created has become the world’s largest selling wine brand. The story of how this amazing business Continue reading “Worthy Cause Marketing is a powerful tool for being good and doing good”
Educating your clients’ team members about the bottom line
When I was in practice one of my favorite services was facilitating Towards Awesome Service. There were several reasons for this: first, it was a very profitable service; second it was fun because the group always got engaged; and third, it inevitably led to more work with the client because it led to immediate results in the business both culturally and financially. Continue reading “Educating your clients’ team members about the bottom line”
An unexpected way to acquire a new client
It never ceases to amaze me how much value accountants can add to their clients (and themselves) if only they are willing to take the time to have a conversation with their clients to better understand their aspirations and the vision they have for their business. This is a classic case in point. I recently recorded an interview with Rachel Ray who, at one time, Continue reading “An unexpected way to acquire a new client”
If You Want to Break From The Pack, Innovation is the Key
As I prepare material for our up-coming Practice Innovation Workshops I’ve been doing a lot of research into the process of creative idea generation (specifically how to teach it and how to implement it) because at the end of the day that’s what ultimately gives business enterprises (and that includes accounting firms and their clients) a competitive edge. Continue reading “If You Want to Break From The Pack, Innovation is the Key”
We all see things differently
This photograph of a group of young Parisian children watching a puppet show was taken by the famous photographer, Alfred Eisenstaedt in 1963. When I saw it I could not help thinking how us humans (big and small) can look at exactly the same thing and experience a totally different emotional response. Continue reading “We all see things differently”
Are you showing your clients why they need to give attention to metrics such as average transaction value?
Businesses that have regular repeat customers need to focus on retaining these customers’ loyalty and developing ways to increase transaction frequency and value. Businesses that deal with irregular (or once-only) customers need to give relatively more attention to encouraging advocacy and especially to improving the effectiveness of the sales process—those businesses generally have high-value products or services. Continue reading “Are you showing your clients why they need to give attention to metrics such as average transaction value?”