I had a conversation with a leader in the media recently during which he mentioned that a software vendor had told him his company’s product could help accountants perform in 15 minutes a task that typically would take 3 hours when done in a traditional manner. Continue reading “Why technology is not necessarily the answer”
Category: Your Practice
Differentiation is the Difference Maker
If that’s not a truism I don’t know what is. And yet if you were to look at the market positioning of accounting firms 97.5% all say the same thing about what they do and for whom they do it. They seek to be “different” by talking about their experience and skill, how long they’ve been in practice, how many offices they have, the range of services they offer, the quality of their service, accessibility to “experts” e.g. you’ll get to deal with a partner … blah, blah, blah. Continue reading “Differentiation is the Difference Maker”
Keys for Driving Your Innovation Potential
I can say with confidence based on more than 30 years of research involving both desktop analytics and face to face interviews with practitioners that THE difference between the industry leading firms and the rest of the pack is NOT superior operational efficiency (although that is at a high level) it is a superior business model. Continue reading “Keys for Driving Your Innovation Potential”
Soft is Hard and Hard is Soft
Peters and Waterman published In Search of Excellence in 1982. It had a profound impact on the direction of my life but that’s not important. What is important is the 7-S model that they revealed in that publication remains today, one of the mainstay’s of the McKinsey consulting methodology. Continue reading “Soft is Hard and Hard is Soft”
The Mindset of a Winner
Can you imagine going to McDonalds and asking for a curry then wait while they shut down the grill so they an make your meal? I laughed when I hear this question posed by David Maister. In the conversation I’m referring to he added a hugely important point that is not understood by so many practitioners and that is, if you really want to known for something you can’t do a little bit of a lot of things.
This is precisely the same point Seth Godin makes in the video interview below that is appropriately titled the Mindset of a Winner. The interview took place around the time he published his read-in-an-afternoon book called The Dip which is well worth reading.
In the Dip, Godin starts by taking issue with an inspirational Lombardi quote about quitters never winning and winners never quitting. He suggests that winners often quit but what makes the difference is they know when to quit: they just quit (or choose not to do) the right stuff at the right time. He then goes on to give guidance on when to quit and when to persevere. I think this is essential reading for people who have a tendency to FTI.
I wrote a Briefing Paper for our Practice Innovation Workshop participants that draws together Godin’s thoughts with the Hedgehog Concept that Jim Collins talks about in Good To Great – another book worthy of your eyes if you want to build a great firm. If you would like to download a copy of the briefing paper click here.
Nothing is forever … take Kodak for example
In the mid 1970s Steven Sasson, an employee of Kodak, demonstrated a prototype of a device that weighed 8 pounds and needed a suitcase to transport. It was the world’s first digital camera. The photos were stored on a cassette tape, they took 21 seconds to raster and boasted quality of 0.01 megapixels. Continue reading “Nothing is forever … take Kodak for example”
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”
If not excellence what? If not excellence now, when?
The first business book I picked up and enthusiastically read, because it was inherently readable and extraordinarily interesting, was In Search of Excellence by Tom Peters and Bob Waterman. In a real sense it changed my life because it was the catalyst that led to my moving out of academia into the “real” world of public accounting. Continue reading “If not excellence what? If not excellence now, when?”
Service Positioning When Your Prospects Are Human
When you put a service proposal in front of a client she will make a decision to go ahead with the proposal or reject it. If she was acting as a rational economic agent she would assess the potential payoff against the expected cost of the proposal and she would go ahead with the proposal if the payoff exceeded the cost. In the real world it’s more complicated than that and the way you frame your proposal can have a dramatic impact of whether it is accepted or rejected. Continue reading “Service Positioning When Your Prospects Are Human”