January 2002a- Each month this page will be updated with new tips and ideas and the previous content archived. As time goes by our archives will grow. These will always be accessible, and always without charge. Enjoy.

Happy New Year

As we enter a new year, we tend to reflect on the past, and look forward to the future.

Reflecting on the past, there are the obvious events of 2001 that will forever be with us, and our thoughts continue to be with those who lost friends, family and loved ones on September 11th.

Looking to the future, we make resolutions that we believe will somehow make our lives that little bit better in the coming year. We do this in our personal lives and, almost without fail, we break those resolutions by January's end.

Resolutions for our practice
But few of us make resolutions for our practice. This year, why not set a new tradition by making just ONE promise to yourself that you will aim to improve one area of your practice in this new year? It could be something very simple, easy to do, and cost nothing - like making sure you return your phone calls to clients faster than ever before - or it could be something much more substantial - like investing in a comprehensive marketing activity for your firm or setting up a web site - or it could be something in between.

Whatever it is, decide on doing something that you believe will have a positive impact on your practice that has a measurable impact on your bottom line, and monitor the results. You might then decide to do the same again next year.

Recession, what recession?

The newspapers continue to tell me that we are in a recession, and that we shouldn't expect things to get much better until at least Q2, 2002, but to some extent, I disagree.

During the few days between Christmas and New Year, Fiona and I went looking for a new TV and a DVD player. So what? Well, would it surprise you if I told you that almost every store we visited in the Mississauga area (a City of over half a million people) had sold out of the model of TV that we wanted? We managed to find the very last one available in a local department store after searching high and low. Similar story for the DVD player we wanted. Everywhere we went (all the "Big Box" electrical stores and all the department stores) had completely sold out of DVD players.

We finally settled for the only DVD player - yep, the very last one - that our local discount warehouse had on the shelf (a very nice JVC) and counted ourselves lucky to get it.

So what? How does this have anything to do with marketing your accountancy practice?

Well, actually, I believe it has a lot to do with it. We hear on the news that we are in a recession, we read about it in the newspapers, we talk about it with friends over dinner or a few drinks, and we talk ourselves into believing that we ARE in recession. (Okay, okay, I know that the statistics show that we really are in a recession, and the official definition of recession etc... etc... but humour me for a minute or two).

So, we talk ourselves into believing we are in a recession. We stop spending money. We start saving our cash. The stores' revenues fall, they layoff staff, these people now have no money to spend in the stores, retailers' revenues fall again, manufacturers' orders drop, they lay off staff, the manufacturers and retailers cut back on their spending with service companies, who in turn make cutbacks... and before we know it we are all in really BIG trouble. (I'm not trying to teach basic economics to Accountants, I just wanted to drive my point home.)

People are still doing business
But in our quest to find a new TV and DVD player, we saw little evidence of a recession.

So, what's my point?

It's this: People are still doing business. There are still hundreds of opportunities for YOU to grow YOUR firm.

If you do nothing this year to look for new clients and spend nothing on marketing your firm, guess what happens - NOTHING. Yes, many businesses, large and small, clients and non-clients, are feeling the pinch. Yes, some are even going out of business, but thankfully they remain in the minority. For most of us, it's pretty much business as usual, just on a slightly smaller scale. This means that there are hundreds and hundreds of potential new clients in your own local community just waiting for you to find them. They won't come to you, because, if you're not marketing your firm, how will they find out about you? You have to be proactive and well organized.

You have to take your message out to your business community and look for opportunities to interact with as many non-clients as possible in order to create opportunities to find new clients.

As tax season approaches, many practitioners feel that the last thing they need between now and April is an influx of new clients, and I can appreciate that. However, in order to achieve maximum growth in our firms, we need to seize every opportunity possible. Hunt out quality work from quality people and what do you get?

A quality practice.

And that's what we all want, isn't it?

Quick Tip
So, here's a quick tip that will help you to raise your profile among your local business community, and it's absolutely free to do.

Getting published in your local press and "Becoming Famous" is key to success in practice development. Producing this "bookmark" type guide can generate a number of useful articles in your local business press.

Help The Press To Help You Prepare a table of the name of every senior person in the firm, their area of expertise and their direct telephone number & e-mail address. Discuss with each person what area of specialty they wish to focus on and make sure that there is little, if any, repetition. Only include people who will return any missed phone calls very quickly, and once settled on the final presentation of the list, print it out, in the shape and size of a bookmark. Laminate it, head it up something like "Useful Business and Tax Contacts" and produce enough to send several to every newspaper, magazine and radio station in your local area. Call all of these publications and stations and get the details of the business editor of each, and send them all a copy. What you have produced is a very useful resource that every journalist would like to receive. Provided you take their calls, or call them back almost immediately, you stand an excellent chance of getting quoted in the press on a regular basis. Remember that these people are on deadlines, and if they call you, be prepared to respond immediately.

So, that's all for now, if you need more, sign up for our free e-newsletter, LEDGER, on our newsletter sign-up page, or look at our best-selling manual LOW COST HIGH IMPACT WAYS TO WIN NEW CLIENTS.

Thanks for visiting.
Have a great new year.
Until next time.

More free tips to come as we next update our site in February 2002.