Different hats
in practice management
 Now, here's a silly
little article whose subject is so obvious that I venture to
bet that you, just like me, have known and forgotten it many
times.
It concerns
the different jobs each of us has in life.
I know I'm
continuously addressing you as "the Accounting professional..."
but despite that, we both know you are many things in addition
to being an Accountant.
You are possibly
a parent and/or a spouse. You're a representative of your gender
as well as your age group. You belong to many groups based on
your opinions, views, hobbies and so on. Perhaps you play golf.
Possibly you support a certain team in one or more sports.
There are many
versions of you, all depending on which role you're being at
the time.
And whenever
you're being one of those roles, you wear the hat of that existence.
As a parent, you do what parents do, think like parents think
and look upon the world from the viewpoint of a parent.
When you go
to your office, you put on one of your many professional hats.
When you do accounts, you're being an Accountant, for instance.
And —
obvious as this is — when you're being an Accountant, you
think like one and do things that Accountants do and see
the world around you just the way an Accounting professional
views things coming his or her way.
Whatever you
do in life, the task at hand will govern your actions, objectives
and thinking. In the specific role you choose at a given
moment, performing those tasks particular to that "version
of you," you're also waring the corresponding HAT that goes
with that role.
Each of these
"hats" is basically the viewpoint and experiences of
that specific role, containing the skills, goals and tasks of
that post or position.
For instance,
waring the hat of an Accountant you don't evaluate accounts using
the hat of a football afficionado or a golfer. That would obviously
lead you astray. Golfers aren't much good at Accounting, right?
But have
you noticed how easy it is to HOLD ONTO A HAT when you move onto
another post within your organisation?
It's a universal
problem, you know. Everyone will confuse his MAIN hat with those
other tasks whose successful performance may well require a very
DIFFERENT viewpoint (hat).
And that can
be very, very costly.
Differentiating
between your hats is vitally important
As a practising
Accounting professional, you're much more than "just"
an Accountant. You have MANY HATS — posts, tasks, separate
areas of responsibilities — such as...
-the business
owner
-the managing director
-the marketing in-charge
-the sales in-charge
-the producer of services already sold to clients
-the client-communications in-charge
... and so
on. Of these, the only hat that really allows to BE AN
ACCOUNTANT is the "producer of services already sold to
clients."
Obviously,
that's a massive part of the whole... but without the other parts,
there won't be much to do even for the "Accountant."
When holding
your "Accounting hat," you must CONFORM to existing
rules, regulations, practices and procedures. Obviously, this
is a vital part of the task. The mere IDEA of "creative
accounting" is a HUGE NO-NO in Accounting.
Now, the problem
with having to be a "conformist" in your major role
within the practising can easily lead the same conformity to
be applied to OTHER HATS as well.
The element
of creativity that's forbidden in Accounting procedures is a
MUST in most of your OTHER hats, whose performance will greatly
influence the amount of accounting work you're to have.
The same applies
to taking risks: An Accountant should always avoid risks... and,
because he is dealing with set procedures and existing figures,
he CAN avoid risk for the most part. Accounting could be called
an exact science in that it is based on mathematics which CAN
be predicted.
But if you
carry this "no-risk policy" with you when taking on
the hat of the marketing professional in charge of obtaining
new clients for the firm, then you won't EVER get a single thing
done effectively!
Marketing is
an inexact science and it cannot be forecasted with certainty.
There are simply too many variables and we're essentially dealing
(and creating) THE FUTURE.
And there's
no way to tell how something will work out in the future unless
you possess a crystal ball. You can only arrive at RELATIVE certainty
about such things.
Here's another
example. As an Accountant, you HAVE to be extremely conservative
about any changes or alterations to accounting procedures. This
is usually needed when a client suggests all manners of "exotic
write offs" and such.
The more experience
you amass, the stronger you resist anything that's not within
widely accepted accounting procedures.
But if you
forget that hat on when you sit at your MARKETING desk, you're
going to demand "wide acceptability" from every marketing
solution even to consider it... and, as a result, will only use
the oldest, most worn-out marketing ideas which won't work because
EVERYONE in the industry has exhausted these techniques.
See. As a marketing
professional, you must seek for what's NOT EVEN KNOWN to the
majority of your colleagues.
As an Accountant,
colleagues are allies and you turn to them for advice in matters
concerning taxation, rulings and so on.
As a marketing
professional, they're your competitors and you better NOT reveal
your plans nor ask for advice in matters concerning "how
to take away some clients from them!"
That's how
they'll see it and it cannot but affect the way they'll advise
you. And who's to say they KNOW — possibly they're just
assuming, replying with the deep certainty of the "Accounting
Hat" (the area they know so well) although they're not at
all professionals in MARKETING.
See how the
hats of Accounting and Marketing don't really go together and
how many of the viewpoints are practically opposites?
The trick is
to "change hats" when you move from Accounting to Marketing.
If you leave
on your Accounting Hat, marketing is not going to happen... and
if it does, it's not going to produce the results you want.
In fact, thinking
about marketing while waring the Accountant's hat, the "right"
decision will be to FORGET marketing completely.
See, NOT to
market means that you SAVE MONEY since "it's practically
impossible to guarantee results."
For the "Accountant"
it is the RIGHT decision.
Of course,
for the Marketing Professional of your firm (for your role as
the Marketer), it's the WRONG decision.
For him (you
holding this hat) it is clear that a RELATIVE certainty is all
one can achieve and that, to GET somewhere, one MUST invest time
and money into marketing... nothing ventured, nothing gained,
in other words.
You can see
how holding onto the Accounting Hat while "thinking marketing"
would actually predestine you for a failure!
Defining your
different hats
To get a better
picture — and save lots of money and aggravation —
it's best to DEFINE each of your main posts as for the viewpoint,
objectives and tasks concerning that role EXCLUSIVELY.
Only your hat
as the overall Managing Director would really take into consideration
OTHER hats.
The hat of
the Marketing In-Charge of your firm would probably contain goals
such as...
|
- |
to ensure your
Accounting firm and its good work is widely known and well thought
of |
|
- |
to make your firm
recognised as the leading one in the area with each new client |
|
- |
present a positively
different image about your firm in order to arouse interest in
short-term and long-term toward the firm and its excellent services |
|
- |
to expand in a
healthy, profitable way year to year... |
...and so on.
The purpose
of this marketing post would be defined something along these
lines:
|
- |
find and implement
workable ideas and systems for client acquisition |
|
- |
ensure the firm's
services meet with what the target audience wants and needs |
|
- |
start and maintain
a continuous flow of potential clients |
|
- |
create / acquire
and install proven methods of handling contacts so that a high
percentage of potential clients sign up on your services |
|
- |
create / acquire
a referral system and other systems for client-get-client projects |
|
- |
ensure clients
are satisfied and willing to participate in referral programmes
and trained to obtain new referrals efficiently... |
...and things
like that.
The sought-after
END RESULTS for this marketing post would probably be something
like this:
|
- |
marketing and
advertising OUTFLOW (letters, calls, etc. going out) occurring
weekly |
|
- |
new target persons
(business owners) contacted weekly |
|
- |
decision-makers
made interested in hearing more about your services |
|
- |
potential clients
found |
|
- |
meetings with
potential clients so services can be presented and sales closed |
|
- |
new clients acquired
monthly |
|
- |
clients activated
and trained to bring referrals |
|
- |
new referrals
from these... |
...and so on.
Sketchy as
these above examples are, they do give you the idea on how
to THINK with you Marketing Hat on... and you can also
see why you cannot do your marketing while wearing the Accounting
Hat.
In fact, if
you write up these points for the Accounting Hat and then compare
it to the Marketing Hat, I think you'll notice how the two have
little (or nothing) in common.
Therefore,
it's not a bad idea to figure out your Marketing Hat and then
put a short version of it on the wall so you can quickly review
it every time you take on marketing tasks. That'll help you to
get into the right frame of mind for marketing.
You could also
use one or more of our theme seminars which specialise in making the various
practice management hats clearer and easier to wear.
But simply
writing it all up will clarify many things.
Better still,
why not acquire the fullest
Marketing Hat Pack available for Accounting firms?
If you really
want to put yourself in the marketing state of mind while also
acquiring tested tools to get results, why not get the fullest
and most practical "Marketing Hat writeup" ever created
for Accountants in public practice?
Modern Accountancy
Marketing & Sales Course contains a tested and proven method
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as well as idea-awakening articles on Accountancy marketing.
It will train
you to hold the Marketing Hat naturally and give you the tools
to use so that your time is invested in actions that directly
bring new clients!
Click
here to read the presentation of Modern Accountancy Marketing
Course. This course gives you this packaged Accounting
service along with proven tools to market, present and sell it
to an ever-increasing clientele in your area!
And hold onto
your hats!
Best wishes
Harry Kafka
HDK
Consultants Ltd
32 Manning Close
Richmond Square
East Grinstead
West Sussex RH19 2DR
United Kingdom
Tel. (01342) 328 116
CONTACT
FORM
E-mail: info@accountancymarketing.co.uk |