Small Business Profit Explosion

Focus Your Time on the Work That Increases Profits, Sales and Cash Flow

(Growing Your Business Series: Part 4)

 

This is number two on my top ten ways to increase your business profits, sales and cash flow. But, I find it is almost always the hardest thing for any business owner to accomplish. Even when a business owner is highly motivated to increase sales and profits, they never seem to get around to it. Why?

Well the reason I hear most is that they are so busy running their business and putting out fires that they never seem to get around to it. I also run into this. I start off the day with great plans on getting things done and by the end of the day nothing has happened due to client and employee interruptions.

But, that is the easy answer. The truth is we all like doing things we do well. And many of us are very good at making the product and satisfying the customer. So – that’s where we spend all our time.

That is why I almost always tell a business owner that they are 100% responsible for keeping their business from growing! Please don’t think I am telling you not to produce a quality product! What I’m saying is that this may not be the best use of your time. If you had the money you could hire someone to do the technical work that is required to produce the end product for the customer.

But, like Dan Kennedy has said countless times, every business is in the business of getting and keeping as many profitable customers as possible! That is where the majority of business owner’s time should be concentrated on. That means I am not really in the CPA business – I am in the business of getting more profitable, paying customers for my CPA business. The same applies to any business. Once you start looking at your business that way it will quickly change how you allocate your time.

What I am leading to is the following: The business owner’s time is the most valuable resource in the business! You can buy everything else except more hours in the day.

In part 5 next week I will discuss some methods for increasing the amount of time the business owner has to work on their real job of increasing their sales, cash balances and profits.

Until then, thank you for your continued support and let’s make this year our most profitable year ever!

Lessons Learned – Is it the business owners job to keep the trains running?

The myth most business owners believe: I must be the one to make sure the trains keep running.

Why this myth causes a problem: In order to get more customers, it is my responsibility to make sure that my product/service is delivered correctly and on time.

The truth successful business owners learn the hard way! As a business grows, sooner or later the time needed to run a business eliminates all time to develop long-term strategies and new products or services designed.

And, if you’re not looking for new ways to develop solutions to your customers’ problems and pains you are allowing an opening for your competitors to solve these problems for them.

Also, as Seth Godin said in one of his recent blog articles, “Yes, without trains running, it’s hard to get anywhere. But no, that’s not what the shareholders are hoping you’ll be doing every day.” (I highly recommend that you read his blog daily www.sethgodin.typepad.com ).

Lesson learned: As a business owner, you must not get so stuck in the details of running the business that you no longer have the time do the vital work of delivering solutions to your customers to their problems. 

 

Are You the Reason Your Business Isn’t Growing?

(Growing Your Business Series: Part 1)

The short answer is – yes. If your business is not growing the way you want it to it is almost always the business owner’s fault. The business, after all, is your creation. You decided what it looked like and how it would be run.

Many times, the business owner does not know the reason the business is not growing. But, frequently it is the business owner who deliberately is slowing down growth. Usually, this is due to the business owner not feeling comfortable that they have the people and resources to grow the business to the next level.

I have personally been in the same situation where I felt I had to do all the work myself. I didn’t feel I could trust my staff to do it right! They didn’t have my experience, judgment and ability to get the work done correct the first time – every time. And, since it wasn’t their business, they didn’t care about it the same way I did. This led me to believe that the only way things were going to get done right was if I was the one who was doing it!

If this sounds familiar you are not alone! This is one of the main complaints I have heard from business owners over the years. Here’s the catch though – if you want to have a growing business that provides quality to your customers every time, you have to create business systems that allows your business to function without you micro-managing every little detail. 

Over the last thirty plus years I have read numerous business books attacking this from many different directions. This business growth series is a brief outline of items I have “borrowed” from these books that has worked for me and many of my other clients and colleagues I have worked with.

In order to grow your business you must master the following areas:

1. Managing your-self
2. Organizing your business
3. Hiring the proper people for the job
4. Create a strong, vibrant workplace where people want to work.
5. Setting employee goals & performing well planned, organized employee performance reviews on a weekly basis.

I will get into each of these areas in more detail in upcoming weeks. But, in the meantime …… are you stunting your growth? If so, what are you going to do about it?

Thank you for your continued support and let’s make this year our most profitable year ever!

 

Life Time Value of a Customer – Part II -Up-selling and cross-selling

On Monday’s blog we showed how a $250 tax return client really has a life time value of $5,250. Now let’s look at how up-selling and cross-selling can massively increase this customer’s value. (Up-selling is adding related products or services to the original purchase. Cross-selling is getting this customer to buy a product or service totally unrelated to the original purchase.)

Your current customers are the easiest sale for you to make. They already know you, like you and trust you. So why do most businesses spend all their money and efforts trying to sell to new customers who don’t know them, like them and trust them? It’s because they do not understand how much up-selling and cross-selling can quickly increase their profits.

By training yourself and your staff to offer other services and products to customers, you can easily increase profits. By addressing your customer’s needs when they buy one product, you may know of other products that will further help them. This will instantly increase sales, profits and improve your relationship with your customers.

Let’s look at what happens to the life time value of my tax return client if I use up-selling and cross-selling:

1. Tax return preparation ($250 x 7yrs)                                     $1,750
2. Up-sell year-end tax planning ($750/yr x 7yrs)                    $5,250
3. One time QuickBooks training for their business              $1,250
4. Annual QuickBooks support  ($600/yr x 7)                           $4.200

                    For a total of                                                                         $12,450

     5.Two referrals with same services                                               $24,900

        For a total life-time value of                                                           $37,350

Up-selling and cross-selling increases the potential life time value of that one customer from $5,250 ($1,750 x 3 customers) to an amazing $37,350!

Thank you for your continued support and let's make this year our most profitable year ever!

Life Time Value of a Customer – Part I

The life time value of a customer is one of the most important numbers every business owner must know and understand.  You calculate it by taking the average price that your customers pay for your main products or services and multiplying that average by the number of years they will remain a customer. Then add the value of the average number of referrals they will send you during their time as a customer.

Calculating this number often changes how much you would consider spending on each customer and how you and your staff treat them. In my case, the average personal tax return customer is charged $250. If I only look at this amount how much should I spend on advertising and how much time should I spend with each return?

But, let’s calculate the life time value of that new tax return customer. Assume that this new customer will stay an average of seven years and refer two other tax return clients during that time. The life time value of that customer is $5,250, calculated as follows:

 

• $250 times 7 =                                   $1,750
• Two referrals @ $1,750 =                    $3,500
• For a total of                                      $5,250

Now that I know that this new customer is worth an average of $5,250, not $250, how much should I spend in time and money to get this client and to keep them happy?

Thank you for your continued support and let's make this year our most profitable year ever!

 

So How Do I Know If My Employees are Making a Good First Impression?

A couple of weeks ago I wrote a blog article about the importance of making a good first impression on your prospects (http://bit.ly/sblW7W). But, how do you know if your employees are losing possible customers by making a bad first impression? One of the best ways is to “Mystery Shop” your own business or practice.

You should do this with your employees’ full knowledge. Being open with them about it will:

1. Let them know it will happen. They will not know how or exactly when so they will automatically treat prospects better.
2. Let them know that the results will be part of their reward, bonuses, pay raises, etc.

You can hire someone yourself or can check out www.mysteryshop.org and www.shopreports.com to hire from businesses that specialize in mystery shopping (Disclaimer: I have not researched the quality or level of service they offer. You should still do your normal due diligence.)

Making sure your customers are receiving the best service possible is always your responsibility. Testing your staff isn’t dishonest, it’s good business practice.

Thank you for your continued support and let's make this year our most profitable year ever!

 

The six areas that every business owner must master in order earn massive profits.

James Malinchak is a motivational speaker and a star from last year’s ABC shows The Secret Millionaire. After the show he had a course that listed the four M’s that a business owner must master in order to be successful.

His four M’s are:

1. Master your mindset
2. Master your marketing
3. Master making connections
4. Master making a positive difference in other’s life.

 

To this list I would add the following:

1. Master your people management skills
2. Master your money management skills.

My experience working with business owners for the last 35+ years is that very few of them have become proficient in these six areas – never mind master them. Imagine how much your profits would increase if you did work hard to master these six areas?

 

Thank you for your continued support and let's make this year our most profitable year ever!

 

Lessons Learned – Most of your profits happens after the sale!

The myth most business owners believe: My work is done when the sale is complete and paid for. Most business owners plan what happens with the customer before and during the sale but never follow up after the sale.

Why this myth causes a problem: If you just concentrate on the sale you are leaving most of your profits on the table! Most business owners never follow-up with the customer to see if there are other products or services that the customer may also be able to use in addition to the product that they originally came in for.

The truth successful business owners learn the hard way! Most of the advertising and marketing costs is from getting the customer to buy from you the first time. Successful business owners understand that the real profits happen after the sale. They look for opportunities to sell additional products/services. These include:

• Look for opportunities to sell the customer related products/services.
• Send them monthly specials.
• Create a customer frequent buyers club.
• Create a product of the month club. Something similar to  the “coffee of the month club”.
• Look for opportunities to cross-sell them into unrelated products/services. For example – business owners who come to us for tax preparation may be excellent prospects for our QuickBooks training.
• Put in a referral program that entices them to refer their friends.
• Design new products/services that their current customers will buy. This is an excellent way to test a new product. If you’re current customers won’t buy the new product it is unlikely that prospects who do not know you will buy the new product. 

Lesson learned: The real profits happen when you plan what you will sell the customer after they buy the first time. 

 

Are Your Customers Getting The Service They Deserve?

All your marketing will be wasted if the receptionist has a bad attitude, your staff is not properly trained and you don’t have systems in place to ensure that the customer’s needs are being met and exceeded.

Management consultant and speaker Tony Alessandra in The Platinum Rule describes the range of service encounters this way:

• Moments of Magic: Positive experiences that make customers glad they do business with you.
• Moments of Misery: Negative experiences that irritate, frustrate, or annoy.
• Moments of Mediocrity: Routine, uninspiring service, forgettable service.

The second and third seem to be the norm today. Moments of Magic are so rare that they make news and turn those businesses customers into raving fans who quickly spread the word through social media.

What first impression are you making? If you don’t know – shouldn’t you?

If your customers are not having Moments of Magic when they buy from you – Why Not?

 

Thank you for your continued support and let's make this year our most profitable year ever!

 

Lessons Learned – Not all customers are right for you!

The myth most business owners believe: Any customer is a good customer.

Why this myth causes a problem: When I was first starting my CPA firm I took every job that I could get. Heck, I had three little kids and had no money, no work and very few customers so I felt that I really had no choice. While selling QuickBooks training I quickly learned that not all customers are created equally!

Good clients were easy to train, appreciated my work, understood how what I was teaching them helped their business and, most importantly, paid my bill in full and on time.

Bad clients fought any change to their procedures (even though they hired me to help them make changes), took no responsibility to learn the program, withheld information or provided incomplete information and, worst of all, always tried to negotiate the bill down and then refused or slow paid the bill.

The truth successful business owners learn the hard way! The customer is always right – just not always right for you! Successful business owners learn that when they are meeting a prospect they should be interviewing the prospect in order to decide if they are a good customer for them.

Since our smart business owner knows that 80% of their revenue comes from 20% of their customers they also know that the smart thing to do is to concentrate their sales efforts on prospects who are similar to their best customers. They also learn what “bad for them” customers look like and make a conscious effort to avoid them.

Lesson learned: Being picky about who you take as a customer both increases your profits and reduces your stress.

The Sale Isn’t Complete Until the Customer Pays!

A recent study found that half of all small businesses are having trouble collecting receivables. During good times this is an annoyance. During bad times it is often the path to an appointment with a bankruptcy attorney.

Collecting receivables requires a plan and a system that addresses collections before the sale, at the point of the sale and after the sale.

Before the sale is complete you should:

1. Review the customer’s ability to pay. Big companies use credit reports. But, for most small companies the easiest method is to require a down payment from any customer who you do not have a track record with. How they pay the down payment is a good indication of their payment ability. Plus a down payment lessens your exposure, recovers your cost and speeds up your cash flow.
2. Make sure that your product has value to the customer that is equal to or (preferably) higher than the cash that the customer will pay. This is one of the top reasons for slow pay or non-payment. We have all fallen victim to the slick sales person who gets us to buy something that later we regret. The customer usually “gets even” by slow paying or refusing to pay.
3. Offer incentives to prepay. This can be with a discount but I would rather offer a bonus of some sort that actually increases the value to the customer if they pay early.
4. If possible, don’t deliver without receiving payment. At a bare minimum review with the customer your payment terms. The goal is to eliminate the excuse that they didn’t know about when the payment was due. At this point also keep an eye out for clues that something has changed in the customer’s financial ability between the order date and the delivery date.
5. Invoice quicker. Don’t wait till month end. Invoice as the work is completed.  

After the sale is complete you should:

1. At every step in the collection process remember to keep stressing the value that the customer received. Don’t stop selling!
2. Call shortly after the sale to make sure they are happy with the purchase. You are still stressing the value of the product or service they received. If you can’t call all customers you should at least call the largest sales. (This is often a great time to up-sell to the next level or to sell an add-on product!)
3. Have a system that includes some combination of calls and letters that automatically go out to any account that is past due. The squeaky wheel does get paid first. So squeak loudly! Of course remain polite and keep stressing the value of what they received.
4. At a certain point (60-90 days after the sale) the owner should call and
   1. Make sure the customer really felt they received value. If not, the owner should try to fix the problem. This may be your last chance to save a customer.
   2. Ask them for payment.
   3. If they can’t pay the owner should say, “You are a valued customer and I would like to help you by offering a payment schedule.”
   4. As a last resort – offer a reduced payment if the invoice is paid by a certain date.
5. If all else fails – write off the balance and forget about the customer. Don’t waste any additional time and money suing them.  Your time would be much better used learning what went wrong in your sales and collection process and getting better customers who value what you are providing and are willing and able to pay.

Thank you for your continued support and let's make this year our most profitable year ever!

Business Startup Tips: Concentrate On The Customer – Not The Product!

Most startup business owners start their business by thinking about the product or service they are offering. They fail to answer the most important question that every business owner must answer – Why should I, the customer, buy your product or use your service rather than all of the other options that are available to me?

To answer this question you really must have a vision of your ideal customer in your head. Better yet – write it down. Think about your ten best customers and answer the following questions about them (if you don’t have customers than you better do some research so you can answer these questions):

• What niche are they in?
• What industry are they in?
• What is their age?
• What is their gender?
• Where do they live?
• What is their education level?
• What do they read?
• What groups do they belong to?
• How did they first hear about you?
• Why do they continue to buy from you?
• And most importantly – What are their problems? Better yet, what are their pains that they wish they could solve?
• Why do they buy?
• What is the trigger that prompts your customers to buy?
• How are my competitors solving my customer’s (or potential customer’s) problems?
• Who else influences the customer’s buying decision?

Now think about your product or service and answer these questions:

• What can I do better, faster, different, than my competitors in meeting my customers’ needs?
• How does my product or service solve a problem the customer is having?
• How is your solution different than the solution my competitor is offering the customer?
• What guarantee or promise can I give that my competitor isn’t offering?
• How can I communicate this advantage to the customer in one sentence or less?

Answering these questions almost guarantees that you focus on your customer and how your product/service is such a “smart” decision that the customer really has no option but to buy from you.

Thank you for your continued support and let's make this year our most profitable year ever!

Lessons Learned – Six Ways Smart Business Owners Cut Their Income Taxes

The myth most business owners believe: Hiring a good tax preparer is the secret to paying lower taxes.

Why this myth causes a problem: The normal business owner believe that their work is done once they hire a tax preparer. They don’t do anything to control tax costs. This leads to them being surprised when they get their tax return and paying a much higher tax liability than smart business owners.

So, they blame their tax preparer and find a new one. Of course, this doesn’t change anything since they took the source of the problem with them to the new tax preparer.

The truth successful business owners learn the hard way! Uncle Sam is your partner. And, he is a bad partner! He does little work in the business and demands a third or more of the profits. Smart business owners also understand that income tax is an expense like any other. Thus, it can be planned for and managed.

Smart business owners cut their income taxes in the following six ways:

1. Smart business owners take year-end tax planning seriously. After the first of the year there is very little that can be done to reduce taxes. Before year-end is the only time where a business owner can effectively reduce their tax liability.
2. Smart business owners call their tax advisor before doing any major transactions. They call before selling assets, opening a business or taking money out of retirement accounts. Since they know in advance the tax consequences of their actions they don’t “Shoot-the-messenger” when they get their tax return and discover how much they owe.
3. Smart business owners keep good accounting records. They don’t drop off shoe boxes full of receipts to their tax preparer and they understand that good accounting records ensure that they deduct everything they spend in their business. With the current technology there is no good reason not to have good records in order to prepare your tax return.
4. Smart business owners get their records to their tax preparer early. I prepared close to fifty returns in the last two weeks. There is no way that they received the same amount of attention to helping them reduce their taxes that I was able to spend with clients earlier in the year. Smart business owners understand this and make time to meet with their tax preparer as early as possible.
5. Smart business owners save for taxes as they earn the income. Uncle Sam’s motto – pay me now or pay me more later. Smart business owners make their estimate payments. The smartest business owners put an amount into a savings account weekly that represents how much they will owe. (Hint: divide your total tax liability last year by your total sales from last year. Put this percentage amount in a savings account weekly.)
6. Smart business owners get a basic understanding of the income tax law. They don’t become experts. But, they do learn how the system works and how to use it to their advantage.

Lesson learned: Income taxes can be reduced like any other expense with proper management and planning. This allows the smart business owner to use the savings to grow their business, or support their family, plan for retirement, take a vacation, etc.  

Tax Tip of the Week: Year-end tax planning time is here!

Yes, I survived the 10/17/11 personal extension deadline. Barely! I, like most CPA’s, hate this deadline. We are dealing with the clients who have bad records, don’t plan, are surprised that they owe taxes and complain about how we must have missed something. (Obviously, I'm not talking about any of my clients!)

I tell them all the same thing, “After the first of the year we write history not fiction.”

Now we are entering a time most CPA’s enjoy - Tax planning season!

This is the time that smart business owners work to reduce their taxes for 2012. No surprise that the business owners who hire me to help them reduce their taxes are the same business owners who are expanding even during this economic downturn. They try not to be surprised by anything in their business and they understand that income tax is an expense that can be controlled just like any other cost.

I just recently finished initial tax planning for two of my clients. Together, we identified legal ways to cut their taxes by over 60% (Savings of $108,000 for one and $124,749 for the other). If you are in business you should be tax planning. Yeah, you might only cut your bill by a few thousand dollars. But, if you are like me, you can think of a few things your business or your family could use the savings for.

Tax planning starts by projecting your income to the end of the year and then exploring different tax strategies, loopholes and opportunities that are available to you. This can be intense and time consuming if you have a large business. So call your tax preparer for help.

I will be sending out a year-end tax savings tip each day from now to the end of the year. Signup for these daily tax planning emails by going to www.wjb-cpa.com and entering your email address in the box in the upper right hand corner. I will also be posting these to my FaceBook business page, Linked In account and Twitter account. So search for me there.

Finally, I have only a few tax planning spots available. Email or call so I can discuss with you if this is something that will help you and your business cut your taxes.

Like any good CPA, I need to add a disclaimer: unfortunately, it is impossible to offer comprehensive tax info over the internet, no matter how well researched or written. And remember, I love my readers but having me bookmarked on your computer doesn’t make you a client: before relying on any information given on this site, contact a tax professional to discuss your particular situation.

Profit Tip – Early signs of bad customer service

As your company grows you will have to hire employees to work with your customers. This often leads to your customers not having the “ideal” customer experience that you started with when you were the only one who had customer contact.

Early signs of bad customer service can be detected by closely analyzing your accounting records. Pay particular attention to the following:

• A rapid increase in high product returns. This often happens when the product doesn’t solve the customer’s problem in a way your sales person promised.
• A decrease in the average order size. This is an early indication that your employees have become order takers rather than sales people focused on discovering the customer’s problems and offering a solution.
• An increase in customer complaints. You do have a way of tracking customer complaints don’t you? If not, setup a tickler system that all your employees must fill out when a customer has a complaint and review them with your employees. Give every customer a “let us know how we are doing” card with each product or service delivery.
• Trouble collecting receivables. Maybe they are just unhappy with your product or service. If a normally prompt paying customer suddenly stops paying on time it should result in a call from the owner to see if the problem is related to bad customer service. You most likely can still save this customer.
• A constant need to discount in order to reach your sales goals. This can also be a sign that your price is too high in relation to the value the customer feels they received from your product or service.

Of course you really should not wait for these signs to occur. Every business owner should have a program in place to follow up on sales to find out if their customers are happy with their purchase. This can be accomplished by using surveys or calls to your biggest customers and a sample of your smaller customers after each sale.

Thank you for your continued support and let's make this year our most profitable year ever!

Marketing & Selling Tip of the Week – Have Your Marketing Work Together!

Having all of their marketing work together is one trick that marketers use is to make a lasting impression with audiences.

To give some examples Nike and Just Do It, Frosted Flake and Tony the Tiger, Target with their bulls eye logo and heavy use of the color red in their ads. All of these companies’ marketing consistently use the same messages, theme and mascots to create a recall trigger with their audience. These triggers help the consumer remember the company and automatically creating a long lasting impression in the consumer’s memory.

To do this, you just have to work on your marketing to get your right message, theme, logo and/or spokesperson in place and plan out how you want to use it consistently in your marketing. You want to make it easy your current and prospective customers to recognize and remember you, so give them a hand.

Business Startup Tips: What type of business do you want to build?

Many of my clients each year are startups. This is the first in a series specifically for startups and the issues they face while trying to survive the tough early years.

One of the first things a business owner should do before they even open a business is to clarify what they want their business to look like.

If you decided to build a house you don’t just start construction. You would first meet with an architect and having them draw up blueprints based on what you want the house to look like.

This is just as true when you start your business. You could just open your business without this step but don’t be surprised if you end up in a few years running a business that you don’t like.

Before you launch your business you should have answers to the following questions:

• What is your long-term vision for this business? You will run it much different if your goal is to grow it to a point where you can sell it rather than the way you would run it if you plan to run the business for years into the future.
• What are your personal goals? How will opening your business help you reach these goals?
• Why do you feel this business is a good business opportunity? In simple terms   - why do you think you can make money in this new business?
• Who will be your customers? What is it they want? What do they look like? What motivates them to buy?
• Why will people buy from you? Or put another way – what will you offer that is so different from what the current businesses offer that customers will switch to you?

Your answers will most likely change as your business launches and you start to interact with your customers. But, thinking these items out in advance will help your startup company get moving in the right direction.

Lessons Business Owners Keep Learning the Hard Way! Just because you can sell it doesn’t mean you should!

The myth most business owners believe: I should sell my product or service to whoever wants to buy it.

Why this myth causes a problem? If a customer purchases your product or service and it doesn’t really meet their need they become disillusioned. Worst, they start telling everyone they know that you sold them something that did not solve their problem. And, with more people using social media this can easily be hundreds of people.

The truth successful business owners learn the hard way! Providing customers solutions to their problems is the best way to get satisfied customers and referrals.

My prospects come to me with a problem. For example they need bookkeeping. Yes I can easily sell them on the idea of letting us do it. I make more money doing that. But, they expect that as a CPA I will give them the best advice that fits them. And, this many times means buying QuickBooks and doing it themselves at a cheaper cost.

This is true even if you sell a product. You have a large variety of product types that have different features that provide different advantages & benefits for the customer. But, even if you don’t carry a product that best solves the customer’s problem, the smart business owner knows it is better to refer them to a competitor for a product that truly meets the customer needs then it is to sell them something that you have just to make the sale.

This customer will remember that you cared more about helping them then making the sale. Who do you think they will choose the next time they or a friend needs a service or product that you do provide?  Who will they refer their friends to?

Lesson learned: Selling your customer a product or service is not as important as solving the customer’s problem.

Lessons Business Owners Keep Learning the Hard Way! Are You Doing Excellent Work in the Dark?

The myth most business owners believe: All I need to be successful is to provide an excellent product with great service.

Why this myth causes a problem: Let me give you my example. When I opened 20 years ago I picked up six clients in the first two weeks. Hey this is easy I thought! I should have started my own firm much earlier! Well the next client took six months to pickup. Now that was a wakeup call!

Yes, I had plenty of experience being a CPA but I did not have any experience getting clients. What I was doing was providing a good product with great customer service and hoping that people would notice (heck it better have been great service - I only had six clients, I had a lot of free time!). But I had no marketing & sales plan! I now call this doing excellent work in the dark! Who cares how good your services are if no one is noticing!

The truth successful business owners learn the hard way! Being good at what you do isn’t enough to succeed in small business. You must put together a marketing plan that identifies:

• Who is your potential customers
• What problems they have
• When are your customer ready to buy
• How your product and/or service solves their problems  
• How do I communicate with them that I can solve their problem

Whenever a new client comes to my office and states that they are going to start a new business I give them a list of books that they must buy, read and implement if they wish to succeed. The most important is Guerrilla Marketing by Jay Conrad Levinson. I then tell them, “Remember – a business without customers is called a hobby”.

Lesson learned: Doing excellent work isn’t enough. You need to do excellent work that provides a solution to a problem that your clients & prospects need solved and you must have a marketing & sales plan that lets them know that you have a solution to their problems.

Ask us questions or leave feedback anytime on our FaceBook page!

One of the problems of growing your business is that it is harder and harder to keep that personal touch.

This is a problem that I have been worried about for the last five years. The personal touch is what helped me grow my business. It is a large reason we are celebrating our 20^th year in business. But, now it is possible for a client to drop off their return and pick it up completed without me ever seeing them.

Also, it is now impossible for me to answer all my phone calls personally. Some I have to have my staff return for me. Also, during deadline crunches, I receive so many calls that it is impossible to return them as timely as I used to.

I had finally decided that this was just the price of getting bigger. Not an answer that I liked.

But then social media hit the scene! Now I see an answer to this problem for me and all growing businesses.

Below I have included the link for my FaceBook page (or just search for Wayne J Belisle, CPA on FaceBook). I will be letting all my clients (and more importantly potential clients) know about how they can go to this page and:

• Ask me any business or tax question. This is an excellent way to ask a general question without worrying about being charged for my time.
• Let us know when we do things right. Everyone loves a compliment.
• Let us know when we do things wrong. This is very important to us keeping our quality of service where I want it.
• Recommend blog articles. I write what I think will interest my clients or what I think they need to know. But, this is a good way to let me know of an area that you think I should be covering. 

The next step is to let my clients and potential clients know about this program. We will have “Ask us questions or leave feedback anytime on our FaceBook page!” posted on all our contact with clients. This means having it as part of my signature on all emails, on our letter head, on our business cards and posted in the waiting room of our office.

Do you have the same problem keeping in contact with your clients? Maybe it’s time for you to have a business FaceBook page and let your customers/clients talk to you.

Well let’s get started: Ask us questions or leave feedback anytime on our FaceBook page! http://www.facebook.com/pages/Wayne-J-Belisle-CPA/185259446999