“Our people think like owners”

“Everyone has a gracious attitude”

Sound like utopia? Not quite. These are comments from the winners of Accounting Today’s Best Firms to Work awards. Judging from the Accounting Today issue, these folks know a few things about creating a client (and employee) driven culture.

We want to share a few nuggets from these firms (and a few of our own) that you might consider implementing in your organization:

• Send new hires an orientation package BEFORE they start that includes a nice business portfolio, business cards, and a logo dress shirt ….and a $500 gift card to supplement their business wardrobe (nice touch for a new college grad).

• Launch an employee recognition program. Pretty simple. Celebrate work anniversaries at least once a month and throw in a nice gift card.

• Set aside a bonus pool to incent employees to help recruit new professionals.

• Help subsidize a health care membership for employees and staff. Healthy, happy employees provide better client service!

• Plan an annual (or biannual) ‘state of the firm’ meeting. Provide the firm strategy to everyone in the firm, recognize outstanding employees and celebrate new clients. Have fun with it. One firm built a theme around the 1970’s TV show, Mission Impossible but coined “Mission Possible” and had the trench coat wearing managing partner act the part of Jim, the TV show hero (staged with the voiceover giving “Jim” the instructions on how to ignite the firm’s strategy!).

• Friday afternoon socials. Give each department a modest budget with which to throw a Friday afternoon party for the entire firm. It can be as simple as a jazz theme (with finger food and jazz music) to a beach theme with flowered shirts and punch cocktails.

Why? Just like training for a marathon race, there are always many variables that will impact your finish time. Could be the weather, not enough Gatorade or a surprise injury.

And, no matter how much planning, careful review and meticulous technical considerations, your patience will be tested against the launch clock for the new website.

Set your race expectations early. Unless you are superhuman, it’s impossible to jump out of bed, lace up the Nikes and start the race. The same holds true for websites. There are a number of moving pieces, starting with getting a clear picture of your firm’s brand, a creative session to explore the ‘look and feel’ of a design, color, layout to how many pages your site will need.  The biggest challenge is finding a brand message that can be carried throughout your website. These things all take time, meetings and lots of input. The best scenario is delegating the process to a small group of professionals (including your IT person), who can make decisions for the firm.

Find the right coach. Sure, your 18 year-old nephew can probably create a website for you, but will he understand how to carry through your brand message or how niche groups within your firm cross sell? Find help from a professional who understands professional services, the long term, consultative relationship.

Stop for water. The race course can be a lonely place at times. It’s important to refuel and refocus along the way. It’s important to take time to reflect on how far you’ve come with the project to be sure it is on time for completion.

Not everyone will want to run. Every professional in your firm will have an opinion about every aspect from the design all the way to copy. Sometimes it’s easier to engage them by pulling them into the process at the beginning. One big bone of contention is always the website copy. Professionals often think it has to be written in ‘legalese’ or using industry specific terms which frankly can turn off a visitor to the site. Help them understand the ‘whys’ behind these decisions.

The more you train, the better runner you become. The website you have today may not serve the firm very well a year from now. Websites evolve, brands change. Be open to reviewing the site and being nimble to make changes.

1. Embrace social media. It is not going away.  LinkedIn and other social media platforms are powerful tools to connect with referral sources, prospects and clients. Over 94% of clients and consumers refer to the internet or social media sites to check you out before engaging with you. Another misconception is that it takes tons of time to create a profile, connect with others and respond to inquiries.  We can show you how to effectively use these tools in only 10 minutes a day.

2. Deliberately ask your clients “Hey, how are we doing?” Pick your firm’s top 10 clients and 10 not-so-top clients and schedule informal meetings. Use this time to ask how they believe the relationship with your firm is going.  Is your firm responsive to their needs? Are you viewed as an expert?  What could your firm do better?  Is there a service your firm could offer?

3. Evaluate your referral network. Identify the bankers, attorneys, CPAs and other service providers who work with your clients. Meet with them (better yet, connect on LinkedIn!) and succinctly tell them what you are looking for and ask what they need in a referral.

4. Tell your staff THANK YOU. The most successful leaders we’ve worked with are those that consistently shower praise on rock star client service professionals. Don’t underestimate the power of a sincere “thank you” or “great job!” to a staff person.

5. Collect client testimonials. If you are not comfortable having the conversation, engage outside help to conduct interviews with your key clients. Repurpose the comments on your website, brochures and proposals.

6. Build your top ‘gotta have’ clients for the year. Who are your firm’s top prospects? Build a file on each, research them online, figure out who their key service providers are. What is your business development strategy to get in the door?

7. Research organizations that match up with your clients and prospects. Where does your firm need to be?  Just paying your annual dues to the local chamber won’t bring results unless you actually show up.

8. Dig deep into your data. Every firm has a treasure trove of intelligence on clients. Take time to analyze your clients; identify clients that could be terrific cross sell opportunities.  Pinpoint clients that cost you money and resources……and would be happier elsewhere.

9. Talk with your staff, partners and others about what really makes your firm great. It’s doesn’t have to be an Oprah moment.  What really sets your firm apart from competitors? What areas of expertise are you known for providing?  Where do you have opportunities? What challenges do you see coming in the next year? Bring in an outside facilitator if needed.

10. Follow up on lost opportunities. A law firm in town recently interviewed with a large national organization for an outside counsel position. After investing hours in a Power Point presentation and preparation, they learned they were eliminated. No one from the team bothered to call the organization to ask “why” they didn’t make the final cut. Always ask why or what could you have done differently when losing an opportunity.

Build your Brand and Boost your Visibility
Volunteer to increase your visibility.  Sounds crazy, but it works.  Volunteering can become one of your best, and least expensive marketing tools to position you as an expert in your field.  Presenting at an association meeting, making membership retention calls, or even being listed on an organization’s website as a volunteer are all ways to help build your brand.

Learn and Master New Skills
It doesn’t matter if you volunteer for a charitable organization, a professional association, or even at your child’s school.  You will learn new skills from project management to leadership to planning.  Volunteering offers you an opportunity to stretch yourself by spending time in an area in which you don’t normally work.

Learn to Lead
In the volunteer world, there is no such thing as management.  It’s all about leadership.  It’s about motivating, communicating and mentoring.  As the chair of a committee, you act as “CEO”; however, volunteers are simply that… volunteers.  They don’t HAVE to do anything.  You can transfer skills, like motivating others and organizing projects from the  workplace to the volunteer space.

Make Meaningful Community Connections
Working side-by-side is a great way to get to know someone!  It gives you the opportunity to experience the quality of their work, their ability to implement, and work ethic.  You build relationships (and trust) in ways that you can’t through traditional networking efforts.  These solid relationships can often produce benefits for decades.

Meet a Diverse Range of People
Volunteering helps bring together a broad range of people from varied backgrounds who share a passion.  You never know who you will meet, what new information you will learn, and how it can impact your life.

Learn the Importance of a Thank You
Volunteering is about giving your time, energy, and skills freely.  Volunteers want a sense of achievement and motivation.  They want to know that their time and efforts were appreciated.  This is no different at work.  When was the last time you thanked the receptionist, your administrative assistant, or the IT person?  When people feel appreciated, they want to work with you.

Volunteering is a great way to get new life experiences.  Whether it’s working at a local food kitchen or helping out at your child’s school, you will gain skills that will transfer to all aspects of your life.

An accountant is arrested for embezzling client funds, an attorney is found guilty of an ethics violation, a beloved professional on your staff unexpectedly  dies or it could even be a devastating natural disaster.  These shattering events always take our collective breath away. What matters is how you choose to react to a situation in which you have no control. Years of building positive relationships can be extinguished in just a matter of minutes.

• Give yourself time to absorb what has happened. Wrap your head around it. Get the facts about what happened. Like a sudden blow to the head, it’s unexpected and can be a real bell ringer.
• Pull together a crisis team. This could be the managing partner, attorneys, marketing and public relations and HR professionals. Obviously if the event is related to a potentially criminal act or malfeasance, work with your legal team to craft a message.
• Crisis communications is best handled by one person. Decide on a spokesperson. This should be someone who is comfortable on camera or addressing a reporter. This person needs a calm demeanor and can inspire confidence.
• Craft the message. Going public about a crisis is irresponsible if you don’t have sufficient information.  What are the basic facts? Narrow it down to 2 or 3 facts. Don’t try to infer or make statements assuming what are the facts. Also saying “no comment” is the fastest way to get a reporter’s undying attention.
• Communicate with your employees and clients first. Call a meeting, both virtual and on site, with the entire firm to address the event. Remember you may have people who are not in the office. Follow up with a short email, covering the key points. Reassure your staff and employees about the event and let them know who to go to for reassurance to help (this will also help quell the grapevine). If your firm has an EAP plan, provide the telephone number for your employees who need outside help to cope.
• Do assume that anything you put in writing will immediately be in public view. If clients are impacted, quickly find the client list. Who else has a close relationship with the client?  Using the same messaging document, call the clients that are most impacted as fast as you can to offer an explanation.
• Remember social media. If the event is tied to an individual, you may want to consider removing the person from your website or LinkedIn pages.

Professional services firms often struggle with the whole process of building a new site. Just like a great chef, professionals are trained to seek out the details, invest a lot of time reviewing/rehashing/recombining very detailed information and want to be 100% confident in the outcome of a project. All very worthy attributes.

Throw on top of this ‘too many chefs in the kitchen’ (firm political issues and a cumbersome decision making processes) and it’s easy to understand why something that should take weeks can evolve into a process over several months.

Great barbeque recipes can provide you with a yummy burger. The same holds true for the perfect recipe for a website.  Here are a few tips:

1. Get the sous chefs on board first. Decisions that impact an entire firm should not rest on the shoulders of one shareholder. Find 3 or 4 other shareholders (and even staff) that will commit to participating on the website review committee. The purpose of the committee is to make decisions about the site and present the recommendations to the entire firm.
2. Every great chef needs control of the kitchen budget. Committee members need full authority to authorize design, layout, budget, and creative decisions.
3. Prime ingredients often cost more. Website designers and consultants will do their best to review example websites the committee likes and provide ideas.  However, there are a few unforeseen things that can bump up a budget like photography, programming and extra time to review copy.
4. Customers will rave about you. Should you use a testimonial from a client on your new site?  We reviewed over 100 law firm and another 100 accounting firm websites and very few used client testimonials with DIRECT attribution to a client.  Professionals are hesitant to do it because they believe they are in a sense advertising a client for the poaching by competitors or if the client leaves the firm, they are concerned about having the quote on the site.  Other firms will use a quote, but will not attribute the quote to a specific client.   It’s one way to still use a quote, but you’ve essentially watered down the impact.
5. Don’t Make Me Talk about ME! Great professional bios tell visitors something about you that helps them connect with you as a professional.  One way to do this is to humanize your bio by telling a story about why you joined the firm or your philosophy for serving clients. Give the visitor an opportunity to learn about you before they meet you!
6. It’s not exactly Kitchen Stadium. The clock is ticking so managing the process is crucial. A good website consultant will give you the recipe to manage and approve content for every page. Decide who is in charge of approving each page and a schedule for the process.  Bear in mind that people go on vacation, they need to serve clients and will put this task at the bottom of their ‘to do’ lists. Build in extra time to push your professionals to review the content that is assigned to them.
7. Photography. This can be the most challenging part of building a site. If your new website is going to require taking photos of your professionals, get ready to hear “Yuck! I don’t look like that!” or “I hate my photo! Take another!”.  A good photographer will build in time for retakes.
8. Anyone can grill a burger or design a website. Expect to hear loads of opinions about other websites and repeated advice about how the site should look and function. Again, this is the role of the committee to listen and adhere to the original website plan.
9. What would you like on your burger? What is the purpose of your website? Is it to have an online brochure? Do you want to encourage visitors to sign up for newsletters or bulletins? Do you need links to social networking links on the pages of each professional’s bio? How will you create a ‘sticky’ site so visitors will come to your site and stay? How will you encourage them to come back?
10. Refresh the menu often. The star of any great restaurant is the food. Consider reviewing/refreshing the site at least every six months.

Hard wired to be on the hunt, dogs have no game plan to entertain themselves (well, they are dogs). For them, the hunt is the fun, who cares if they catch anything? We see clients doing the same thing.

How can you stop chasing the wrong kinds of prospects?

• Get real about the kind of clients you want. What industry is this client in? How big are their sales?  Are the kinds of prospects who hired you a year ago much different this year?

• Qualify early. We ran a sales campaign for an accounting firm client to identify prospects for a specific service. Low and behold, we identified a handful right away with one in particular who wanted to meet immediately. After investing an afternoon of prepping (researching the prospect), the sales meeting happened.  A couple of days later, the prospect asked the client if they would come down on fees to closely match their current firm’s fees. In other words, they were price shopping.

• Learn to say ‘no’. Or in dog training terms, DROP IT. It’s occasionally a good idea to just tell an interested prospect that you can’t take on the project right up front. Just be honest. If your feel structure won’t work or if you don’t have the right staff to serve them, just say no. And be prepared to refer them to a firm that can help them.

Sure, the chase is essentially the fun part. Just be sure you have a lead generation strategy in place first.