rod burkert

Turn the practice you have into the practice you want!

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Do you need a lead magnet? Do you know what it is or what it does for you?

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Greetings from Forest City, Iowa. The RV is parked just outside of the Winnebago factory where we will be getting some R&M done and taking part in Winnebago’s 50th Grand National Rally.

I hope you found our last conversation about ideal clients (can I have more than one) gives you more clarity around the topic of ideal clients. Bottom line: we all want to be served by someone whom we believe specializes in solving our problem; our prospects want the same thing from us.

On to this week. I’ve written previously about how I grew my email list. My list is what makes reaching you with this newsletter possible, which in turn gives me a platform to build Authority about my coaching services. You can do the same with your BVFLS services. But first, you need a list. And to build a list, it helps immensely if you have a lead magnet.

And if you’re new here, welcome aboard. This is what we do!

Here are three things I am happy to report:

#1 – This week is the 19th anniversary of me starting Burkert Valuation Advisors.

#2 – This week is the 4th anniversary of me writing this newsletter.

#3 – And last week, my first Practice Development INSIDER webinar (with Chris Mercer) launched.

Top webinar complaint: The time allocated to the webinar was not appropriate. (I believe people wanted more than 1 hour of Chris’s insights.)

Top webinar compliment: Absolutely brilliant! Best $100 I’ve spent all year. This was interesting, insightful, and valuable no matter how new or tenured to BVFLS the practitioner is.

First things first … our Outlook contacts and LinkedIn connections are not an email list. But they are a great starting point for one. And if we have a good relationship with those people, there should be little friction in getting them to subscribe. Hint: you personally invite them to subscribe – and if they see the value in the content you are sharing, they will subscribe.

But eventually, we will run out of people we know and who will subscribe just because we ask them to. So this newsletter is about grabbing those strangers … people who stumble across our website, see us speak, or read something else we published. How do we capture them?

The answer is a lead magnet

A lead magnet is an ethical bribe. In exchange for strangers giving up their name and email address, we offer something of value to them in return. You’ve seen lead magnets, but maybe you didn’t know what they were called. And you may not remember, but you likely subscribed to this newsletter through my File Autopsy lead magnet.

Recently, I created a new lead magnet, How to Vet Your Prospects, which I am sharing with you today (even though you are already a newsletter subscriber). But I wanted you to see another example so you could start thinking about creating a lead magnet of your own.

How to create a lead magnet

A lead magnet could be a whitepaper, checklist, how-to guide, cheat sheet, or infographic. Some people will use the first chapter of a new book they wrote as a lead magnet. So what information do you have that could be easily packaged as a lead magnet?

As you can see, the File Autopsy is a checklist and Vet Your Prospects is a how-to guide. In both cases, they have a very similar layout – on purpose – because it makes them easier for me to produce. And if you recognize the content of each lead magnet it is because they are repurposed newsletters.

I created both lead magnets in Keynote, Apple’s equivalent of PowerPoint. And I get my images from DepositPhotos.com, which runs a special every now and then – 100 images for $100.

Best practices of a lead magnet

An effective lead magnet is SAGE.

S – Short: Consumable in less than 10 minutes so that it encourages the people you want to attract to actually read it.

A – Actionable: Loaded with practical content related to the business of the people you want to attract.

G – Goal Oriented: It solves a particular problem of the people you want to attract.

E – Easy: For the information to be used or implemented so the people you want to attract get results with no advanced prep or training required.

Where does a lead magnet go

Technically, a lead magnet doesn’t go anywhere. It resides on your website or in a cloud-based storage application like Google Drive or Dropbox so that it can be downloaded on demand.

But the language you use to tell your audience about the lead magnet – well, that can go anywhere … an email trailer or any of your marketing materials. You’ll see the opt-in for my lead magnet on the home page and sidebars of my website.

So what

Growing your email list is the secret sauce behind a 1:many product-based practice that I have written about many times before. But an email list is still critical to growing a 1:1 client service based practice as well.

And the goal of a lead magnet is to “pre-suade” (a term coined by Robert Cialdini) the people you want to attract, for whatever reason, that you possess the skills, knowledge, and experience necessary to solve their problem.

In real life

The Practice Development INSIDER webinar series I created was made possible by the strength of the email list I have, which I have been growing over time with a lead magnet.

Related posts

How I built my email list from scratch

Cheers!

 

 

 

Action Items:

– If you like what I write about, tell a colleague.

– If something resonates and you want to reach out directly, email me.

– If you think we share common interests, connect with me on LinkedIn.

– If you want a sense of how well your practice is working for you, take this Practice Self Assessment.

Can you have more than one ideal client?

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I hope our last conversation about your ideal client inspires you to build out your profile for them. Because you will never know the kind and depth of relationship you can have with that client – and how to reach them – until you go through the exercise of describing them.

On to this week. Considering it was a long holiday weekend, I got a lot of comments on last week’s newsletter. (Thanks for the feedback!) Most of those comments centered around this question: Can I have more than one ideal client? The answer deserves a follow-on post.

And if you’re new here, welcome aboard. This is what we do!

When it comes to practice development – or anything else for that matter – stop caring about what others are doing. Instead, care about WHY you care about what others are doing.

And just a reminder that the first Practice Development INSIDER webinar with Chris Mercer is this Friday @ 1-2pm ET. If you register but can’t attend live, you will still receive a copy of the recording and show notes.

As a younger adult, I was captivated by the Highlander movies and, later, the TV series. Cheesy, yes. Absurd, maybe. But when I began writing this post I was reminded of the shows’ credo: “There can be only one.”

Can there be only one ideal client?
Because “ideal” implies just one.

But if there can be more than one, how many more?
Unlike Hardball with Hitchner conference sessions, the answer is: “It depends.”

#1 – It depends on how we define client

Is our client a referral source or the client of a referral source?
But even then, we should be still targeting one type of ideal client.

#2 – It depends on whom we are trying to reach

Is our client a specific individual or a type of business?
For example, a business owner for a specialized practice area like exit planning.
Or automobile dealerships that will need a variety of services over their life cycle.

#3 – It depends on our firm size

This is a biggie.
Are we an army, or an army of one?
Because each ideal client type should have a champion at the firm.
Someone who knows everything about them, depending on how “them” is defined.
Someone who has built up Authority for serving that ideal client type.

So the smaller our firm, the fewer ideal client types we can have.
And if we are a solo, two is probably our max. Even then, they should be related.
For example, the ideal client for our transactional valuation services (gift/estate/PPA) could be manufacturers. And the ideal client for our transformational valuation services (exit planning) could be those owners.

Our span of control

Ultimately, the number of ideal clients depends on our span of control.
At one end of the spectrum, here is a factor within our control: our sanity.
The more client types we serve, the more information we have to keep up with.
And even if we can keep up, we will run ourselves ragged trying to do it.
Why would we want to do that?

At the other end of the spectrum, here is a factor beyond our control: prospect perception.
The best prospects (those who understand the value we bring to the table and are willing to pay for that value) want BVFLS professionals who have solved their problem type “hundreds” of times, successfully.
No prospect is going to believe we can do that for them if our marketing says we do it for “everyone.”

So what

We don’t market for. We market to.
For example, we don’t market for BVFLS services … we market to the people who need those services. And since not everyone needs BVFLS services for the same reason, we have to market to the reason.

This causes us to be very specific about our ideal clients and naturally limits the number we can serve.
For practitioners who don’t have an ideal client, every client is an ideal client.
Is that who you want to be?

In real life

I love asking these questions.

My hope is that they will get us to think more about what we do, who we serve … and how we reach who we serve to tell them about what we do!

Because if we don’t know who we are marketing to, we are wasting time and money and wondering why what we are doing isn’t effective.

Cheers!

 

 

 

Action Items:

– If you like what I write about, tell a colleague.

– If something resonates and you want to reach out directly, email me.

– If you think we share common interests, connect with me on LinkedIn.

– If you want a sense of how well your practice is working for you, take this Practice Self Assessment.

Don’t do any more marketing until you know this one person

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I hope our last conversation about the 3 ways to increase practice revenues makes you realize there is no silver bullet or magic potion for growing your top line. Just three ways … but each one comes with a challenge. To gain momentum, start with the way that is easiest for you.

On to this week. Lunches? Networking events? Social media? Expert directory listings? Blog or newsletter? Sponsorships? Google adwords? Chatbots? Can anyone tell me what marketing tactic works best for landing new clients?! Yes … there is one person who can tell you what will work best for you.

And if you’re new here, welcome aboard. This is what we do!

Forget a moment about your engagement risk.
How do you reverse a prospect’s engagement risk?
Their risk can be time, money, effort, or some other resource.
If you can reduce or remove their risk, getting them to sign on will be easier.

Surprisingly, there is one person who can give you the answer you’re looking for.
This person knows what message should resonate.
This person knows how that message should be worded.
This person knows where that message should be delivered.

This person is … our ideal BVFLS client.
Not just any client with a body temp of 98.6 degrees and a checkbook.
Rather, the one person who is on the other side of all of our marketing efforts.
The one person we can consistently attract because we are meant to serve them.

Meet my one person

I am making myself feel vulnerable sharing this with you, but here goes.
Here is the ideal client for my practice development coaching.

His/her name is Chris.
A younger GenX or older Millennial.
Watches the financial news.
Is likely Republican.
Is married with children and saving for their college.
Has a nice home in the suburbs with a mortgage.
Drives an upscale car.
Vacations at the beach/in the mountains with spouse, 2 grown-ish children, and a dog.
Is pressed for time.
Likes structure, clarity, and certainty.
Has an accounting background.
Works in a 1-3 person BVFLS practice.
Has multiple credentials from most likely pool of CPA, ABV, CVA, ASA.
Is not differentiated but knows the clients s/he likes serving.
Does not specialize but knows the work s/he likes doing.
Is doing only 1:1 client service work.
Is experiencing fee compression.
Has strong technical skills.
Has an adequate understanding of technology.
Is a fair to middlin’ speaker and writer.
Is somewhat wary of using social media to generate leads.
Is greatly influenced by what other practitioners are doing.
Knows s/he needs to market but wishes s/he didn’t have to.
Is stuck in Survival or Stability mode.

This is the person I want to connect with.
This is the person I am writing to now.
This is the person I want to serve today.

Can you describe your one person?

It is scary to pick an ideal client … your Chris.
Picking your Chris means ignoring a Taylor.
We’d like to have them both as clients!

But we are not likely suited to serve them both.
And marketing does not work that way.

There is a saying: Marketing to everyone is marketing to no one.
When we market to everyone, we speak in generalities in order to be all-inclusive.
We imply there is no red velvet rope between them and us.

So how detailed can you get about your ideal BVFLS client?
I know, sitting down and describing that client sounds a little woo-woo.
But try it … for your sake as much as theirs.

Because that ideal client is the one person who can give you the answers to all of your marketing questions.
Knowing you are marketing to your ideal client gives you a lens to view what you say and do … how you say and do it … and where you say and do it.

And as a result of so carefully crafting the message, the medium, and the interface, your ideal client can’t help but see themselves in all that you offer.
And can’t help but see you as the solution to their problem.

 So what

Those what, how, and where questions?
We can now simply ask how the answers will play out with our ideal client.
The answers are anchored in the relationship we have with our ideal client.
But we won’t know what the relationship is until we go through the exercise of describing that client.

In real life

Knowing our ideal client – in depth – changes everything.
We won’t have to ask what marketing works best … we’ll know.

It will keep us from embracing a marketing tactic just because someone else is using it or dismiss one just because it didn’t work for someone else.
Because we’ll see that they may be trying to connect with a different ideal client than we are.

Related post

Attracting ideal clients: who are your bestest ones (the first newsletter I wrote!)

Have a great 4th of July weekend!

 

 

 

Action Items:

– If you like what I write about, tell a colleague.

– If something resonates and you want to reach out directly, email me.

– If you think we share common interests, connect with me on LinkedIn.

– If you want a sense of how well your practice is working for you, take this Practice Self Assessment.

There are 3 ways to increase your practice revenues

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I hope our last conversation about the client experience inspires you to examine every interaction you have with your clients. How does the experience you offer now make them feel? What could you do better or make easier? Because your report isn’t the only deliverable you are being judged on.

On to this week. Increasing revenue feels complicated, doesn’t it? It feels complicated because we make it complicated. Not the end result so much, but how to actually go about it. Because in reality, any Business 101 course will tell us the ways/rules of increasing revenue are few and simple. (Executing, however, is another matter.)

And if you’re new here, welcome aboard. This is what we do!

The risks we take define who we become.
The “right time” to take a risk is something we create, not something we wait on.
What risk do you need to create in/with your practice?

That’s right … let’s dial it up!

Almost all of my coaching clients seek me out because they want more clients.
Because more clients = more revenue.

And if you’re stuck in “Survival” or “Stability” mode, you probably believe more revenue is the key to solving (all of) your problems.

For today, let’s assume that is true.
How do we increase revenue?

There are only 3 ways … 3.

#1 – Land more clients

Easy, right?
We are already selling and delivering services that others value.
Chances are, other people want and need those services, too.

The challenge: We’ve got to find more of those people … or help them find us.

Here’s a thought.

Start with the clients we already serve and work backward. Ask them: How did they find us? Why did they hire us? Were they happy with our work? Do they recommend us to others?

These questions get at the heart of it all, don’t they?
And the answers give us a roadmap to land more clients.

But …

At the end of the day, recognize that people hire us when they need our services – not when we need their business. And at any given time, only a small percentage of the universe needs our services – even if we are the best at what we do.

#2 – Raise your fees

Possible … yes. A little/lot scary … double yes.

The challenge: We say we can’t raise our fees because there is already downward pressure on them. And clients can easily find someone else to do the work. (If that is true for you, you have a bigger challenge.)

Back in my local firm tax department days, we went to an annual 1040-update program called Gear Up. Each year, one of the speakers would close by saying, “And for heaven’s sake, double your fees. If half of your clients leave, you’ll still earn the same revenue but with a lot less work. And the reality is that half of your client won’t leave.”

Yes, the thought of raising our fees is scary.
Maybe we can’t do it now because [fill in our story].
But for today, just recognize that raising your rates is another way to increase revenue.

And parenthetically, either our newest research and reference resources are making us more efficient and effective so we can complete an engagement in less time than it used to take … or they are not. But if true, fees are not being compressed and we should be making an equivalent rate per engagement.

Example: $15,000 to complete a valuation that use to take 60 hours = $10,000 to complete a valuation that now only takes 40 hours.

#3 – Sell more services to the clients you land

You are already working with clients.
You have started filling their know, like, and trust buckets.

Clients in this stage of the relationship are likely to buy additional services – either those you can provide directly or in partnership with another service provider – if those services solve a problem, make their businesses more valuable, and/or yield a high ROI.

The challenge: If we are not good selling our primary services, we are even worse at selling ancillary services (which may actually have greater value to the client).

One of the biggest regrets I have is all the money I left on the table after delivering a tax purpose valuation report. Amy (my wife and business partner for readers who are new here) and I got so busy doing this work, we never stopped to think about the bird in the hand to whom we could sell other services.

Would we have been successful in every case? Of course not. But we likely would have been successful in many cases … and that would have added up to some serious coin (revenue).

So what

So is there a “best” way to increase practice revenue?
All three ways come with a challenge.

Successful practices overcome those challenges. They have a steady stream of new clients calling, are charging fair prices, and work to add value for their clients by solving or heading off other problems.

But to get momentum, start with the way that seems easiest to you. Work to attract new clients, raise your fees as you add more value, and pay attention to current clients in order to identify and solve the problems hindering their success.

In real life

In my experience – and maybe yours is different – most of our BVFLS work is once-and-done. We have a single transactional relationship with a client, and when the transaction is done so is the relationship (not including the possibility of future referrals from that client).

As a result:

  • We are always on the hunt for new clients to replace the ones that drop off.
  • It’s hard to raise fees for new clients when they don’t have a history of working with us and experiencing the value we deliver.
  • There is a mindset shift required to sell additional services, from a shorter-term transactional relationship to a longer-term transformational one.

And to the point of my last post on the client experience, who are your clients? Are they referral source attorneys or their clients? Or both?

My advice … segment each client-audience and develop strategies and tactics for the three ways of increasing practice revenues where they apply.

For example, you could land more referral source as clients.
As the referral sources gain a history of working with you, you can raise your fees and they’ll tell their clients that you’re worth it.
And when you capture the attention of a client of a referral source, watch for the opportunities to sell them additional services.

Related posts

Could pricing with options increase your practice revenues?
How many BVFLS referral sources do you need?
Our fees are determined by the market? Which market?

Cheers!

 

 

 

Action Items:

– If you like what I write about, tell a colleague.

– If something resonates and you want to reach out directly, email me.

– If you think we share common interests, connect with me on LinkedIn.

– If you want a sense of how well your practice is working for you, take this Practice Self Assessment.

Client Experience: what is it … do we have it

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I received some great feedback from our last conversation about reciprocating referrals. It seems like most of us are in the same boat … we get more referrals than we could ever possibly hope to return. So we do our best by promising to do good work. It makes for an interesting segue into today’s discussion.

Customer experience is all the rage now. Everywhere you look (if you’re looking), businesses are trying to redefine what it means to be their customer so they can keep the customer. But who is a customer to us? Is it the referral source or their client? And what customer experience can we create for them?

And if you’re new here, welcome aboard. This is what we do!

When it comes to knowing what to do and how to do it, landing new clients can seem like a long winding road. The seasoned professionals in our BVFLS industry can help you shave off some of those switchbacks and hairpin turns. Starting next week, you will be able to register for the inaugural episode of Practice Development INSIDER, the new webinar series I’ve created.

Scheduled Q3 guests are Chris Mercer (Jul 12), Jim Hitchner (Aug 2), and Nancy Fannon (Sep 6). You will notice that all of the webinars are on Fridays … because there is no better day for winding down the week and working on your practice.

Client experience … who is our client

Do you consider your clients to be your referral sources or their clients? Given the once-and-done nature of almost all of my valuation and litigation engagements, I consider referral sources to be my clients – but I also know I have to keep my clients’ clients happy.

Most businesses don’t have to worry about creating a positive experience for a client and the client’s client – but we do.

Client experience … what is it

A recent article in Accounting Today says, “ ‘Client experience’ is best defined as how you meet your clients’ needs at every point over the lifespan of the relationship.” So think about every point of our interaction with clients (and clients’ clients).

It starts with the moment our client walks in our door (well, your office door … certainly not my RV door). But do clients even come to your office, or do you go to theirs as a matter of convenience? Maybe that is one part of the client experience we create.

It ends with the delivery of the report, which we most often deliver to the referral source, not their client; and the quality of our report then filters back to their client. But the fact is that the quality of the report, alone, is no longer enough of a differentiator in our world.

Client experience … why is it important

From that Accounting Today article, the research company Gartner is quoted as saying 89% of businesses today expect to compete mostly on client experience, versus only 36% four years ago. That’s a huge shift.

For the BVFLS profession, this means that to effectively compete on a playing field that continues to level out, mastering the client experience is key to attracting and maintaining our clients so we can level up.

Client experience … how to create it

If the client experience involves every interaction we have with them, we need to evaluate every step we take our clients through. Here are some ideas I have written about previously.

And by easy, I mostly mean less friction. For example, I removed all of the legalese from my engagement letters so they are easier to understand.

And my engagement letters don’t have to be signed/returned. Payment of the retainer constitutes the client’s acceptance of all terms and conditions.

And that payment can be made via PayPal, ACH payment, or wire transfer.

What feedback do you get throughout the engagement and at the end of it? Because we can’t improve the client experience if we don’t know how/where we are falling short.

Here are five questions I ask:

  1. How did you find me?
  2. Why did you hire me?
  3. Is there one thing I do better than others you work with?
  4. Is there one thing I could have done to create a better experience for you?
  5. Do you recommend me to others? Why or why not?

I know … we dread talking to clients about this stuff. But if we ask these questions, just the act of doing so might differentiate us from our competition from our clients’ perspective.

Our services aren’t cheap. And yet, how many of us regularly check in with fee-paying clients during engagements to let them know about the progress we’re making?

Because they are paying for the right to receive the service … have it delivered on time, as promised … and be kept up-to-date all along the way.

It’s also what we would expect and want if we plunked down a 4- or 5-figure sum for similar professional services.

So what

Many professional service companies are recognizing the importance of delivering a rich client experience to differentiate themselves from the competition. Will you be one of them? Because your report isn’t the only deliverable you are being judged on.

In real life

When you think about every interaction you have with clients, what does your overall client experience look like? And how does the experience you offer now make your clients feel?

And even if we perform transactional services (like tax- or fair value-purpose valuations), I believe the key to providing better client experiences lies in making them feel that we provide transformational services.

Related posts

Make it easy for prospects and clients to work with you
Why you should call your BVFLS clients every Friday
5 questions you should ask to get critical client feedback

Reading that can help

Client experience is where it’s at from Accounting Today.

Cheers!

 

 

 

Action Items:

– If you like what I write about, tell a colleague.

– If something resonates and you want to reach out directly, email me.

– If you think we share common interests, connect with me on LinkedIn.

– If you want a sense of how well your practice is working for you, take this Practice Self Assessment.