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Promoting Continuous Improvement
in CPA Firm Leadership.
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Herding Tigers and Other Lone Rangers
by Gale Crosley
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Editor’s Note: In the July/August issue of the
CPA Leadership Report we featured an article by Gale Crosley titled
“Winning Significant Opportunities in Today’s Environment.” The
following article continues the discussion with the focus on changing
behaviors to achieve desired results. |
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For CPAs, winning significant opportunities is the
ultimate team sport. If you or other tigers in your firm are accustomed
to going it alone, you’ll find it’s next to impossible to do this
consistently when the business is large and complex. The reluctance of
CPAs to recognize this keeps many from conquering high-value targets.
All Together Now!
Would a
quarterback ever appear alone on the field to face down a full roster of
opposing players? Of course not. The same thinking applies here.
The large opportunity game we’re playing is football, not golf—think
Clemson Tigers, not Tiger Woods. Getting a firm’s big game hunters to
work together is not always easy, but it’s nearly always effective.
For many
CPAs, the notion of collaboration is not a natural one; you may have to
educate your team about the benefits. In order to attract big, valuable
business, you need a multi-disciplinary team including specialty players
brought on and off the field as needed.
Some of those
players get very little attention and rarely score. They diligently set
up plays, ceding the spotlight to others who pass and kick to the
delight of the crowd. Think about your own team—some members are best
behind-the-scenes. Perhaps they know a back channel or a key contact
that got you in the door in the first place. Perhaps they are the
supreme strategist, but not the best in front of a prospect. Others are
perfectly suited to line up with the CEO or CFO. Selecting the right
combination of buyers and sellers is the high-stakes game that will get
you big-time results.
Once you
determine that a potential opportunity is “significant,” it’s time to
spring into action. Base that determination on a predetermined dollar
amount as well as the presence of multiple decision makers on the
buyer’s side and greater-than-average complexity.
When any of these factors exist, it’s probably time to call in the big
opportunity team.
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. . . often the relationship-management component
of the opportunity development will be handled by someone other
than the technical guru. |
Strategize as
a group, but act individually. The tactic is sequential, with one person
moving the ball down the field at any given time. Initial calls and most
subsequent calls in your call program should be made one-on-one with
each buyer. A meeting with the CEO and CFO, a lunch with the audit
committee chair, a call on the president, are all separate, calculated
plays conducted by selected—and often different—members of your team. A
key goal is to gain information and build rapport. The data and
intelligence gathered are brought back to the large group where,
depending on what’s uncovered, the strategy can be recalibrated. Players
should “check their egos at the door,” and prepare to work together.
Selecting
the Players and Positions
Each
opportunity will have a slightly different set of players, aligned with
different buyers. It might not be evident exactly who should be aligned
with each buyer on the front end. Take your best shot, but be prepared
to change midstream. It might be the person closest to the technical
area of interest to the buyer. However, this is not always the case.
Relationship development and management is a different function than
technical expertise. Sometimes these reside in the same person, but
often the relationship-management component of the opportunity
development will be handled by someone other than the technical guru.
For example, I recently coached a firm through closing a $100,000+
opportunity. There were three decision makers and an outside “friend of
the firm.” We aligned the CFO with the CPA firm’s business development
director. Midway through the opportunity, the president of the
prospective company started calling the tax partner to clarify questions
about our proposed solution, so we formalized most of our communication
to the president through the tax partner. It also became apparent that
the audit partner was best aligned with the audit committee chair, so he
carried the ball in primary communications with the chair. Yet a fourth
partner, who knew a “friend of the firm,” was instrumental in giving our
friend specific instructions on what we needed her to do to enhance our
position with the prospect. We got the ball over the goal line, and it
was teamwork at its best.
Tools of the
Trade
When the goal
is a big win, you need a reliable, repeatable technique. Your efforts at
teamwork will be greatly enhanced by using a pipeline—an inventory of
all large opportunities (typically presented as an Excel spread sheet or
CRM report) to help keep the various teams focused on the tactics to
enhance their odds to win the big ones.
As in
football, progress is not a steady march toward the goal, but a series
of zigs and zags of won and lost yards. There are significant gains and
inevitable setbacks along the way. Certain plays you execute will have
higher and lower odds of success. Sometimes the calculated risk will
suggest a field goal, and sometimes a touchdown attempt makes the most
sense.
You’ll get
more effective and efficient by replicating the process time after time,
even with a tight deadline and competitors breathing down your neck. As
you become more nimble at maneuvering the process, you’ll spend less
time and see ever-improving results.
You and other
tigers can continue to pursue small to medium targets on your own. But
when it comes to large, complex opportunities, a coordinated team effort
is the CPA’s best chance for success.
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Gale Crosley, CPA, is founder and principal of
Crosley + Company, providing revenue growth consulting and coaching
to CPA firms. She brings more than 30 years of experience, featuring a
unique combination as a practicing CPA in two national accounting firms
along with significant experience in business development in the cutting
edge technology environment with such firms as IBM and MCI. |
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Click here to send Gale an e-mail. |
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