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I n the last issue we began a series
of surveys of influential consultants to the accounting profession
asking them their opinion of the effectiveness of accounting firm
management. This time we asked their opinion of accounting firm
marketing.
Our
question was:
How effective is the marketing function in middle market CPA
firms? Please rate on a scale of 1 to 10 with 1 being very
ineffective and 10 being highly effective. Please include
comments.
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The average rating was 4.73.
We believe
nearly every firm will benefit from the comments by our respondents.
Reviewing them in a senior management meeting may lead to changes in
your marketing vision, strategy, planning, and execution. Here is a
summary of the comments followed by details of the commentary.
Summary of Comments
• The
effectiveness of the marketing function depends on the experience,
education, and focus of the marketing personnel.
• Vision and
focus are critical problems for most firms.
• The greatest
cause of ineffectiveness is lack of planning and management.
• Firms that
have niche areas or teams create a better environment for marketing.
• The quality
and extent of marketing is dependent on the managing partner.
• The presence
of one or more rainmakers is the real springboard for growth.
• More
marketing time needs to be allocated to those who are able to use it
effectively.
• Firms do not
differentiate themselves.
• Some firms
simply “go through the motions” of marketing.
• There is too
much complacency and too little accountability.
Experience,
Education, and Focus of Marketing Personnel
According to Troy Waugh of Waugh & Company in
Brentwood, Tennessee, the rating of the marketing function depends on
the personnel and how their roles are defined. If there is no marketing
consultant, coordinator, director, or partner leading the effort, the
marketing function will be very ineffective. An administrator who
manages the marketing function will create only slightly better results.
A marketing director who sees his or her role as materials development
only, will not do much better. A Marketing director who helps partners
build business would add real effectiveness, and a marketing director
who takes responsibility for driving sales could achieve excellent
results.
Vision and Focus
Bob Lewis of
Visionary Marketing in Palatine, Illinois, observes that firms
view marketing projects in terms of short term costs and return. A lack
of immediate response often is taken as a sign of failure. Material sent
to prospects and clients is either too technical or does not make a real
‘offer.’ Offering a free consultation is the same as telling a client
you will not charge them for a sales call.
Lewis says:
“Focus is a major issue for many firms. Firms
try to market in the off season and stop in the busy season. If an
opportunity you have been working requires attention in March, but the
firm is not there because it is focused on tax returns, it is likely to
fade away. For example, the auditor selection window for employee
benefits plans opens in January and closes in June. If you start looking
for employee benefit plan audits in June, most of the prospects will
have already signed engagement letters with other firms.”
Rick Solomon
of The Solomon Company in Stony Brook, New York, has articulated
a unique perspective on developing new business from current clients. He
says: “When a firm has a truly
client centric focus, sales and marketing are integral to and
inseparable from ongoing dialogue with clients to help them achieve
their goals. As professionals recognize that this sort of dialogue with
clients is not so much an opportunity, but a responsibility, the firm
culture begins to shift. From what we have observed, once this
cultural shift occurs, the marketing function is considerably enhanced
and reaches the 9 to 10 level.”
Lack of Planning and
Management
According to
Larry Bildstein of the Whetstone Group in Marion, Iowa, lack of
planning is the greatest cause of ineffective marketing. He says that
firms often engage in random, ad hoc marketing activities. Instead they
should identify target markets for their services and plan a series of
consistent and frequent activities designed to exploit the potential of
that market. With respect to management of the marketing function,
Bildstein says:
“Firms that
have a full-time resource don’t really understand how to manage a
professional outside of the accounting staff. Sometimes all partners are
responsible for managing the marketing person or function resulting in a
lack of clear focus and direction. Partners often don’t understand
what they should expect from the marketing person or function so they
are either disappointed or ambivalent about it.”
Niche Marketing
Cornell Rudov
of cpasnet.com in Princeton, New Jersey, notes that middle market
firms are likely to have niche areas or niche service teams, which
creates a better environment for marketing. This view is confirmed by
reports from CPA firms that industry and functional niches give them a
competitive edge. Clients demand to be represented by
professionals who know their clients’ businesses very well, and are,
therefore, positioned to help them improve their performance.
Managing Partner’s Role
Rich Rinehart
of Grant Partners in Denver, feels that many firms are dependent
on an administrative assistant/marketing coordinator who reports to the
managing partner. “However,
with the other responsibilities of both the managing partner and the
administrative assistant/marketing coordinator, marketing is a
part-time job,” says Rinehart. He adds:
“The quality and extent of
marketing activities is more dependent on the managing partner and his
or her direction than on the administrative assistant/marketing
coordinator. Marketing paves the way for one-on-one contact with
prospects by partners and others in the firm. It is an opportunity to
raise the profile of the firm in the business community, showcase firm
products, services, industry expertise, etc.”
Rainmakers
Jerry Anderson of Making Auditors Proficient, Abiline, Texas,
believes that structured marketing in middle market firms is generally
limited to branding the firm. He says:
“The success of the firm’s marketing
effort is highly dependent on the effectiveness of the individual
partners as marketers. If a rainmaker exists, then the marketing efforts
will appear successful. An organized marketing effort will always be
somewhat successful, but the presence of the rainmaker is the
springboard to growth. Successful marketing requires a plan normally
designed by a marketing professional, key referral sources, and the
leader within the partner group.”
Allocation of Marketing
Time
Don Scholl of
D.B. Scholl, Inc., Westchester, Pa., believes that in firms where
marketing is seen as a partner function,
“more time needs to be allocated to
those who are able to use it effectively. A few hundred hours now and
then does not create short- or long-term results. Those firm members who
have little talent or enthusiasm for marketing should be left alone to
do what they are good at doing.”
Scholl also says: “More use
should be made of trained, proven, capable, sales professionals who can
actually bring in business. Too many firms rely on overworked partners
to perform marketing functions. And those partners tend to be the ones
who are capable of providing firm leadership and running a large book of
business.”
Firms do not Differentiate Themselves
Chandra
Bhansali, of Accountants World, Stony Brook, New York, notes:
“While many middle market CPA
firms are doing more proactive marketing than in the past, we have not
seen many firms differentiating themselves.
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“The success of the firm’s marketing effort is highly dependent on
the effectiveness of the individual partners as marketers. If a
rainmaker exists, then the marketing efforts will appear
successful.
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Bob Lewis
says: “Most firms have nothing
that makes them stand out. They try to compete by offering services
(tax, audit, accounting) that a prospect does not see as value-added.
The marketing effort must focus on strategies to help them with
profitability, operational, or time management issues. Companies will
not change a commodity service for another commodity service unless a
problem arises. Once a commodity manages to become differentiated, it no
longer is priced as a commodity. This is the area most CPA firms cannot
seem to address in their marketing efforts.”
Going Through the Motions
Says Sally
Glick, chief marketing officer at J.H. Cohn in New Jersey:
“Some firms may simply go
through the motions of marketing, but they do not truly believe in the
value of their efforts.”
Yet she
believes that there are also many firms that accept and appreciate the
efforts of marketing professionals even though they are not a part of
the firm’s core competency. It is understood that marketing creates
opportunities both for attracting new clients and for building greater
satisfaction and loyalty with existing clients.
Gale Crosley
of Crosley + Company adds:
“Marketing is very narrowly defined.
We need to evolve to a 'practice growth' function, versus a marketing
function so that the resource is connected to the end objective of
driving revenue."
Irwin
Friedman, retired managing partner of a top 25 firm in Chicago,
says: “It is common for CPA
firms to use newsletters and brochures to market their firms; however,
very few firms advance their marketing efforts using these tools in a
way to create a regular flow of new client and project opportunities."
Complacency and
Accountability
Sam Allred,
of Anderson, Zurmuehlen & Co. in Helena, Montana, believes that
too many partners are complacent about their marketing responsibilities
and few are held accountable to a written, personal marketing plan. They
tend to abdicate the responsibility to the firm’s rainmakers. He says
further: “When firm leaders
speak of marketing, their emphasis is almost entirely on results and not
on effort. Individuals within the firm can control their effort not
always their results.”
Of course, this does not relieve the
firm of the responsibility for driving the marketing effort towards
desired outcomes.
Click on the links below to
contact any of the consultants quoted in this article.
Jerry
Anderson -
Click here to send an e-mail.
Sam Allred -
Click here to send an e-mail.
Chandra
Bhansali -
Click here to send an e-mail.
Gale Crosley
-
Click here to send an e-mail.
Irwin
Freidman -
Click here to send an e-mail.
Sally Glick -
Click here to send an e-mail.
Bob Lewis -
Click here to send an e-mail.
Rich Rinehart
-
Click here to send an e-mail.
Cornell Rudov
-
Click here to send an e-mail.
Don Scholl -
Click here to send an e-mail.
Rick Solomon
-
Click here to send an e-mail.
Doug Thompson
-
Click here to send an e-mail.
Troy Waugh -
Click here to send an e-mail.
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