The 7 mistakes stopping you

earning £200,000 annual profit

created by Mark Wickersham FCA in association with avn

In ThIs Workbook I’M goIng To be shArIng WITh you soMe oF The seCreTs ThAT I’ve leArned over The yeArs on WhAT The MosT suCCessFul FIrMs oF ACCounTAnTs In The uk Are doIng dIFFerenT. I’M Also goIng To shAre WITh you The seven MIsTAkes ThAT MosT FIrMs MAke.

Mark Wickersham FCA is passionate about the profession, and since selling his accountancy practice has been focused on helping accountants to become much more profitable.

Mark is also a widely published author on practice issues. In May 2011 his book, “Effective pricing for accountants”, was a number 1 Amazon bestseller. He has also co-authored“Your blueprint for a better tax practice” (published autumn 2010) and “Your blueprint for a better accountancy practice” (published autumn 2011), both of which have been widely acclaimed.

AVN is committed to making the UK’s owner managed accountancy firms the most successful and enjoyable to run in the world.

When you become a member of AVN, you get access to everything you need to help your own firm and your clients’ businesses become much more successful and much more enjoyable to run. All over the UK, hundreds of accountants are using AVN resources, tools and support to help themselves and their clients become more successful, more profitable and enjoy what they do much, much more.

AVERAGE PROFIT PER PARTNER

£68,706

SoME oF tHE FACtS AboUt tHE UK ACCoUNtINg proFESSIoN

At AVN we regularly carry out benchmarking studies of the UK accounting profession. And since 1998 we’ve worked with hundreds and hundreds of accountants in the UK and seen what works – and what doesn’t work.

Here are some of the key numbers from January 2012.

One of the things that’s really interesting about our profession is that accountants are not performing very well. The average profit per partner in the UK at the moment is about £68,706. And this is about £10,000 less than our comparative study in 2007.

So life’s getting harder and harder for many UK accountants.

And bearing in mind of course that this £68,706 is not a true profit. It’s not a ‘true profit’ because most accountants trade as sole practitioners or as partnerships. Consequently we don’t put through

a commercial salary for the owners’ own time. In other words, the costs for the time we put in.

At a recent seminar for accountants (partners and sole practitioners) I asked what their time was worth. In other words, thinking about all the work they do, their responsibilities and their experience, what would they expect to be paid if they were doing exactly the same things – and working the same ours – working for a larger accounting firm. The answers ranged from £70,000 to well over £100,000.

What does this mean?

Simple. If we were to put a commercial salary through for the partners most firms of accountants in the UK are making a loss.

And that’s simply not good enough. Particularly when you bear in mind that the top performing firms, despite recent difficult times, are performing better than ever.

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YoUr blUEprINt For A bEttEr ACCoUNtANCY

prACtICE

In 2011 Steve Pipe, Susan Clegg and I were the authors of Your Blueprint

for a Better Accountancy Practice.

This report set out the key research-proven things that every practice that really cares about its clients, reputation and future must do. It set out the findings of a survey of

156 accounting firms ranging from 72 sole practitioners to 13 firms

with six or more partners/directors.

In other words, the 156 firm sample was representative of the vast

majority of the profession.

The results were both striking and profoundly important.

For the first time the research revealed that we have a two track

profession, consisting of “Stars” and “Laggards”.

Both this report and AVN’s benchmarking studies show very

clearly that over the period of the global recession (between 2007

and 2012) most firms are struggling with average profit per partner

down by over 14%. And yet the best performing firms are doing better

than ever before.

So what can we learn from the UK’s best performing accounting firms?

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Find out how to get a free copy of ‘Your

Blueprint for a Better Accountancy Practice’

on page 19

tHE £1M SUMMItIn both February and September 2012 AVN organised a unique 2-day event called ‘The £1m Summit’.

It was a unique event because the speakers were top performing firms earning in excess of £200,000 in profit per partner. To be consistent with the terminology used in ‘Your Blueprint for a Better Accountancy Practice’ I’ll refer to these accountants as Stars.

At the February event there were 5 Stars; 6 at the September event. So collectively they were generating over £1m in profit.

And over the two days the Stars shared with the audience exactly what they did to achieve astonishing results.

The Stars from the September 2012 event are pictured on the right.

These 6 accountants were from very different parts of the UK and from different sized accounting firms.

Only one was from inside the M25. One was from the sleepy little Bedfordshire village of Toddington. Another from a Wiltshire market town. Another from South Wales. Success is not dependent upon geography. Firms that complain about where they are based are simply making excuses.

Size is also not an excuse. 3 of the Stars are sole practitioners. One is a 2-partner firm. And 2 are multi-partner firms.

These are 6 accountants with very different backgrounds. And yet they all make over £200,000 in profit per partner. And let me make it really clear; that’s from sustainable profits doing the core things that most accounting firms do. They do not make their money from aggressive tax planning or other specialist services.

I was very fortunate to spend two days with these 6 Stars in September 2012 and what came across loud and clear is that there were common themes coming across in their stories. Whilst on the surface their practices look very different (for example, there were some differences in their service offerings) at the very heart of what they do are a set of core underlying principles and best practice concepts.

Things that every great business has in place and yet are often lacking in others.

And here’s the great news. When you truly understand what these things are you have a roadmap for building a £1m accounting firm.

This roadmap consists of seven key things. Seven things, that when you get them right, can transform your results. Seven things which are missing in most accounting firms I come across.

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5

WHAt IS At

StAKE?Before I take you through the 7

critical areas which – if absent in your practice – will be stopping you earning £200,000 annual profit, let

me make it really clear what’s at stake.

All of the Stars make over £200,000 in profit per partner. Some considerably more than

that. So over the next five years (all being equal), they’re going to

each generate more than a million pounds of profit per partner.

Contrast that with the average firm of accountants in the UK. The

average firm of accountants makes a profit per partner of £68,706. So

over five years, that’s £343,530. You can see from the chart that’s a very large gap between the top

performing firms and the average firm. And of course 50% of firms in

the UK are worse than this.

So I’m going to reveal now the seven things that I’ve learnt from

spending two days with these incredible firms.AVERAGE FIRM STAR FIRM

1,200,000

1,000,000

800,000

600,000

400,000

200,000

0

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Find out how to get a free copy of steve

Pipe’s book, ‘The uk’s best accountancy

practices’ on page 19

#1MIStAKE

No ClEAr StrAtEgY

What came across consistently at the £1m Summit is that all the Star firms have a very clear strategy. Here are the key things the Stars had in common.

They all have a clear vision. In fact Rob Walsh even calls his practice Clear Vision. They know exactly where they are going and what they want their practice to look like. And not only do they paint a picture of what they want to achieve; they share it with their whole team.

They also understand the critical importance of having core values and a core purpose (some people call this a Mission statement). And once again, they share these with their entire team.

Strategy is so important to these firms they revisit it on a regular basis. For example, Paul Carvell sometimes goes away to Cyprus to get away from the office and think.

Rob Walsh has non-executive directors (‘non-exec’) who sit on his board and hold him accountable to taking action. Rob is also the non-executive director for one of the other Stars, Neil Ballard. Neil puts

much of his success down to having somebody outside his practice – Rob Walsh – sitting in on his board meetings as a non-exec.

Another key part of their strategy is having a really clear picture of exactly what their ideal client looks like. They don’t want to work for everybody. They haven’t got the time to work with everybody. They have a very, very clear picture.

This clarity has helped them to develop niches. For example, Clear Vision has a rapidly growing specialism in acting for dentists.

And if a potential client does not fit in with that ideal client profile, what then? Very simple. They won’t take them on.

So my questions for you… do you have a vision, core values, and a core purpose? Are they in writing? Do you communicate them with your entire team? Do you regularly get away to plan your strategy? Do you have a clear picture of what your ideal client looks like?

These things are critical; they underpin everything else.

The firsT misTake is mosT accounTing firms don’T have a clear sTraTegy

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#2MIStAKE

WroNgprICINg

And this has serious ramifications.

For example, the number one challenge most accountants face is a lack of time. We’re simply too busy. We know we have to spend more time adding value to our clients but we’re just too busy dealing with the stuff that’s in our in tray. Too busy doing compliance work. Too busy fighting fires.

The root cause of not having enough time, of being too busy is we’re not charging enough as a profession. And if you’re not charging enough, your margins suffer. Profitability suffers. And the knee-jerk reaction is to get more clients.

But more clients makes you busier.

Most accountants are trying to serve too many clients for a fee that is simply not adequate. Faced with those consequences you can’t possibly achieve the sort of things that the top performing firms are doing.

So we have to get our pricing right.

All of the Stars have a very clear

strategy when it comes to their price. And there are really only two strategic choices.

CHOICE 1: to pursue a strategy often referred to as “low-cost leadership”. This is a strategy where you make a conscious choice to be cheap and undercut the competition. However, it is very, very rare for this to be a sensible choice. To do this you must have something unique in your cost structure that means that you have lower costs preventing your competition copying your strategy. A UK business that pulls this off spectacularly well is Richer Sounds. But it is arguably very difficult for an accountancy practice to do this.

CHOICE 2: to have a highly differentiated service that adds value, so that you can charge a premium price.

Everything else is – at best – going to make you average. And looking at the state of the UK accountancy profession, average is not a nice place to be.

In all the research I have carried out, the top performing firms of

The nexT misTake mosT firms make is cosTing a forTune in losT profiT. They geT The price wrong.

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accountants all pursue option 2, i.e. focusing on being different, adding value and charging premium prices. And all 6 of the Star firms do exactly this; just like Stella Artois, they’re reassuringly expensive.

For example, every one of the Star firms have minimum fees. And whilst the quantum of these minimum fees differ between the Stars (they varied between £2,000 and £6,000) their minimum fees are greater than most firms’ average fees. They’re simply not interested in small clients. Because they fully recognise that their time is precious – and they fully appreciate the value of their time - so they can’t act for everyone.

What is your strategy when it comes to price?

Also, all of the Star firms have a no surprises policy. None of them use time-based billing – which has been described by some commentators as ambush billing. Time-based billing is wholly inappropriate because…

… accountants are NOT SELLING TIME.

Just ask your clients what they are buying from you. Your clients will tell you lots of things, such as, “I am buying tax savings”, “I am buying peace of mind knowing that my returns are correctly filed”, “I am buying solutions to my financial problems”. They won’t say, “I am buying your time.”

Clients do not buy time, they are buying a result. They are buying value. Therefore you should price based on the value you provide.

The Star firms all give fixed prices based on value. The client knows exactly what the price is up front for any piece of work that they do.

Here’s something else that all 6 of the Star firms have in common, and it’s related to pricing. You see, it’s not just about getting the right

price… it’s about getting paid. All six of those firms, they all get paid up front.

They don’t do debtors.

Now if you have debtors and offer credit, that’s a choice that you choose to make. There’s no professional Institute requirements that says you have to give clients credit. There’s no law that say you have to give credit. We’re in the service industry.

Many other people in the service industry don’t give credit. When you go to get your car serviced at the garage, you don’t expect to pick your car up without paying the bill. But for some reason, accountants have made a choice that they will give their clients credit.

It’s crazy; it doesn’t make any sense whatsoever.

All six of the firms at the £1m Summit event explained they all ask for money up front. They all get paid by Direct Debit. And that means that cash comes into their bank account every single month. That makes it much easier to plan, forecast and budget. It eliminates the pain of debt collection, legal action and bad debts.

That’s what all of the most successful firms are doing.

So if you have cash flow issues in your practice and you’re offering your clients credit then that’s a choice you’ve made. Perhaps it’s time to make better choices. Copy what the best performing firms are doing.

The easiest way to make more money is simple… get the price right.

It’s also the fastest way of transforming your profits. If you put your prices up by 10% the impact is immediate.

When you ATTend An Avn

ProACTIvITy evenT We WIll shoW you The besT sysTeMs

For ProFITAble PrICIng… The

FAsTesT WAy To ChAnge your boTToM-lIne

ProFITs.

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#3MIStAKE

AVErAgESErVICE

Many accounting firms spend most of their time doing compliance work; doing the accounts, audits, creating tax computations and completing tax returns. This is relatively low value work with downward pressure on price.

Most of these accountants recognise that they should (and indeed want to) do more added value work, such as tax planning, profit improvement advice, exit planning and so on. The trouble is they are too busy. Too many clients and too low prices. It all comes back to strategy.

What these six Star firms offer is a much different range of services. And they’re able to obtain this sort of work because they are all truly proactive. For example, all of them explained that they make regular proactive phone calls to their clients… they speak to their clients every single month.

Now of course they are able to do that because of their strategy and their ideal client profile. Robert

Brown for example explained how his Client Managers each have a portfolio of just 20 clients. Now when you only have 20 clients to deal with (that’s 20 ideal clients paying you good quality fees), you’ve got the time to pick up the phone every month and ask them how they’re getting on and being proactive. You’ve got the time to drop by their premises on an ad hoc basis and see how they’re getting on.

In contrast, if you’re acting for 100 or more clients you simply don’t have the time to be truly proactive with all of your clients. Perhaps some, but certainly not all.

When you only have 20 clients to deal with and you make it part of your systems to contact those clients every single month two things happen:

1. Your clients see that you really care about them, so they become more loyal and tell more people how great you are, and

“your blueprinT for a beTTer accounTancy pracTice” showed ThaT, while service levels across The profession as a whole are noT high enough, sTars do seem To Take service more seriously Than laggards, and do seem To be judging Themselves againsT a higher seT of sTandards.

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2. It’s been reported that when you pick up the phone to a client – or drop by their premises – to ask how they’re getting on, by the end of the conversation you often come away with extra work (and usually added value work – more profitable work).

During the 2-day £1m Summit event the 6 Star firms talked in depth about the sorts of added value work they do. For example, they all benchmark their clients businesses.

They offer strategic planning – very often by helping their clients think about their vision, their goals, their core purpose. They all do business consulting work.

Of course, they all do the compliance work as well. In that respect they are the same as most other firms. But the key difference is – because of their strategy and their systems – they have a very strong focus on helping their clients become much, much more successful.

When you ATTend An Avn ProACTIvITy evenT We WIll shoW you: • How to improve tHE WAY YoU DElIVEr bY bEINg MorE proACtIVE USINg A 6-StEp proCESS, • tHe FUNDAMENtAl tHINg EVErY ACCoUNtANt MUSt Do to MAKE YoUr ACCoUNtS MorE VAlUAblE, • How to add MASSIVE VAlUE to YoUr ClIENtS USINg tHE 7 KEY groWtH DrIVErS… AND SEll CoNSUltINg SErVICES, AND • How to create tHE totAl ACCoUNtINg SolUtIoNS… tHE UltIMAtE CroSS-SEllINg tool.

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#4MIStAKE

poorMArKEtINg

If you want to systematically and sustainably grow your accounting firm you must have a real focus on marketing. You cannot afford to leave it to chance and rely on organic growth. You can’t just hope for recommendations; you have to be proactive.

Marketing is the single most important function for any business. It doesn’t matter how good you are at the operational side of the business (doing the accounting). And it doesn’t matter how good you are at managing the money or managing your people. If you can’t attract business (the sales and marketing function) you will always struggle.

The 6 Star firms all recognise this. And that means you either have to:

• Learn the marketing skills yourself and find the time, or

• Train your team in marketing skills, or

• Hire a marketing team, or• Outsource your marketing.

Of course you might be thinking, “I don’t have the time to learn marketing or do it myself” or “I can’t afford to

hire a marketing team or outsource it.”

But can you afford to carry on as you are? If you’re not growing your practice at the rate you want, or you’re not making the profit you want then something has to change.

And can you now see that both of those objections can be overcome when you work on your strategy and you work on your pricing. When you get your strategy and your pricing right, other things start to fall into place.

Here are some of the things the Star firms do in the area of marketing:

One of the keys to marketing that I’ve discovered over the years is if you want to get more of the right sort of clients, you’ve got to demonstrate that you’re the credible expert. That you’re the accountant to talk to; you’ve got the expertise.

For example Rob Walsh has written a hardback book (of over 150 pages) called, “The Business of Dentistry.” You can find it on Amazon.

The fourTh misTake many accounTanTs make is To have poor markeTing.

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Now that is so much more powerful than a business card. That book positions Rob as the expert in dentists. His book is a key marketing tool for getting more of his ideal clients.

Every single one of the 6 Star firms regularly run and speak at events. It’s been said that, as soon as you cross that line – the line between the audience and the stage – you become the expert. Running events is one of the most powerful marketing tools.

And don’t dismiss webinars. They’re a very powerful marketing tool for demonstrating that you are the credible expert. So too is video marketing.

So if you want to get more great clients, you’ve got to demonstrate you’re the credible expert.

Another thing that was a consistent theme with these firms is they all

do niche marketing. This of course comes back to their strategy and having a crystal clear picture of their ideal client. They know exactly what sort of client they want and so their marketing is much more focussed and much more targeted. As a result, their marketing is much more effective.

And here’s something else all 6 of them do incredibly well. They’re focused on getting great testimonials.

Their websites and YouTube channels contain a wealth of testimonials including stunning video testimonials. And video testimonials by the way are far more powerful than written testimonials. Written testimonials are great but videos are even more powerful because they are clearly genuine and authentic.

When you ATTend An Avn

ProACTIvITy evenT you WIll dIsCover

5 greAT WAys To geT More ClIenTs

WIThouT sPendIng A Penny.

And We’ll

shAre WITh you The ulTIMATe

MArkeTIng soluTIons… A

soluTIon WhICh dIFFerenTIATes your PrACTICe And WIns you

More busIness.

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Accountantsseminars

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#5MIStAKE

No WrIttENSYStEMS

The systems are often the scripts (i.e. the things you say) which you and your team have in your heads. For example, you almost certainly have a standard script you use when advising a client to incorporate their business, i.e. you say pretty much the same things each time.

But is it written down? What if you are off sick and someone else has to have those conversations with your clients? How do you know they will conduct that meeting as well as you? Without systems your practice is at risk. All the knowledge and expertise is carried around in people’s heads. And that’s very risky. People leave. People get sick.

All of the 6 Star firms have systems at the very heart of their practice. Their systems consist of things like the words they say, the scripts. Also standard letters, standard checklists, forms, templates and step-by-step processes.

They all use tools such as AVN’s System Builder software. This cloud-based software allows everyone in the team to access all the systems

they need to do their job incredibly well. And those systems can be accessed anywhere on any device.

Here’s an example of a system that all 6 of the Star firms talked about at the £1m Summit event. The systems are incredibly simple but also very powerful. And surprisingly few firms use these systems.

All six of those firms during the course of the two days, talked about the importance of meeting agendas. They all use meeting agendas, i.e. the step-by-step systems for how they run a client meeting. So it doesn’t matter who in the practice has the meeting, they all do things in the same way using the same best practice.

Now think of it from the customer’s point of view. When the client comes in and sees an agenda, it shows the client that you care enough about them to have done some preparation before the meeting. Whereas most accountants just make it up – or at least give the impression – as they go through the meeting.

The fifTh misTake is ThaT mosT firms of accounTanTs don’T have sufficienT wriTTen sysTems; and in some cases none. as michael gerber would say, “They’re operaTing on luck.”

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And of course, those agendas also have many other benefits. By having a structure and carefully wording the items on the agenda they help you to systematically get feedback, to systematically get testimonials to use in your marketing, to systematically get referrals and to systematically cross sell other services.

Systems are critical to any practice that wants sustainable growth. Without systems a practice is built around one or more individuals… and a people-based practice – as opposed to a systems-based practice – will never grow above a certain size.

When you ATTend An Avn ProACTIvITy evenT you WIll FInd ouT exACTly hoW To buIld A PrACTICe ThAT does noT dePend on you To be There. We’ll Also shoW you The besT sysTeMs For PrICIng, For groWIng your PrACTICe, And For AddIng MAssIve vAlue To your ClIenTs.

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#6

MIStAKE

MEASUrINg tHE WroNg

tHINgS

And the simple fact is… most firms are measuring the wrong things.

Most firms’ measurement systems simply consist of measuring what goes on the timesheets. Things like work in progress, productivity rates, and recovery rates. But they’re not the right things to measure.

In their brilliant book, “The firm of the future” Paul Dunn and Ron Baker talk about the importance of being effective rather than merely efficient. There is absolutely no point in being world class at measuring the wrong things.

And accountants are generally world class at measuring time. Or think they are. But the reality may be very different. After all, when was the last time you honestly think your time sheet was 100% accurate.

The trouble is, clients don’t buy time. They don’t care how long a job takes.

What you should be measuring

are the really critical things, for example, things that clients care about. So it was interesting spending two days with these 6 very successful firms identifying and learning all the different things they measure and how they measure those things.

They have great measurement systems in place.

And the other thing that’s interesting is they share all the numbers with the entire team. Here are some of the things they measure:

• Turnaround times• Customer delight• Team happiness• Systems creation• Learning

Why do they measure turnaround times?

Very simple, this is important to clients. Their practices are focussed on giving great customer service

The sixTh Thing ThaT i learned from sTar firms like The 6 accounTanTs aT The £1m summiT evenT was The imporTance of measuremenT sysTems.

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and SPEED STUNS. In this day and age, things are getting quicker. People send emails and they expect an email response in 24 hours or even less than that. In the days before email we could get away with sending a letter back within seven days but now it’s instant response people are looking for.

And it’s the same with the turnaround times with our accounts and tax returns. Client expectations are changing. Three months to do a set of accounts is no longer acceptable. The Star firms know this. So they offer turnaround guarantees… they promise to get the accounts done inside 30 days.

Some of the firms state that if the accounts are completed outside 30 days the client doesn’t pay. That’s really interesting. It gets the whole practice focussed – really focussed – on client service.

And they measure it. Every month they measure average turnaround times. Because the key thing about measuring things is ‘what gets measured gets done’. When you measure these key numbers

and the whole firm is focused on improving the important numbers then things happen. So turnaround time is really important. They also measure service. They measure customer feedback on a regular basis. They’ve got many different systems in place for getting feedback from their clients.

In his brilliant book, “Practice What you Preach,” David Maister’s research demonstrates there is a very strong correlation between customer delight and bottom line results.

Maister’s research goes on to demonstrate that there is a causal link between team happiness and bottom line results.

So if customer delight and team happiness are two of the drivers of profitability, doesn’t it make sense to measure those numbers? And then share them with your entire team? The Star firms do.

Rob Walsh of Clear Vision doesn’t just share his numbers with his team. He shares them with his clients too!

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PrevIous delegATes AT ProACTIvITy hAve sAId.. “I hAve reCenTly ATTended A ProACTIvITy seMInAr WITh sTeve And MArk As keynoTe sPeAkers. The sessIon WAs very InForMATIve And PresenTed In A PAssIonATe, enTerTAInIng And ProFessIonAl MAnner WhICh MAde The seMInAr very enjoyAble.” – Christine DAwson, Business works uk “I ATTended A ProACTIvITy seMInAr sTeve WAs PresenTIng AT yesTerdAy - And hAve To sAy I Found hIs dePTh oF knoWledge, PresenTATIon sTyle And rAPPorT WITh The AudIenCe InsPIrIng, engAgIng And AbsorbIng.” – rAChel rounCefielD, CAre ABout You

#7MIStAKE

INADEqUAtE pEoplE

The usual reaction is to blame our team. Many accountants blame the people that work for them for all the things going wrong in the practice. But here’s something that I found very interesting from studying successful people…

Successful people don’t blame external factors. Successful people don’t blame the government, the state of the economy, their customers or suppliers when things go wrong. And they certainly don’t blame their people.

Instead, they look themselves in the mirror and ask themselves “What do I have to do different to get better results?” In other words, they blame themselves. They take responsibility. Successful accountants say, “If something’s going wrong in my practice, that’s a sign that something’s got to change. I’ve got to change something; I’m not doing it right.”

If you’re struggling to hire great people then you need better

recruitment systems. If you’re struggling to keep great people then you’re not looking after your people properly. If you can’t get your people to do what you want you need both better systems and better management skills.

It’s not their fault if you don’t give your people the right training, the right tools, the right systems and the right support. And it’s certainly not their fault if you recruit the wrong people. Mistake number 7 – and this one costs a fortune – blaming your people when things go wrong. Take responsibility for everything which is going wrong in your practice and do something about it.

All of the 6 Star firms have a focus on building high performing teams of people. And at the heart are – yet again – their systems.

For example, they all have great systems for recruiting people. They all have a horizontal structure

when i ask firms whaT’s The biggesT challenge in Their pracTice, very ofTen, The number one challenge is a lack of Time. very ofTen, The second biggesT challenge is ‘we can’T geT The righT people, we can’T keep The righT people and we can’T geT our people To do whaT we wanT Them To do.’

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made up of client managers. In other words, the partners don’t do all the client work. They delegate it. And they can do this because (a) they have a great team, and (b) they have great systems. They recognise that as business owners they should not be doing the client work. It’s what Michael Gerber calls working IN the business.

Instead, business owners should be working ON the business. Business owners should be working on the strategy, working on the systems, training, developing and motivating people and working on practice growth.

If you’re spending all of your time doing client work you can’t build a sustainable accounting firm.

They all have a high performing team of people. And this starts with their recruitment system. Every single one of the 6 Star firms uses profiling as part of their recruitment and team building systems.

It’s something that we use within AVN as well. It’s such a powerful process.

There are a number of tools you can use for profiling people, e.g. Myers Briggs. At AVN we use the DISC model – as do every one of the 6 Star firms. The DISC model is a profiling tool and based upon the answers to a series of questions it produces a series of graphs for each person.

These graphs are an effective way of recruiting the right people in the right roles.

Here’s the problem with traditional recruiting. Usually the recruitment decisions are made by the partners.

And people like to recruit people like them. When you do this you build a team of people with the same personality type.

To build a high performing team you need a mix of each personality type. A typical accountant is high S and high C (using the DISC model). They have a high attention to detail. Unfortunately because they are often low I, they make poor sales people. So if you’ve built a practice full of typical accountants, don’t blame them if they miss all of their cross-selling targets.

Personality profiling is a great tool for matching the right people to the right functions. But it’s not just limited to your recruitment processes. Profile your existing team now to see where the gaps are. You need a high D person to drive the practice forward. You need a high I person to get new clients.

If you are a partnership you should profile the partners. If all the partners have the same profile you’re in trouble. You need the right mix of people.

And here’s an idea…

Why not profile your clients? Rob Walsh does.

When you understand your clients’ personalities better you can communicate with them better. For example, if you have a high D client you will know that they are not interested in the detail. In meetings you’ll have a very different conversation to clients who are high S and C; they’ll want the facts, the details, the numbers.

When you ATTend An Avn ProACTIvITy evenT you WIll geT:

• A Free CoPy

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And remember what’s at stake. Over the next 5 years, these top-performing firms will probably earn over £656,000 more in profit per partner than the average accounting firm… and for 50% of firms that will be a much, much bigger gap. So it’s got to be worth investing some time, some effort and some money in learning how to replicate their success.

I’m not saying it’s easy to do all these things right. But the great news is, there is a roadmap you can follow.

remember, These 6 sTar firms are all making in excess of £200,000 in profiT per parTner. They are proof ThaT when you incorporaTe besT pracTice in each of These 7 criTical areas you geT beTTer resulTs.

Since you’ve taken the time to read this workbook, I would love to invite you and up to three of your team to one of my upcomingProactivity seminars as a VIP guest (others are paying £200 to attend, but you can attend as my guest without paying a penny).

This highly acclaimed one-day seminar will reveal how you can improve your service levels, profits and cashflow easily and quickly by becoming more proactive. These events are hosted by bothmyself and best-selling author Steve Pipe FCA.

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Added value solutions ltdAVN House 7 Midland Waybarlborough Derbyshire

S43 4XA

0844 414 3192info@avn.co.uk

www.avn.co.uk

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