I took over my father’s Accounting firm after he had suffered a stroke at age sixty, just as he was heading into retirement.
I found myself sitting in his chair, in his office, dealing with the same clients, the same office politics, chasing the same low fees, and thinking…..there must be a better way.
Why
The work of the accountant has never stood still, there has been continual changes in legislation, working practices and technology, yet despite it all accountants have adapted and continue to be the number one go to adviser for business owners.
One thing that has changed dramatically in recent years is technology. The expansion of powerful and very effective bookkeeping software in turn puts pressure on the traditional accounting practice to be able to offer more advisory-based services.
The professional institutes are fond of telling accountants to do more business advisory, but how do you suddenly change from a compliance-based practice to selling business advisory?
What
If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got. So, I enrolled and studied coaching.
Over the years since, in addition to being a Chartered Accountant and a Chartered Tax Adviser, I became a Certified Coach, an NLP Master Practitioner, a Certified DiSC © trainer (and a Master Hypnotherapist).
I have been providing coaching and advisory services to business owners for fifteen years alongside the accounting and tax work. The coaching income for a client is typically quadruple the amount earned from each client for compliance services.
How
Coaching and Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) taught me how to bring business advisory to clients and add a very profitable income stream to my business while giving clients what they desire. It taught me:
- How to engage with clients and win new profitable work
- How to position and price for agreement
- How best to communicate & building rapport
- How to identify values & beliefs, so I work with the right clients
- How to avoid selling to people who don’t want to buy!
- How to identify people who want to buy and are ready to sign-up now.
What if
Could it make a big difference to your practice to have happy willing clients paying monthly business advisory fees that are four times what they pay for accounts and tax production?
You could choose to make the extra profits or would you perhaps work less hours?
How would it impact your mental and physical wellbeing to have a happy stress-free office where the team are enthused and excited about the work they are involved in.
How would that in turn impact on your good clients?
You owe it to yourself to look beyond the compliance work, and look instead at what your best clients actually want you to deliver, and never again face the January deadline blues.
You can have our support.
The author
Gordon Berry is a Master Practitioner in Neuro-Linguistic-Programming, Certified Coach, Certified Hypnotherapist, Certified DiSc Trainer and Time-Line-Therapist and also a Chartered Accountant and a Chartered Tax Adviser.
