Minnesota AAM Chapter October 2016 Boosting Growth: Developing a Culture of Sales and Marketing at Your Firm Minnesota AAM Chapter October 2016 #MSCPACPE

Art Kuesel, President Keynotes, Presentations, Workshops on Growth EXPERTISE (Cont.) Keynotes, Presentations, Workshops on Growth Growth Plan Development/Implementation Managing Partner Coaching Sales & Marketing Recruiting STREET CRED Top 100 Most Influential Person in Public Accounting In-house and external experience Clients include scores of T250 Firms including a third of the T100 Frequent writer and blogger for Accounting Today Accomplished speaker and presenter on growth trends EXPERIENCE Sales Executive 3 years inside $60M CPA firm 5 years inside $25M CPA firm 6 years at PDI/Koltin Consulting 3 years at Kuesel Consulting EXPERTISE Leadership and Sales Coaching Sales/Marketing Training

Today’s Workshop What drives organic growth? Common strategies to boost your marketing/sales culture… Grass Roots Institutional Non-organic growth strategies M&A/Laterals 4

WHAT DRIVES… Integration/CSFs Clarity on Roles Effective Communication Trust Building Effective Teaming on Pursuits How to Handle Assists Winning Reporting Structure Commitment/Time/Patience Measurement and Management of Pipeline Many things come together to drive growth at your firm. One of the biggest influencers I have found is simply the number of people involved in marketing and business development at the firm. Let’s explore this concept #MSCPACPE

Which firm Drives more Organic Growth? FIRM A / 100 People 9 people who play a role in sales/marketing and know what is expected of them 91 remaining people not really engaged in the sales/marketing process

Which firm Drives more Organic Growth? FIRM B / 100 People 100 people who play a role in sales/marketing and know what is expected of them 0 people unaware of how they can help grow the firm

A Marketing/Sales Culture – Can Be The Difference Between… Average Growth = 8% Above Average Growth = 10% - 14% Industry Leading Growth = 15%+ 8

Common Strategies and Tactics to Drive a Marketing/Sales Culture

Two Buckets Can Boost the Culture Grass Roots Driven by Individual and 1:1 Efforts Institutional Driven by S/M, Operations, and the Firm

Plus Non-Organic Growth! Grass Roots Driven by Individual and 1:1 Efforts Institutional M&A/Laterals Driven by BD, Marketing, Operations

Let’s Start with the Grass Roots Bucket

Grass Roots – Roles and Expectations Outline marketing roles and expectations by level Partners Managers/Senior Managers Staff/Seniors Non Client Serving Too! What it does: Helps people understand generally what types of contributions we expect from them – and how they can contribute 13

Grass Roots – Set Goals 2. Give everybody a goal # of new clients Revenue from new business Cross-selling revenue OR Deeper client relationships More client relationships New referral sources Participating in the sales process What it Does: Gives everybody a reason to get engaged and involved 14

Grass Roots – Training 3. Train your people to… Describe firm approach, differentiators, types of clients served Develop client relationships and cross-sell Build referral source networks Network effectively Succeed in the sales process What it does: Gives your people basic tools and skills to succeed in various marketing and business development situations as well as be proactive in new areas 15

Grass Roots – Pipeline Meeting 4. Start a “pipeline” meeting for anyone with a significant revenue goal and discuss: Wins and Losses Key Pursuits/Proposals Referrals In/Out Challenges and Opportunities What it does: Enhances communication, knowledge sharing about wins, help each other with challenges, reminder of goal, develop marketing mindset 16

Grass Roots – Marketing Club 5. Host marketing clubs for those just getting started with their marketing efforts Wins, Key Pursuits Challenges and Opportunities Skill Building Group therapy for something new Consider games and contests that encourage the right kind of behavior What it does: Enhance communication, knowledge sharing about wins, help each other with challenges, reminder of goal, develop marketing mindset 17

Grass Roots – Client Development and Cross-Selling 6. Formal client development efforts Target top relationships Client interviews Build breadth and depth Educate clients on services Uncover opportunities for additional revenue (cross-sell) What it does: Assists in creating stronger bonds with your clients, enhances selling skills of your people, grows revenue, boosts client retention 18

Grass Roots - Coaching 7. Coach your “high potentials” to greater success Build a plan and have monthly meetings Review activity in detail (client, prospect, referral, associations) Remove obstacles Granular approaches to specific situations Set 30-day action plan and items What it does: Enhances individual selling skills of your people, grows revenue, increases accountability 19

And now for the Institutional Bucket

Institutional – Rewards Commission/Bonus on New Business Rewards for Individual EFFORT (Connections, Proposals, Prospect meetings, etc.) Rewards for Group Results What it does: Incentivizes individual and group behavior. People rally to achieve a goal.

Institutional – Internal PR “Another Win” Emails Pursuit Communication Impromptu Conference Room Celebrations What it does: Publicizes success, fuels excitement, reminds of importance of marketing

Institutional – Niche Development The riches are in the niches Specialization wins Niches are fueling growth Build a team of staff that can: Target participation in an association Develop thought leadership Pursue a targeted list of referral sources and prospects in that industry What it does: Creates teaming opportunities among staff, enables greater marketing success, creates greater retention among clients in that niche Niche Handout

Niche Practice Growth 80% + 60% + Source: Accounting Today

Institutional – Referral Sources 4. Help your people find more high quality referral sources Target banks, law firms, P&C insurance Hold pre-mixer planning meetings Hold mixers in the office Hold post-mixer debrief meetings What it does: Gives your people easy access to potential referrals. Gets more people involved in networking and referral source marketing

Institutional - Events 5. Seminars/Webinars/Events/CEO Network Communicates with your target audiences on topics of importance to them Strengthens bonds with clients/referral sources Creates opportunities for staff to interact with clients and prospects What it does: Educates your people on prospect engagement – what it takes to develop relationships, gives staff an opportunity to interact with clients.

Institutional – Content/Thought Leadership 6. Refine your Content Strategy Content marketing engages clients, prospects, and referral sources! Demonstrates knowledge and mastery of a topic Engage your people to write and edit content Once created, content can be leveraged What it does: Engages more people in the marketing process, engages clients, prospects and referral sources

Institutional Tactics – Web/Social Media 7. Web and social media marketing Never underestimate the evolution of how people find and choose service providers Audience is both internal and external Leverage content Engage the next generation of staff What it does: Sources additional opportunities and promotes thought leadership

Institutional Tactics – Pursuit Mastery 8. Upgrade your Pursuit Strategy and Proposals Set criteria for a “big opportunities” Approach these opportunities strategically Build a team to win the work Execute flawlessly on key steps What it does: Enhances win ratio. Engages more people in the process. Ensures you don’t lose because of poor salesmanship.

Institutional Tactics - Key Hires 9. Hiring a marketing professional Can help drive grass roots/institutional efforts Can help drive foundational efforts 10. Hiring a BD/sales professional Can help drive grass-roots efforts Bring new opportunities in the door that enable more engagement in the sales process What it does: Tells the people in the firm that the firm is serious about marketing/sales.

Non-Organic Growth M&A/Laterals

Non-Organic Growth M&A Lateral Hires New niche/geography/talent/clients Lateral Hires New or Existing Niches Cross-selling “ready” Future Partner Material (or sometimes direct admit) What it does: Tells the people in the firm that the firm is serious about growth in new areas.

Leading Growth/Driving Culture = Combination of Three Grass Roots Institutional M&A/Laterals

THANK YOU! Art Kuesel, President Kuesel Consulting, Inc. 312.208.8774 art@kueselconsulting.com www.kueselconsulting.com