Business Development Academy for CPAs Workshop #1 September 22, 2016 Presented by Art Kuesel

Today’s Workshop Introductions and Objectives What to Expect Building your Individual Marketing Plan Today’s Topic: Client Development Building our Action Plan for the Next 30 Days 4

Today’s Workshop Introductions and Objectives What to Expect Building your Individual Marketing Plan Today’s Topic: Client Development Building our Action Plan for the Next 30 Days 3

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

Getting to Know Each Other

What’s a Trusted Advisor? Name Role Firm Why you are here in the BD Academy What’s a Trusted Advisor?

What to Expect

Your Experience in the BD Academy A well-rounded curriculum and interactive learning experience Six Face to Face Meetings Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec, Jan, & May One Webinar (March) Opportunities to practice and execute Individual Marketing Plan We’ll start this today A safe and supportive environment in which to learn Accountability for effort 9

Results you can Expect from the BD Academy The development of positive habits in BD Integration of BD into what you do on a daily/weekly/monthly basis Achievement of BD Goals Effort (hours/activities) New clients Cross-selling A trickle-down effect within your firm 10

Building your Individual BD Plan

What’s in a Great Personal BD Plan? Q1: Client Development Q2: Referral Source Development Q3: Personal Brand Building Q4: Prospect Development This is the basic framework for an IMP. Your plan template goes deeper and has sub categories of these four quadrants. Let’s discuss each of these quadrants and think about how we can implement activities in each area of development.

What’s in a Great Personal BD Plan? Q1: Client Development Build more relationships within each client (breadth) Build stronger relationships within each client (depth) Make valuable introductions Seek referrals for new clients Cross-sell services when appropriate Leverage social media Discuss top strategies in associations/events for about 10 minutes Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4

What’s in a Great Personal BD Plan? Q2: Referral Source Development Nurture existing referral sources Identify potential new referral sources Focus on breadth of type of referral source Focus on an adequate quantity Be deliberate about your touch program! Leverage social media Discuss top strategies in associations/events for about 10 minutes Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4

What’s in a Great Personal BD Plan? Q3: Personal Brand Building Consider a variety of specialties and niches Talk to your mentor about your intentions Identify clients in your firm you can be assigned to within your area Identify top associations and organizations within these specialties and niches Thought Leadership Leverage social media Discuss top strategies in associations/events for about 10 minutes Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4

What’s in a Great Personal BD Plan? Q4: Prospect Development Identify your target market Create a short list of ideal prospects Seek out warm entry points for these prospects Get greater exposure to the sales process (practice) Leverage social media Discuss top strategies in associations/events for about 10 minutes Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4

Suggested Time/Activities by Level Staff and Seniors and/or 0-4 years of experience 50 Hours/Year 1 Cross-Sell and 1 New Client/Year Common Types of Activities Reestablishing college connections LinkedIN Client lunches/thrillers Future referral lunches

Suggested Time/Activities by Level Supervisors and/or 5-6 years of experience 100-150 Hours/Year 4 Cross-Sell and $25K/year Common Types of Activities LinkedIN Client lunches/thrillers Referral lunches Networking/Personal Brand Development

Suggested Time/Activities by Level Managers and/or 7-14 years of experience 200-250 Hours/Year $50-100K/Year Common Types of Activities Client development and cross-selling Referral development Networking/Personal Brand Development Sales Calls/Proposals

Suggested Time/Activities by Level Senior Managers/Directors/Principals/Partners and/or 15+ years of experience 400 Hours/Year $50-150K/Year Common Types of Activities Client development and cross-selling Referral development Networking/Personal Brand Development Sales Calls/Proposals

Goals will Keep you on Track # of Client Development Activities # of New Clients $ of Cross-selling $ of New Clients # of Articles/Thought Leadership # of Referral Source Meetings # of Associations/Trade Groups # Prospect Touches # of Sales Calls

Table Discussion: Being Successful at BD What’s most important in me being more successful in personal BD?

What Do Our Top Clients REALLY Want from Us?

What do our clients WANT from us?

Translated: They Want us to be a Trusted Advisor

A Trusted Advisor Is… “First” person who is asked for help “Respected” for knowledge/opinion “Reliable” “Responsive” “Likable” “Great” communicator Meets and exceeds expectations Saves client before they need it Numerous positive experiences Keeps confidences Proactive with things that can help

How can we go from “accountant” to trusted advisor?

How can we go from “accountant” to trusted advisor? More Thrillers Greater Depth Greater Breadth

Top Client Thrillers

My CPA is AMAZING!

Top Ways to Thrill your Clients Taking client to lunch, coffee, drink, etc. Seize opportunities that arise from client life situation (marriage, anniversary, birthday, birth of child) Do things that add value to the relationship Meet on nights, early am, weekends, whatever is necessary to accommodate their schedule

Top Ways to Thrill your Clients Remind them about due dates Be proactive with ideas that can help save the client money, create greater efficiency, reduce risk, reduce liability, etc. and quantify the value of those ideas Know what is important to them professionally (know their strategic objectives, plans, goals, etc.)

Top Ways to Thrill your Clients Know what is important to them personally! (hobbies, interests, family, etc.) Know and have relationships with their circle of influence (banker/financer, attorney, professional advisors) Be hyper-responsive, acknowledge questions and inquiries quickly Deliver on-time every time

Top Ways to Thrill your Clients Send them notes/emails with articles, newsletters, and other items that show that you are invested ID future problems, help save them from themselves Take responsibility for what goes wrong

The Number One Way to Thrill a Client? Under Promise and Over Deliver!

Table Discussion: Thrillers What thrillers have you done for clients that were really well received?

Creating Relationship D-E-P-T-H

Relationship DEPTH: Would you fire your friend? Q: In general, the stronger the relationships we have with our clients, the (easier/harder) it is to leave us.

It’s much easier to fire your accountant/consultant, than to fire a friend! Benefits of Client Friendships/Business Friendships: Fuels more referrals Drives greater long-term retention Increases trust Insulates you against mistakes Accelerates your trusted advisor status What else? SO MAKE MORE FRIENDS!

What can you do to build friendships with clients? Identify commonalities -- and talk about them Get to know what’s important to them personally Take them to lunch simply to build the relationship and goodwill Recognize important life events Get together outside business hours What else? SO MAKE MORE FRIENDS!

Creating Relationship B-R-E-A-D-T-H

One Relationship? Firm A Partner Company Owner

Or Multiple? Firm B Client Partner Manager HR Director ASG Lead Owner Owner’s Daughter Operations Leader Office Manager

One Relationship… Firm A Partner Company Owner

Multiple Relationships… Firm B Client Partner Manager HR Consulting IT Consulting Owner Owner’s Daughter COO IT Manager

Do we want more of this? Firm B Client Partner Manager HR Consulting IT Consulting Owner Owner’s Daughter COO IT Manager

Do you Know The Client Circle of Influence? Banker Vendor Attorney Client Customer Fin Advisor

Build your Plan Now: Quadrant 1 It’s time to WARM UP your client relationships…Can you do 1/week? Thrillers Depth Breadth Who & When? Come next month prepared to talk about your visits. 50

Book Recommendation The Trusted Advisor By David Maister

Resources www.kueselconsulting.com/BDAcademy Slides Tools Templates Subscribe to my monthly blog too!

Reminder Our Next Meeting: October 20th 8:30 – 11:30am Ravinia Green Country Club 1200 Saunders Road Riverwoods, IL 60015

We must WORK our Plan to Succeed!

Thank you! For tools, resources, and a monthly blog subscription on marketing, sales, and growth topics go here: www.kueselconsulting.com Or contact Art: art@kueselconsulting.com 312.208.8774