Thursday, June 25, 2009

Business Retreat

My current project is coordinating a Sole Proprietors Retreat for CPAs and other professional service providers.

Many larger hold their own internal retreats where they focus on the key issues within their business and plan for the next year. Sole proprietors and two partner firms tend not to this. That is why I am offering this unique opportunity.

Something for the small business owner to think about - Does your CPA firm participate in an annual retreat?

CPA firms that participate in annual retreats care about their business. If your CPA cares about his/her business this reflects the type of attention they will give to your business as well.

If your CPA is a sole practitioner or two partner firm, encourage them to give consideration to attend the Sole Practitioners Retreat.

For more information about the retreat, visit: Sole Practitioners Retreat

Monday, June 22, 2009

Have You Built a Business or Created a Job?

Many small business owners fall into the trap of building a business so entirely dependent on them it would not survive if they were unable to work. They have not built a business rather, they’ve created themselves a job.

Think about it.
  • What’s the sole purpose of a business?
  • More importantly, what is the purpose of YOUR business?
It’s to give you more life. That’s the only thing most of us want from our businesses—more life!
And unless your business is built to do that, it will consume your life.

Look at the majority of small business owners. They toil seven days a week, many times 12-14 or more hours a day. Doing it, doing, it doing it. Hoping one day to finally see a light at the end of the tunnel. Most business owners are actually enslaved by their businesses. They’re anything but free. It’s little wonder the majority of small businesses fail. And those that do survive fail to reach their true potential.

Here are five ways you can determine if you have built a business or created a job.

  1. If you fell ill and could not work for a period of time, the business and the people who work in the business could carry on with minimal interruption.
  2. The business can be sold and will run successfully without you in it.
  3. You have a clear picture in your mind of what the business will look like and how it will act when it is finally done. You’ve shared that vision with your employees.
  4. You have a 3-5 year plan and are working on implementing your marketing, product, and financial strategies.
  5. You are able to take extended vacations and can decide not to come into the office on the spur of the moment with no negative impact on business performance.
A Principa CPA can help you build a business that works without you. Brenda Richter, CPA is a member of the Principa Alliance.

Contact a Principa CPA, and ask us how to get started today.

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Progressive

In one of the more recent Progressive Insurance commercials sales person Flo touts the newest feature available from Progressive - Name Your Price (SM). It's simple. You tell Progressive what you want to pay for insurance, and they build a policy around your budget.

What a GREAT concept.

Shouldn't your CPA be able to do the same thing for you?

I think so.

Monday, June 8, 2009

Completing the Networking Cycle

After you attend a networking event and pass out dozens of business cards, someone is bound to call. Are you ready for that call?

Peter Drucker once said:
“Marketing is not only much broader than selling; it is not a specialized
activity at all. It encompasses the entire business. It is the whole business
seen from the point of view of the final result, that is, from the customer's
point of view. Concern and responsibility for marketing must therefore permeate
all areas of the enterprise.”
In other words, marketing is everything a business does in order to acquire and retain a customer.

Marketing is part of corporate culture, and as such needs to be addressed in every activity the business carries out.

This means developing performance standards for the day-to-day activities of the business.

For example, every day we talk with each other on the phone.

Every one of us recognizes that each contact represents a tremendous opportunity for us to do an unbelievable job of providing our customers with fantastic customer service.

When we do that consistently, we become known as an organization that’s “switched on” and one that’s great to deal with. Clearly, that helps our image enormously.

The Phone Right program is a combination of live and DVD based training that is specially designed to give businesses ideas and performance standards for dealing with people on the phone. The program makes sure you are ready for the calls that are likely to result from networking activities.

A Principa CPA can lead the Phone Right program for your business.

Brenda Richter, CPA is a member of the Principa Alliance.

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

REMEMBER ME?

Remember me?
I’m the person who calls you and holds on forever while you eventually decide to answer the
phone.
I’m the person who waits patiently for you to arrive when you’re late for our meeting.
I’m the person who doesn’t complain when the promised information never arrives.

Many would say I’m a very nice person.

But that’s not all I am ...
I’m also the person who never comes back to your business.
And I’m the person who laughs out loud when you spend hundreds of dollars every year
trying to win my business when you had it in the first place.

Has this ever happened to you? Could it have happened to your customers?

A Principa CPA can help you develop a customer service strategy that make sure it does not.

Brenda Richter, CPA is a member of the Principa Alliance.