If you think there's room for improvement in your accounting firm’s marketing and sales effort, you’re in good company. A study by Broderick & Co., consisting of in-depth interviews with leaders representing 130 well-known professional services firms in accounting, law, executive search, management consulting, architecture, financial services and advertising, suggests that firms are seeking a higher return on their investment in marketing and sales. While nearly 80% of the senior managers ranked “branding, marketing and sales” as important success factors for their firm, only 50% gave their own firm high marks in those disciplines.
After more than 25 years of counseling CPA firms of all sizes and levels of sophistication, I’ve identified two common firm-wide pitfalls that account for the significant gap between marketing expectations and performance satisfaction: “tactical soup” and “failure to launch.”
Tactical soup occurs when firms get bogged down in a flurry of marketing activity without placing enough emphasis on how it will help generate revenue and profitability. Failure to launch means that a firm is not effectively using existing marketing resources.
By following the rules outlined in my long-in-the-tooth Journal of Accountancy article, firms can overcome these mistakes and gain tangible business results from their marketing investment. Let me know if I can be of help.