I don’t know about you but I use social media for networking rather than selling. Like face to face networking I like to take my time to get to know somebody and find out what interests we have in common, exchange a little bit of information about our respective businesses, and to see whether we actually like each other. I’ll then arrange to meet for a coffee if they’re nearby or if we’re going to be at the same business event.
The other form of networking I’ve been doing recently is internet dating and, rightly or wrongly, I follow the same sort of format. I get to know somebody online before meeting up to see whether we get along in real life.
But both forms of networking have pushy people.
Linked In has the annoying people who connect with you only to try and sell you something, or to persuade you to give up your valuable time for a “free” software demo (hint: my time is a limited resource so it has a value). The online dating arena is full of people wanting to promote their “assets” by sending photos or wanting sex before you’ve even met for that first coffee.
Whether in business or dating, timing is everything. Please take your time to get to know people and don’t assume that people want to see the whole package before they have got to know you. A good relationship is worth investing a bit of time up front.
How welcoming is your business?
I’m on holiday and the town I’m staying in has all sorts of churches in the centre. But the thing that strikes me is how uninviting some of them are. I’m sure these churches would probably say that they want to welcome and encourage outsiders to come inside but that’s not the message they’re putting across.
One has a sign ‘Consecrated ground – no dogs’ which is short and to the point. Could this have been worded in a gentler way? And how many people know what consecrated means anyway?
One has a sign ‘John 3:16’ which is just a mystery to everybody apart from the initiated. Could this have been written in plain English without code or jargon?
As an accountant we’re often guilty of making people feel excluded through our use of jargon and poor communication skills. Have a look at your own business with the eyes of an outsider and see how you could be more inclusive and welcome in people who want to know more.
And don’t forget to book your holiday if you haven’t yet done so.
Do you invest in yourself?
Several years ago I started speaking to promote my old accountancy business, Hudson Accountants. Like most people I hate public speaking but I went to a school that taught this useful business skill and, by about the third event, I felt reasonably comfortable.
Until I joined the Professional Speaking Association!
Being an occasional speaker is very different from being a professional speaker and so I felt that I needed to relearn my craft. Fortunately the PSA is really good for helping speakers to speak more and speak better and I am now a full member, a former Regional President, and I’ve been invited to speak at one of their national conferences for the second time.
Usually I speak to accountants and business owners who are more interested in my content than the way I deliver it. At the PSA my peers will (kindly) analyse the way I deliver my expertise too. It can be quite scary but I know that, if I’m brave enough to ask for feedback, they will be very helpful.
How do you make sure that you’re always getting better at what you do?
PS. If you’re new to speaking then I recommend joining your local Toastmasters or ask me about individual speaker coaches.
How deep do your values go?
I’ve realised that I must be a real pain to go out with sometimes. It’s because I have strong feelings about supporting local businesses, so my ethics pervade my purchasing decisions.
Ask me whether I prefer Costa or Starbucks and I’ll suggest a local independent café instead. If only the national chains are available, I’ll choose the one that pays a higher proportion of tax in the UK. The same goes for restaurants, although that also satisfies my foodie appetite as I usually find that independents offer much better food and service.
And I really try to avoid a certain pub chain that, in my opinion, treated their employees poorly when it came to furlough.
Even supermarkets get the same treatment as I know from farming clients which ones treat their suppliers better or worse. My preference is always my local butcher (a multi-generational business where the current sons are both triathletes, so they know how to eat!) and farm shops. I like seeing the names of the farms on my food and knowing that I have cycled past the animals, and they look well cared for. If you’re going to eat meat (and we try to have at least 1 veggie day per week) at least make sure that the animals have the best conditions as this is better for the animals AND for the environment.
How green is your bank? Here’s a useful website when choosing bank accounts:
https://bank.green/
How green is your pension?
https://makemymoneymatter.co.uk/
How deep do your values go when nobody is looking?
How do you capture good ideas?
I am so annoyed with myself!
Last night I woke up with a brilliant idea for this article but I failed to make a note. Not surprisingly I had forgotten it by the time I woke up properly this morning.
I have the memory of a flip flop (or a thong as my Aussie friends call them which can lead to some misunderstanding). Usually when I have an idea I make a note on my phone so that I can then make sense of it when I’m properly awake. Or I make a voice note if I’m driving.
I don’t just keep ideas for articles, I also keep ideas of projects that I think will drive my businesses forward so I also keep a folder of ideas amongst my other documents. Far too many of these are on Excel as that’s my app of choice as an accountant but it doesn’t really matter as long as they’re out of my brain and stored somewhere reliable. I also used to keep a box file of paper ideas and a folder full of photos or screen shots that I want to think about properly.
Once a year I spend a couple of days pulling around 12 business improvement projects together by wading through my random notes. I then implement these throughout the year. This means that I have separate times for ideas, deep thinking, and implementing my plans.
How do you capture your ideas until you’re ready do turn them into projects?
Are timesheets useful?
Anyone who had to do timesheets in an accountancy firm probably remembers how much time they spent/wasted recording their time to the nearest 6 minutes. Then trying to make sure that the hours balanced. What did you do with the extra hour you worked but didn’t get paid for? And what about the 7 hours on the job that was already over budget? And then being beaten with a big stick (not literally) for dumping everything to admin.
Most businesses, with the notable exception of lawyers, now charge fixed fees rather than hourly rates so timesheets are rarely used for billing. So, what purpose do they serve?
They are a mine of management information.
That over budget client was undercharged for years because nobody was honest about how long the job actually took. One staff member took twice as long to do jobs as another because they hadn’t been trained properly. And the amount of time genuinely spent on admin justified investment in some automated systems to speed things up.
So, what is the compromise?
We keep timesheets to the nearest 15 mins with the exceptions of phones calls and ‘quick’ emails which are recorded as a minimum of 10 minutes because of the disruption to other work. If I do some work on the train to a meeting, then I may double record the time as part of the meeting time AND the job I worked on on the journey as otherwise it would have had to be done in the office.
This means that I know roughly how much time (our most expensive resource) is spent on each job so I can ensure that our fixed fees cover this as well as a share of the automation and overheads. What I really need is reporting by exception. What jobs are taking significantly longer than expected so that I can see what the holdup is and how to improve. This doesn’t need 6-minute reporting. And it doesn’t need a timesheet balanced to the official working day.
Before implementing timesheets think about WHY you want them and make sure that they will give you the information that you need. You may find that the recording process doesn’t need to be too onerous. I use the Xero project app on my phone, but Toggl is another free resource.
What is business advisory?
As you know I’ve spent the last year writing ‘Changing the Numbers: how to deliver advisory services for success’ to help accountants to provide real help for their business clients. And I’m the first to agree that, whilst all businesses need this service, not everybody can afford to pay for it. (This is why we have free products such as our Better Business webinars for accountants and our Money Matter ones for general business.)
But for those clients that can afford to invest in growing their business then we can do much better than a bit of tax advice at the year end or help completing a loan application. As accountants we have financial training but we also have exposure to hundreds, if not thousands, of businesses as well as running our own.
Accountants who, like me, have worked as Finance Directors or similar will know that their role at the board room table includes much more than ‘just’ accountancy. The topics that I’ve identified include:
1. Vision and values
2. Cash flow
3. Pricing
4. Staffing
5. Efficiency of operation
6. Funding
7. Tax
8. Mergers and acquisitions
9. Marketing
10. Sales
11. Customer services and quality
12. Cost control
Different accountants may offer advice on some or all of these areas depending on knowledge and experience so we need to be clear on those areas.
Success spirals
I’m a self-confessed procrastinator so I use a number of techniques to get myself focused on doing the RIGHT work. Fellow procrastinators will understand that procrastination isn’t the same as laziness, we’re often busy but doing the WRONG things. My oven was never as clean as when I was supposed to be studying for my accountancy exams!
For me it helps to take the first step towards whatever I’m supposed to be doing. I have seen this referred to as a success spiral but James Clear, in Atomic Habits, refers to ‘habit stacking’ in much the same way.
For me the hardest step is, almost always, getting out of bed in the morning so I often head straight for my office in my dressing gown. Once sat at my desk my day has started and I’ll shower and dress when I’m ready for a break. Obviously I can’t do this if I have a meeting first thing!
When writing my books it is often hard to get started so I break the book down into chapters and sit down in front of a blank page to ‘type some notes’ on the chapter. Once I’ve started typing I’ll often get a complete chapter drafted before I pause to draw breath,
If you’re a fellow procrastinator what is your first barrier and what can you do to remove that?
When should I recruit?
It’s a question I’m often asked.
You need to recruit BEFORE you get busy so that you have time to train your latest employee. Particularly if this is your first employee as all the training will be down to you. With my first employee, a trainee accountant, I was doing my own work in the evenings for the first two months.
You need to recruit early to allow your new person to get up to speed with the work, your clients, and your systems. Even with fully qualified accountants this took about three months.
You can accelerate both of these with a good induction programme. (I share ours on our courses)
You need to recruit early in case you find that you have chosen the wrong person. It’s something we all fear when recruiting but better to move them on quickly (and kindly) if they’re not a good fit so that you, and they, can find something better.
So, my rule of thumb is to recruit 5 months ahead of when I need the team member to be at full capacity. 3 weeks to advertise, 1 week to interview and decide, 1 month for them to give notice, and 3 months for them to get up to speed.
It’s much easier getting new business than new team members so, if you have the right person, you can soon find the extra work for them to do that will cover their costs.
What’s your experience of recruiting and onboarding new people?
We don’t need another hero
I’m currently reading Building a Story Brand by Donald Miller which is about getting the right marketing message for our business. It’s very good and I recommend it.
Miller suggests that we make our customer/prospect the hero and that we are not a hero but their guide. As you can imagine it set off a train of thought as I reimagined my own business in this light.
How do you and your product/service guide your clients to solve their problems and reach their goal? Now, how can you build this into your marketing?