“In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure.”
– Bill Cosby
I hope you’re enjoying the relative calm after tax season! Today, I want to open your eyes…
You see, I regularly get approached by leaders of service professional industries *besides* tax/accounting to discuss how they might bring our relationship-oriented approach to their folks.
Usually, those conversations aren’t very interesting. These kinds of people are so invested in their shtick, that they don’t see the forest because those trees are just so dang pretty. They don’t get that the clients of THEIR clients (regular families and biz owners) are the exact same way!
People care about THEIR deal: Paying the bills on time. Bringing more revenue to their business or their household. Current events. How financial changes affect THEM.
Which is why, when I explain to these leaders what it takes to really build relationships for their clients, they sometimes just kind of tune me out…after all, families and business owners are just DYING to learn more about the minutiae of 1031 exchanges or loss carrybacks or interest arbitrage…or… blah blah blah.
(Sigh.)
[As an aside–you *can* talk about these things…but you better do it in terms which matter to your CLIENTS. See “THEIR deal” above.]
Well yesterday, I spoke with the Program Director of a large association for a niche financial planning group (one of our clients sent him my way) and he “got it.” There’s a good chance that we might be able to help his people do very well in this environment (like the many BuildaHerd clients whose numbers were UP this tax season… “mysteriously”).
But even the most open-minded have their blind spots.
Since we were talking about other things (specifically, email marketing), I didn’t take the time to disabuse him of his prejudice.
Well, I’m taking the time NOW…because–there’s a good chance you share his blind spot.
And it WILL cost you. Big time. Oh, and I’ve got new test results to prove it.
The New Landscape Online
In December of this past year, I invited a select group of tax professionals to help me test the hype.
I’m talking about Facebook, Twitter, Linked-In: Social Media.
Look, even *I* tune out from the Social Media Screamers…they can be like that annoying friend at a party who can’t stop talking about his new IPad or fancy car.
Which is why when people (like my new Program Director friend) say: Who has time to be “Tweeting” or “Facebooking”? What a freaking waste of time! I’ve nodded in agreement.
I was a Social Media non-adopter for some time.
Which is why the scores of new leads my tax professional testers “discovered” on these platforms this past tax season opened my eyes.
And look…I got “converted” before-hand: I paid big dough to get personally trained by Mari Smith (who trained Richard Branson, Tony Robbins and others in Social Media). We saw OUR lead-flow significantly increase when I started on Twitter.
But how about for a local tax/accounting business?
Well, like I’ve already intimated: the stuff WORKS. For our tax professional testers, we saw…
- More local leads.
- NATIONAL leads.
- Raving “fan” testimonials coming in “organically”.
- Interview requests from local tv and radio stations.
- Answering questions and building relationships with ease.
- And much more.
Results matter. That’s the name of the game.
I mean, how can you measure the ROI of Social Media? Well: How do you measure the ROI of your phone? That’s a pertinent comparison.
So … what do YOU do as a tax professional?
Ah, there’s the rub.
I’m not going to get into the strategy today. That’ll come soon.
But open your eyes!
Or face business extinction. As Gandalf said in The Lord of the Rings: “The world is changing.” But THIS change isn’t about some evil overlord shackling millions.
It’s about business freedom…and lasting success.