Xcentric Blog » Shannon Vincent

Energy Management

Shannon Vincent — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 20:05:04 +0000

In my experience CPA firms are at their best during tax season. For the most part, they are highly effective and efficient and not a lot of energy is wasted.

I’m finding that in life and in business it seems that the issue with tacking new initiatives or getting things done isn’t ‘do I have the time?’. The real question is ‘do I have the energy?’- the energy to start something new; the energy to take on a new project.

To my question.

What are you doing that is a waste of energy? Possibly write 3 things you engage in that are a waste of energy. Revisit them after tax season and see what you think then…

Energy Crisis

Shannon Vincent — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 21:20:24 +0000

A number of consultants/businesses are talking about an energy crisis inside of companies. Is your firm suffering from an energy crisis? That is, your people are tired.

If so, here are a few ideas to bring the energy levels up:

1) Recreate/define your Vision for 2010

2)Substantiate your Core Values

3) Set 2010 Goals

4) Celebrate the small things like March 15th!

Tax Season Goals

Shannon Vincent — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 15:34:56 +0000

A friend of mine says that most people aim at nothing and hit it with amazing accuracy. I tend to agree. One exercise to go through with your team is to ask them what their tax season goals are (they don’t need to be professional).

Here is what I have heard:

*Don’t gain weight.
*Go to all my daughter’s basketball games.
*Take Sundays off.
*95% of my jobs on budget.
*Get every return done where we have all the information.

Happy Tax Season. Seems to be ramping up.

Positive Culture

Shannon Vincent — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 15:46:57 +0000

It’s a widely accepted fact people are happier when they are busy. Put another way, team members of accounting firms are happier during tax season. One of the things I have noticed inside of firms is the increase in “chatter” when team members aren’t busy. I define chatter as unproductive conversations. The chatter could be about the firm and/or another person etc.. One firm I work with added a “guiding principle” that team members were not allowed to be negative about the firm, another team member or client unless the person they were being negative about was in the room. It worked. Feedback from the Managing Partner is a lot less chatter and team members are being forced to confront issues head on.

New Year’s Resolutions

Shannon Vincent — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 16:54:11 +0000

Ahhh. New Year’s Resolutions. We’ve all made them. Some successfully and some not so successfully. This year I figured I’d try a slightly different approach. Rather than define what I’m going to do. Define one or two things I’m going to stop doing. When I ask CPAs what is the one thing you need to stop doing, here are some of the responses I receive:

*Stop doing free work.

*Stop wasting time outside of tax season.

*Stop putting marketing off until tomorrow.

*Stop setting unrealisitic job budgets.

*Stop write offs.

Happy New Years!

Pricing

Shannon Vincent — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 14:45:29 +0000

I am always fascinated by Pricing. I was with an accounting firm yesterday discussing the pricing of services.

There seem to be 3 different prices:

1) The value of the work (in the eyes of the provider and in the eyes of the client)

2) What the provider is willing to do the work for

3) What the client is willing to pay for the work

I find that without proper positioning and leverage #1 is tough to achieve by the Provider. Ideally, #1 (from the Provider’s perspective) and #3 are closely aligned.

The other component of pricing that always amazes me is how mature, over-worked, under-paid accountants will still “under-price” a job to get it. Why would someone do that? If you don’t “need the work” then why are you willing to do it for less than excellent profit margins?

Pricing is definitely an art.

Positioning

Shannon Vincent — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 15:06:19 +0000

I met with a few firms this week regarding engagement letters/organizers and tax planning.

Positioning comes to mind:

First, you can not separate pricing from positioning. Positioning is paramount. As an example, positioning is where your office is located, how it looks, your website, how you dress, how you speak, how you communicate with clients and the pricing of your services.

How does your firm price? High end compared to the competition or low end? Do you give your clients an idea of what their fee/bill will be up-front or do you tell them “about the same as last year.” Either way, positioning, and it impacts your price.

Do you have performance standards? Either way, positioning.

Do you proactively offer tax planning service (or what about a Roth conversion analysis)? Either way, positioning.

You get the drift. Happy Positioning!

2010 Business or Practice?

Shannon Vincent — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 20:56:46 +0000

Many firms are pondering their approach to services, clients, and profitability as we are into “budget” season.

Strategic Question of the Day is do you have a Practice or a Business? Please use the following checklist to help you determine if you have a Practice or a Business.

Vision or No Vision
Strategic Plan or No Strategic Plan
CEO or Decision by Committee
Proactive or Reactive
Marketing Plan or No Marketing Plan
Client Selection Criteria or No Client Selection Criteria
Succession Plan or No Succession Plan
Defined Services and Products or Undefined
Systems or No Systems
Training and Learning or CPE
Career Path or Job
Momentum or Stuck
Always Looking Ahead or Always Behind
Fairly Compensated, Hard Working, Satisfied or Under-Paid Overworked and Dissatisfied

The key is intention!

Recession Pricing

Shannon Vincent — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 20:14:21 +0000

With engagement letters and organizers going out soon (note: do not waste the next 2 months) many firms are asking the following question? Can we raise prices in a recession? My view, of course you can, it’s your business and if you are willing to take the risk for an increased margin then go for it! Disclaimer… I would say go for it with caution. My counsel is that the only way to raise prices in this economy is to add some value. Here is an example, unlimited phone calls for a select group of individual or business clients? Put another way, you do not need to do this for every client. It could be just your top 20 or 30. One size does not fit all. Or possibly, it could be a quarterly financial review with your business clients. Not sure what to do? My suggestion would be to call some clients and ask them how you could help them? Even better, take them to lunch! If pricing is on your mind now is the time to do some analysis and talk with those you serve.

Non-Billable Time

Shannon Vincent — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 17:59:01 +0000

Many firms are heading to a period of “calm before the storm.” Put another way, a lot of non-billable time.

Here are a few suggestions of what you/your team can do with the non-billable time to make it more productive.

1) Go Visit/Lunch all A/B Clients.

2) Marketing and Sales Training

3) Career Planning

4) Technical Training

5) Use PTO

6) Clean Up any software/clients that contribute to Write Downs during Tax Season.