Bills 2.0

Ask Lacerte: Networking... Who Are You?

The following post previously appeared in The CPA Technology Advisor.

“Who are you?” 

Despite this bringing to mind a favorite song from the Who it is a great question for all of us to ask when it comes to business.  When I answer that question, I have to include all the people that have affected and are affecting my life.  In short, I am me plus my network.  What about you?

This issue discusses among other things the network community for accountants.   While you may or may not think of yourself as a networking mogul, you, in no doubt, are where you are due to the network you have surrounded yourself with.  People along the way influence what career you choose, where you settle, whom you work with and the customers you have.  One of the most powerful things about the network is that it is always working for you even when you are busy doing other things. 

When I left Intuit to start PayCycle, I knew the network would be helpful but I didn’t know how helpful.  With the germination of an idea, I started buying coffee, breakfast or lunch with people that I knew. I would explain the idea, get feedback and ask for suggestions with respect to the idea and other folks that might be helpful.  One thing led to another, and soon I had a group of 40 angel investors that were interested in investing, a handful of customers, some awesome co-workers and the beginning of a company.  I continued to nurture the network and good things continued to happen including attracting venture capital and some big companies such as Microsoft and Intuit as partners.  All of this was in the first 30 months of “hanging a shingle”.  And it taught me something very important: don’t underestimate the power and importance of the network.

Malcolm Gladwell’s “The Tipping Point” is a great book that explains the power of the network.  The best reminder of this in the book is in the opening chapter.  We have all heard of Paul Revere but did you know that there was another rider warning of the British invasion.  The problem is that the other rider went to a number of towns and shouted at the top of his lungs while Paul Revere when to a bunch of towns and informed folks in his network to spread the word.  Because of his network, many were prepared to fight and win.  Because of his network, we all know who he is.

In the book, Gladwell identifies three type of people that make a difference in the leveraging of the network: Connectors, Mavens, and Salespeople.  Connectors are people that know everyone.  Mavens are people that know a lot of people but also know a lot of things.  They are the ones that can tell you where to go eat in any city they have visited.  Then there are salespeople, that are constantly promoting things they like to the people they know. 

As you grow your business, it is important and critical to identify those individuals that are Connectors, Mavens or Salespeople.  It is important because these people are the ones that create the tipping point in the business.  And it is important to make sure you take care of them.

In my experience, there are lots of ways to take care of and feed your network.  The easiest thing to do is to literally “feed” them.  A good friend of mine suggested long ago that I buy every meal of someone in the network.  The reason being that people would always think positively of their meetings with me and would be interested in helping me grow my business.  While I don’t buy every meal, I do buy a lot and use the rule of thumb that if I asked for the meeting, I buy. 

The other way to “feed” the network is to provide information.  The value of your network is based on the value of the information exchanged.  In order to get information you need to share information.  So when you are “working” your network, you must be prepared to share something.  The thing that is interesting to me is that as you have more meetings, you have more information and are more “valuable” to your network.  And more importantly, the opposite is true: your network is more valuable to you.

Much is being said these days, good and bad, about social media such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and blogs. While much of the talk focuses on the usefulness (or lack thereof) of some of the discussions that are occurring, I think that is only part of the equation—like focusing on the value of mavens and not the connectors and salepeople.  What I see are people expanding their networks and building relationships like never before possible, and with people they do not even know (yet). And because these networks expand and share information so fast, they can be immensely valuable for keeping informed, getting help, and hearing what others are saying about you and your clients. These days, by just typing the letters “RT” (Retweet, for those of you not yet on Twitter) you too can be a connector to thousands of others for far less than the cost of a lunch! If you haven’t already, I urge you or your firm to get started (shameless networking plug: be sure to “follow” us at @billcom!).

It is probably worth mentioning that the network is all about helping those in it.  As an accountant, your network of businesses and people is vast.  You can help your customers in so many ways.  You can introduce them to potential customers, employees, resources and new ideas.  As part of doing that you can add value in a way that is “priceless”.  Ultimately, the sum of the parts will be worth much more than the services you provide.  Never mind that helping your customers in this way can be one of the most fun things to do. 

So “Who are you?”

Rene

Ask Lacerte: Branding Your CPA Firm

This post previously appeared in the CPA Technology Advisor.

Please join me in a thought experiment.  Think of the name of your favorite restaurant.  Just think of the name.  Try not to think about the food, the service, the ambiance or the desert.  For me it is impossible to keep it just to the name.  As soon as I think of the “Flea Street Café”, I can’t help but think of all the attributes (tasty, organic, caring service, friendly) that make it a great place to eat and my favorite in the bay area. 

A brand is not about logos and colors; it’s about what people think about when they think of a company name. Marketing professionals try to influence that with colors, logos and other techniques but ultimately the brand is considerably more complex and is built over time.  And in the case of accounting firms, the brand of the company is the brand of you.  So with that in mind, what is your brand?  What would customers say if I asked them what you stood for?  And how would you like them to answer that question?  And finally, what is the best way to go about building the brand of you?

You may not be asking or know the answers to these questions but you should.  In the absence of you directing and influencing your customers and prospects they will determine your brand attributes.  You cannot afford this.  In the age of technology and outsourcing, your biggest advantage is you.

Every interaction with a customer informs and affects your brand image.  When the customer visits your office, they soak in all the details of your office without even knowing it.  For example, a messy desk full of papers may make them wonder about your organization skills.  An empty office, may make them wonder why you aren’t more busy.  Your degrees and certifications on the wall may help them get comfortable with your credentials.  The list is endless and my guess is that you don’t want your customers wondering about such attributes. Without purpose or context you are giving away your brand.

Accounting firms today are at a cross roads... Not about their image, but how they are perceived in the minds of their clients and market.  Are they a place for businesses to drop off their shoebox of receipts and papers and get back reports/forms, or are they relevant to their clients day-to-day finances/operations?  Ultimately, this is your choice.  Whatever your choice, though, you must communicate your brand consistently to ensure your customers think of you as just taxes and forms or all of that coupled with sage advice, or something else all together.  Whatever image you pick, you probably want it to do what all brands do – create customer loyalty and as a result greater revenue.   And we all would like more revenue and less attrition.  As someone who uses accountants for personal and business here are the things that matter most to me:

Responsiveness -  We are in the information age and for better or worse, information moves much faster now.  We all expect more sooner.  If I can get an answer on Google in 1 sec that would have taken me several hours 20 years ago, why shouldn’t my accountant respond to my question in less than a few business hours?  It may not be fair, but we all are being trained to expect this.  My advice, if you can’t respond quickly, tell your customer when you will respond.  That only takes a few seconds and will reset the expectations.

Communication- Communication is an essential tool in business.  While most firms communicate the positive, one of my pet peeves is communicating the negatives/mistakes. Failure is a unique opportunity to say something about who you are and what you stand for.  If you make a mistake, acknowledging and fixing it can and will enhance your brand.  We all know that we all make mistakes.  Yet it is rare for someone to acknowledge and to proactively make it better.  These are the people we trust and ultimately that is one of the most important brand attributes an accountant can have!

Completeness – Let’s face it, your job is all about completeness.  You have to know all the tax and accounting laws that may affect your clients.  That’s a huge burden but if you don’t then your clients will look elsewhere.  Maybe not today but when they learn that something was not done completely, they’ll move.  So if you are a small firm that may not be familiar with ISO’s and AMT or Family partnerships or some other arcane law, refer the client to someone who does or better yet consult that person and let your client know that you consulted with an expert.  

Efficient Technology– As a technology entrepreneur, it should come as no surprise that this is an important brand attribute for me.  It is the way I manage my life and given what it has enabled me to do, I wonder when someone I work with is not leveraging technology.  Technology can act like a wrapper around your product and services.  You can use it to track important client details and communications, do your work more efficiently, and become more proactive (more on that later).  For me, someone who leverages technology to the fullest has probably done it to get more time and better perspective. 

Proactive advice – Finally, all of the above attributes come together in this attribute.  Going above and beyond the call of duty is the holy grail in servicing clients in any business.  Combining technology and the complete knowledge of your client will allow you to reach the ultimate responsiveness – proactive advice.  Understanding the big picture for your client, timing on retirement, portfolio and investments,  shifts in jobs, business financings, etc is an opportunity for real value add.  After all, as my mentor at Price Waterhouse told me, “the language of business is accounting”.  Make sure you read between the lines. 

Accountants are in a unique position to be consigliore for their clients.  If you can position/brand yourself as such the rewards are strong.  Good luck and happy branding.

Rene

The Proper Care and Feeding of the Network

When starting both PayCycle and Bill.com, I shared the business ideas with associates and colleagues— people that I knew—and ended each conversation by asking: “Who else do you know that could help me shape and grow the business?” This eventually led to me having an expanding list of contacts willing to help support, invest, and work with in first, PayCycle, and later, Bill.com.

I attribute the ongoing success of these companies to years of cultivating and nurturing what I call The Network.

I understand all too well the value, potential size and ultimate power of The Network. And, if you know me at all, you know how important The Network is to me. Whether you realize it or not, The Network—your network—is just as important to you, too, especially if you are in the business of starting up a company.

In the beginning, I was relentless. I got names and feedback from anyone who would talk to me. When they said they weren’t interested, I would ask “why not?” so I would be better prepared for the next person. This approach also provided invaluable information as to what the recruit, the investor or the business partner might think.

When you are starting a company, there are no early adopters for what you are building, so most of the feedback will be negative. That’s okay. That, in fact, is more important than the positive feedback.

What did I hear after my snooping around for feedback on PayCycle? Primarily, there was concern about a first time CEO (me), but they really liked the product and the strength of the team. Both of these tidbits were very valuable for me to understand in order to get future support and in crafting—and revising—my pitch (which we’ll get to next week) as I continued to build The Network.

Most of the deals that we got in those early days came through the network. To this day, the best people I’ve worked with have come through the network, and will continue to, as long as I continue to care and feed it (figuratively speaking, of course).

A lot of people choose not to develop a network, but it’s a shortsighted approach to doing business. It takes time to build a successful network. It doesn’t happen overnight. Feed it take care of it, nurture it. It’s important to maintain your relationships over time. When you are just too busy, you can pull back, but at some point, you will have to nurture it again.

If you are just starting off, it’s important to take certain steps to build your own network. Ask people that you know—your friends and colleagues—if they can give you one or two names of people who can help you, either in the market or industry you are interested in developing.

Be open to every opportunity and run it down. Be relentless, asking everyone you know, telling everyone what you are doing, using a concise pitch, and not being shy or bashful. I talked about passion for your business in the first post of this blog. You can’t be shy and still be passionate about whatever you are doing.

You can benefit from the The Network in so many ways. Here are some of the ones that have helped me the most

• Raising money
• Refining the business model/go to market strategy
• Getting amazing employees
• Finding the best business partners
• Attracting early customers
• Generating interest from the press

Caring for The Network is easy. It is all about giving. When you give, you receive and as Paul McCartney said: "And, in the end, the love you take/ Is equal to the love you make." This has always been my philosophy. So, when it comes to The Network, the more love you make, the more love you get. If you haven’t already, try it. You might be surprised.