Buzz

Since engaging Practice Paradox™ the benefits have been enormous. Not only has the Clientshare™ program provided new work both from existing and new clients, my team have been re-energised.

Michael’s consulting skills, which are second to none, coupled with the honesty and practicality of his advice and wisdom, has the whole team looking forward to the next session with Paradox to review our Next Actions list. Not only is the delivery of the Clientshare Improvement Process successful, the methods and technology used makes it exciting and educational, which has then been implemented with the way we consult with our own clients. All of us at dbsn group could not be any happier.

~Nigel Dobell

Managing Director dbsn group Maroochydore, Queensland, Australia

One of the biggest benefits for us in learning from Practice Paradox™ is actually getting some focus. Before input from Practice Paradox™ we had a million ideas of things we thought we could possibly do in our marketing but we had no idea what to do first. We had no idea who to target. We just had this massive list of ideas that was so overwhelming it got no attention and no action! Once Practice Paradox™ guided us by asking who did we enjoy dealing with, who has a lot of potential to help and to pay for that help, who did we want to target, it then made it really easy to go back to our action list and cross off over 50 ideas that were no longer relevant, and instead focus only on the handful of actionable ideas that matched our new focus, that fitted with the target niche market that Practice Paradox™ guided us in selecting.

The benefit of the action plan has been brilliant. The actions that have flowed after deciding on our niche have included speaking with our referral partners about only referring us people who are in our niche market. They have all said, “That’s a great idea, that’s fantastic,” and it has given them something to know us by. Our firm name now comes immediately to mind for them when they are speaking with someone in our target niche of tradespeople.

We also went back to existing clients who are in this target niche of “tradies” and asked them whether from a marketing perspective this is the sort of thing (being an accounting firm known for specialising in helping tradies) that would gel with them and how that would affect their view of us in the industry as well. We got really positive feedback from those guys, which helped to confirm we’re on the right track. And I think now they are clearer too in that when they’re talking with their peers, they know we are in the hunt for people just like them. It makes it much easier for them to refer people to us. It’s given them a real focus rather than us just saying to them, in terms of asking for referrals, “We want more clients [of any type],” we can now say to a client, such as a painter for example, if they’re working with plumbers or tilers or anyone in that trade industry, we’re after clients in that industry because they’re the clients we know we can help them most. It makes it much easier for clients to say to their peers, “You need to go and see the guys at Growthwise”.

The focus on analysing our current Clientshare™ and looking at which additional services we want to provide to clients has allowed us to identify that we have 3 types of clients in terms of their business experience and we’ve been able to tailor different service offerings and different workshops to each of these 3 groups, and have a bit of fun with clients in the process. Now as opposed to having a client that was just a financial statements and tax return client with a bit of tax planning, we are now doing things with clients proactively, especially educational things. For example, for our “L Plater” group of clients who are just starting out in business, we are running workshops to teach them important stuff they need to know and put into place, and by running these sessions in groups, it makes it affordable for them and profitable for us.

With these clients, from a Clientshare™ perspective, we have essentially doubled what we can do with them. That’s good for clients and good for us.

Having this structure of different service levels in place shows new clients too, that we can hold their hand and take them right through from the stage of, “Whoops, I’ve just started out in my own business, now what do I do?” to them later having to deal with hiring and staff issues, to them wanting to grow and having to buy more equipment and machinery, and everything that goes along with a tradie’s business; so we’re now able to show them that there’s a progression path for them and their business as well. Clients like this approach too because they get to network and deal with a lot of other clients who are in the same industry, dealing with similar issues in similar positions, at different stages in their business life.

Our newfound marketing focus makes it much easier to write marketing and client educational material now. Because we know exactly who our target reader is, we know exactly how to word things and tailor the information to suit them, and we’re no longer trying to be all things to all people. It makes our process a lot easier, not just in marketing but we’re finding in the back office as well.

What appeals to me about the The Clientshare™ Academy is that I like learning that way, in that it’s great to have something that you are made to do, as well as be able to sit through classes on topics and get your own ideas together, but importantly, also have the follow up with the Nuts & Bolts sessions two weeks after each class where you’ll be held accountable to implement the ideas and actions you commit to.

It’s also great that you’re able to network with your peers from other firms who are also going through The Clientshare™ Academy. I’m quite excited about that. For us being a young firm, The Clientshare™ Academy at the Platinum level with its one-to-many delivery makes the affordability very good for us, as opposed to paying for one-on-one time with Practice Paradox which we have done in the past. I’m very excited about The Clientshare™ Academy and can’t wait to start.
 
We’re certainly on a roll with our marketing and growth, with 5 new clients coming on board last week alone. I look forward to keeping the momentum going with The Clientshare™ Academy because since we’ve had input from Practice Paradox, we’re firing along with our Next Actions list!

~Stephanie Hinds

Director Growthwise, Newcastle, Australia

Michael Carter from Practice Paradox™ facilitated Day 2 of our recent team retreat and we got tremendous value out of Michael’s input. The shift in mindset and lightbulbs coming on with our team was great. They were starting to come up with their own ideas and they could see the Clientshare™ opportunities that have been passing us by, by typically being reactive ‘order takers’ with clients rather than true ‘advisers’.

Even one of our longest serving team members who openly admits that she tends to be set in her ways told me the other day—and she was really proud of herself—that she’s noticed she now has a completely different mindset in dealing with clients and looking for opportunities to help clients more. Rather than automatically respond to client requests, for example, clients requests for copies of financial statements to be sent to a bank, she now steps back and asks clients why they need them, what’s happening, and from that we are uncovering opportunities for us to help and advise clients. She wasn’t doing that before, she now realises, and she loves the new approach because she is serving clients better as a result.

Prior to the announcement of the launch of The Clientshare™ Academy by Practice Paradox™, I had decided our firm would come on board and use the consulting services of Practice Paradox™. But the power of the Clientshare™ Academy approach is that rather than have a consultant on-site with us a couple of days a month, the Academy training course will educate and empower us to implement the ideas and strategies ourselves. We’ll not only learn powerful concepts and strategies but we also get the tools and permanent training resources such as training videos for our team, that come with each class. This gives us something we can use and benefit from ongoing in our firm, in addition to the educational value and the business results of implementing the strategies in the short term.

I like the fact that the educational and self-implementation approach of The Clientshare™ Academy won’t allow us to get lazy, so to speak, in that we’re not relying on a consultant to turn up and do things for us that we really should be doing ourselves. I like that it is still us driving the implementation. That’s important for us as leaders of the business and also for the team to see and to participate in the process. The ideas that we generate ourselves and implement ourselves will have a far higher chance of success than something implemented by a consultant who visits our firm from time to time.

Even though it’s good to have an independent third party such as a consultant come into the firm occasionally to present and facilitate sessions with the team, I feel there is so much more value in having someone in the firm, in particular the leadership team, engaging with everyone and being seen as the driver of it, rather than an external consultant.

That’s the power and the strength of participating in The Clientshare™ Academy because we’ll be the ones delivering the sessions internally and facilitating the process with the team. This means we’re on the ground each day, following up and seeing that the new approaches and process are actually implemented.

So not only is The Clientshare™ Academy approach a very effective way for us to bring about the changes we want in our firm, it’s also more affordable than one-on-one consulting anyway. This allows us to use the savings on other projects and initiatives and still get outside expertise and consultants like Practice Paradox™ in occasionally to implement very specific projects that we’d struggle to do internally.

We’re looking forward to being a member of The Clientshare™ Academy as we can see the results are already happening from only one day’s exposure to the ideas and strategies.

~Jeremy Harris

Director Gill McKerrow & Associates Indooroopilly, Brisbane, Australia

The ‘Going for Growth’ webinar we attended yesterday was great. I invited one of my senior team members to sit in on the webinar with me. She and I bounced ideas off each other throughout the webinar, as you posed questions about ways we can work more closely with our clients.

After the webinar she sent me an email, completely off her own bat, letting me know she had given further thought to the contents of the webinar and had a list of ideas borne out of the content of the webinar and wanting to know when we can sit down to go through her ideas and figure out the implementation of her ideas.

The interactive format of the webinar with the polls was terrific. It was really interesting to see where we sat, compared with the hundreds of other firms who were also in on the webinar, in terms of our average fee per client, and the number of services we provide our clients. The ‘live’ nature of webinars also helps in that it motivates us to attend, and not miss out.

Some of the ideas in the webinar were not rocket science but we all need to be reminded of them from time to time. Other ideas which were new to me were excellent take on board and think about in relation to our small firm. I am absolutely stoked with the value we got from the webinar and we’re looking forward to next month’s webinar.

~Scott Lindqvist

Principal Outcome Accounting Adelaide, South Australia

Session 3C: The Practice Paradox: 12 Marketing Mistakes Most Accounting Firms Make, Plus a 12-Step System to Avoid These Same Mistakes. Rating from 1 to 5 by conference delegates: 4.65 (93%). Comments: Exceeded my expectations – Great session – Excellent speaker had me mesmerized. Would have liked longer. Very clear. Excellent people person. – Engaging presenter – Exceeded my expectations by miles. Excellent presentation.

~Conference delegate feedback

Feedback form data from National Institute of Accountants Public Practice Symposium, Sydney, Australia

I am sooooo stoked. Michael’s presentation was the best I have heard for some time. Good move and I think the energy was contagious and positive. I wanted to personally thank Michael for the great presentation. A bit of paradigm shift for our Accountants but it is just so logical to Help (not sell) our clients and give them a better (larger) service they are happy to part $$ for. Proactive. Let’s keep the momentum going.

Email from team member to Director of the accounting firm after 12 Steps to Growing Your Clientshare™ team workshop Shared with permission from team member

~Nigel Dobell

Managing Director dbsn group Maroochydore, Queensland, Australia

Michael asked me to present at a workshop he was facilitating for his clients. It was a pleasure to work with someone so outwardly dedicated to providing exceptional service to his clients. When working with Michael I found him to be a great listener and he combines this brilliantly with the energy he brings to conversations. His focus on innovation is obvious as he exudes great passion to helping his clients find better ways of working. Michael is an innovative and passionate business leader who shows great care for his clients.

~Mandy Holloway

Leadership Trainer, Consultant and Speaker Holloway Consulting – Former Partner at KPMG Sydney, Australia

Michael is an extraordinary innovator, thinker and, thank Goodness, follow-througher (now there’s a new word). Michael takes ordinary processes and weaves magic through them so that the result is always the complex made simple. Even hard-nosed people are moved to go “wow”, that’s great. And he does it all with under-stated grace.

~Paul Dunn

Accounting industry pioneer - co-creator of Accountants Boot Camps in 1990s Formerly Chairman and Founder of Results Accountants Systems (acquired by RAN-ONE) Now CEO and Founder ResultsNet Australia/America and Buy 1 Give 1 (B1G1)