The Practice Paradox™ Difference

We’re often asked how what we do at Practice Paradox™ differs from what other accounting industry consultants do.

Here's a quick summary of our difference:

• We are not consultants
• We are not business coaches
• We are not technology or software vendors
• We are educators and trainers
• We focus on marketing and selling skills and systems for accounting firms
• We are specialists in marketing and selling - We don't address general 'practice management' issues
• We focus primarily on helping firms grow their Clientshare™ - That is, we teach accounting firms how to market and sell additional services to their clients
• We have deep expertise in the mindset, skills and systems required for effective marketing and selling of professional services
• We deliver training through a combination of live online classes, streaming web videos, online polls and tests, and live in-person workshops, all within a structured educational program called The Clientshare™ Academy. 
• The Clientshare™ Academy includes a system that requires you to report in on your implementation progress
• No other provider to the profession is doing all of the above.

         
If you'd like a more in-depth explanation why Practice Paradox is like no other provider to the accounting profession, read on ...

There are two main differences.

Firstly, other consultants tend to be generalists.

We are specialists.

Most consulting industry consultants address a broad range of performance areas in a firm. They advise firms on how to improve a spectrum of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) ranging from what your charge rates should be, to what your WIP and debtors levels should be, to how you should treat write-offs, to how you should structure your team, to what your productivity levels should be, to what your salaries and charge rate multiples should be, to how to improve your efficiency, lead your team, and so on.

They ‘go an inch deep and a mile wide’ across a lot of areas.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that (to borrow a famous Seinfeld line!)

Generalists have their place, just as your G.P. doctor performs an important role.

Practice Paradox™, on the other hand, is focused on helping accounting firms improve one crucial KPI: what we call Clientshare™. This KPI measures the average number of services provided per client group per year.

In other words, we help accounting firms do more with their existing clients and to also acquire new clients who instantly become high Clientshare™ clients.

There is so much depth to teaching accounting firms and their team members the psychology, mindset, skills and systems required for improving Clientshare™, and in examining values and limiting beliefs before addressing behaviours, that we have chosen to adopt the ‘go an inch wide and a mile deep’ approach and focus solely on bringing about measurable, achievable and predictable improvements in Clientshare™.

So that first Practice Paradox™ difference is a matter of focus.

The second difference relates to our business model.

We are primarily a training organisation. We are not business coaches, nor do we focus on consulting services. We do some consulting, but we work only with a handful of accounting firms directly one-on-one. We love the process of helping firms through on-the-ground, in-the-trenches consulting, as we observe so much and learn what works best in bringing about desired changes. We then incorporate our continuous learning into our training courses and other resources.

But our main game is training and education.

We focus on training and skills development because we want our clients to bring about sustainable improvements in their accounting firms’ business performance. We believe the best way to bring about change is to focus on changing the ‘vital behaviours’ of the team members within the firm, and we know from decades of experience that the best way to achieve that is through education and skills development.

Do these differences make it an either/or decision for an accounting firm as to whether they use the services of a generalist versus a specialist; or use a coaching or consulting service versus using a training service? No. They are complementary services, and certainly not mutually exclusive options for firms.