Katie Tolin: 2010 Marketer of the Year

Katie Tolin, marketing director for Rea & Associates, Inc., in New Philadelphia, Ohio, was honored as the 2010 Marketer of the Year at the Association for Accounting Marketing Annual Summit held in June 2010. The award is sponsored by CPA Practice Management Forum, a newsletter focusing exclusively on successful marketing strategies within CPA firms.

What does Katie think is the greatest challenge in marketing CPA firms? What is her prediction for accounting marketing for the next five years? What factors/skills enable accounting marketers to be successful? And, what is her best piece of advice for managing partners? Click here to listen to Capstone Marketing's interview.

Neil Fauerbach: 2010 AAM Hall of Fame Inductee

Neil Fauerbach, Partner and Director of Business Development & Marketing, Smith & Gesteland, was inducted into the Association for Accounting Marketing Hall of Fame at the 21st Annual AAM Summit in Washington, DC. What factors does Neil think enables accounting marketers to be successful? What is the biggest change he has noticed in accounting marketing over the past 10 years? What is his best piece of advice for accounting marketers? For managing partners? Click here to listen to Capstone Marketing's interview.

Three Steps to Sales Success

You are looking for new business and the competition is fierce. The Capstone Sales Series of webinars will guide you through the sales process from finding the right prospects to gaining access to the right executives to creating a persuasive business proposal that will help you win the business. The webinars will be held from 12:00-1:15 p.m. Eastern. Cost is $89 each, or $225 for the Series. Use the Capstone Sales Series for Lunch & Learn programs for your firm! Register today!

Step 1:
September 22, 2010 – Finding the Right Prospects
Jean Caragher, Capstone Marketing

You aren’t satisfied with the prospects in your pipeline – or you’re starting from square one and need to create a pipeline of prospective clients. Attend this webinar presented by accounting marketing veteran, Jean Caragher, and learn:

· How to determine the best prospects for your firm.
· How to find the best prospects for your firm.
· About the resources available to build your prospect list.
· How to cultivate leads from clients and referral sources.
· About marketing activities that generate leads.

Step 2:
October 6, 2010 – Selling to the C Suite
Steve Bistritz, President, SellXL

You’ve created your list of prospects. Now, how do you get in front of them? Attend this webinar presented by Steve Bistritz, co-author of Selling to the C Suite, with four decades of sales management and training experience, and learn:

· How to understand what executives want.
· How to gain access to the right executives.
· Which sales techniques CEOs find most effective.
· How to use the face time with the prospect to your advantage.

Step 3:
October 27, 2010 – Creating Persuasive Business Proposals
Tom Sant, Hyde Park Partners

You’ve created your list of prospects and you’ve met with one or more of them. Now, how do you create a persuasive business proposal to help you win the business?

Get the answers by attending this webinar, presented by Tom Sant. Tom is the author of the best-selling Persuasive Business Proposals and has been called “America’s foremost practitioner of proposal writing." He was also named one of the top 10 sales trainers in the world by Selling Power magazine. In his session, he will explain and illustrate:

• The difference between information and persuasion.
• The seven vital questions you must answer to create a client-centered proposal.
• How to differentiate your services in a commoditized market.
• How to create a compelling value proposition.
• Effective ways to follow up your proposal to win the business.

Free Seven Keys CPA Executive Summary Now Available!

Download the Seven Keys to Successful CPA Firm Management Executive Summary today.

The Seven Keys to Successful CPA Firm Management is based on research conducted over the past two years including thousands of survey responses and interviews with leading authorities. Our research identifies the best practices and common characteristics that separate the competitively successful firms from the not-so-successful. We're calling them 'The Leaders vs. The Laggards.‘

The Seven Keys are:

1. Leadership and Management
2. Technology Trends
3. Marketing and Business Development
4. Client Service and Satisfaction
5. Creating a Great Place to Work
6. Building the Learning Organization
7. Strategy Execution

For more information contact Jean Caragher, jcaragher@capstonemarketing.com or Rick Telberg, rtelberg@baystreetgroup.com.

Accountants Got Talent Contest - Deadline Sept 3!

Next Generation Consulting and Accounting Tomorrow are hosting an "Accountants Got Talent" video contest ... this is the chance for you to show your stuff! Prizes include two roundtrip tickets to Las Vegas and a free registration to the Winning Is Everything Conference and more! Log on to see some of the video submissions to date, and then post your own entry!

ACT! to Integrate with Outlook

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is a complicated issue for many CPA firms. If your firm currently uses ACT! to manage its client, referral source, and prospect databases and contact management good news may be on the way. You can now integrate your Sage ACT! and Outlook contacts, plus keep your calendars in sync.

Sync your existing Sage ACT! contacts with what you keep in Outlook. It doesn’t matter where your contacts were created or changed, everything will be kept updated in both places. And, you have the option to control which contacts are synced back and forth.

Keep your busy schedule updated in both places, no matter where you add or modify activities and meetings. Sage ACT! will help you cut back on meeting conflicts with rules that handle them automatically. And, you can choose which activity types in Sage ACT! sync back to Outlook so that your Outlook calendar remains free of your Sage ACT! to-dos.

Sage is offering weekly live webcasts:

What’s New in Sage ACT! 2011
Dates: Every Wednesday
Time: 12:00 PDT / 3:00 EDT
Register

Signs of Economic Rebound? CPAs Boost Marketing Efforts in Battle for New Clients

Aiming to take advantage of new opportunities and to make up for lost time, tax and accounting firms are poised to significantly accelerate their spending on marketing and new business development this year, according to a new survey for "The Seven Keys to Successful CPA Firm Management" practice improvement program.

Some 27% of accountants surveyed say they plan to "increase significantly" their marketing activities over the next year, about twice the number who did so over the past year, Seven Keys CPA reports.

The topline results of the survey are free to the participants and detailed analyses and recommendations are scheduled to be unveiled in a one-hour webinar,

"Marketing + Biz Dev: Trends and Strategies 2010"
Thursday, August 12, 2010
1:00-2:00 p.m. Eastern
Register today!

"The survey shows a new sense of urgency and importance in new business development that had lapsed with the economic slump," said Jean Caragher, president of Capstone Marketing, which, with Bay Street Group LLC, jointly produces the Seven Keys CPA program. "Firms are redoubling their efforts to win new clients, retain old clients and build revenue."

In addition to the 27% of accountants "significantly" ramping up marketing this year, 50% will "increase somewhat," 11% report "no change," 2% will "decrease somewhat," and another 2% will "decrease significantly" their marketing activities over the next year.

For the past year -- in addition to the 15% who said they had "increased significantly their marketing activities -- 50% said they had "somewhat" accelerated their marketing over the previous year, 28% reported no change, 4% reported " decreased somewhat," and 2% reported "decreased significantly."

"CPA firms are battling for business with both barrels," said Rick Telberg, CEO of Bay Street Group LLC. "They're showing a renewed competitiveness and confidence."