Blogs
Our blogs help you understand and deliver business advisory services to your clients. Mark Jenkins and our guest blog authors, provide you with the ideas and tools to accelerate small business success.
How do I showcase the value of advisory?
"If your client sees you as a cost, your services ought to be cut; if they see you as someone who...
2 minute read
Scaling up your coaching services
Coaching isn’t defined in the accounting industry as clearly as the likes of accounts preparation...
4 minute read
The power that lies in the Annual Accounts Review
In my previous blog, Changing Your Year End for Good and for Better, I discussed the opportunities...
3 minute read
Sustainability,
Three Freedoms,
Systems,
Leadership,
Mark Jenkins,
Core Values,
Team Engagement,
Leverage,
Growth,
Culture
Achieving Better Leverage in Your Firm
We all know the secret to success is to work smarter. Yet we still get stuck in the day-to-day...
2 minute read
Changing your year end for good and for better
After working with accountants for nearly 15 years, I know the Post Tax Year-end Stress is real for...
4 minute read
GIFTS – the secret for success in sales
Sales is the primary driver for all businesses. Yet somehow, accountants have historically found...
2 minute read
Championing Change
It's human nature to avoid change. Change requires action, effort, and sometimes pain.Often change...
3 minute read
What's your revised definition of success?
Accountants and bookkeepers have been busier than ever since the pandemic. Burnout aside, they've...
4 minute read
Staying ahead of the curve with content marketing
Marketing is about more than just acquiring new clients. While that’s a critical end-goal,...
3 minute read
What's your money story?
What you believe about money and how you relate and interact with it affects every aspect of your...
2 minute read
Digital Marketing
Any firm (big or small ) must have a digital presence. This includes an authentic website,...
4 minute read
What does being more commercial look like for an accounting firm?
Most accountants are not trained in how to run a better practice. Instead, we’re schooled in...
2 minute read
Is your business's Organisation Structure rock solid?
The accounting industry is rapidly changing. From technology advancements and changes in...
2 minute read
Who do you want to be?
Compare these two statements: a child saying, "When I grow up, I’m going to be…" and an accountant...
2 minute read
How well do you know your numbers?
Accountants know their numbers - true or false? Perhaps a better question is who’s numbers do...
2 minute read
The Sudden Shift to Education Marketing
Our industry has experienced an unexpected and rapid shift to providing online education to...
4 minute read
Innovating through a crisis
They say never waste a good crisis…
3 minute read
Business Development,
Systems,
Leadership,
Mark Jenkins,
The Business Development Trifecta,
Business Recovery Planning
Business Recovery Planning
In the wake of Coronavirus, and with feelings of greater economic uncertainty, your clients are in...
4 minute read
Proposals are not ‘Sales Engines’
I've seen it written that proposals are your sales engine - this is simply not true. The proposal...
2 minute read
Gaining Conceptual Agreement
I’ve often referred to the need to gain conceptual agreement with your client BEFORE proceeding...
2 minute read
Essential sales techniques - The OPPS Mindset
In a recent blog, I talked about one of the most neglected skills of Today’s Accountant - the ...
2 minute read
Are you neglecting your Director’s hat?
Being more commercial starts with wearing your Director’s hat more often. As a Director,...
1 minute read
Are you helping your clients look back to look forward?
It’s 2020! Time to reflect on the highs and lows of 2019, establish our new focus, and...
2 minute read
Essential sales techniques - The SPIN Cycle
Today’s accountant must know how to sell. Selling is really a value conversation. If your clients...
3 minute read
The Achiever Matrix
The Achiever Matrix, created by Stephen Covey, is made up of four quadrants and helps you...
2 minute read
Show that you care
Over the last couple of months, I've been discussing the four most neglected skills of Today's...
3 minute read
Today's accountant must know how to sell
Most accountants I talk to have a real fear of selling. They’re worried they’ll come across as...
3 minute read
Communication,
Three Freedoms,
Leadership,
Mark Jenkins,
Young Guns,
OARBED,
Professional Development
Is Communication a Neglected Skill for Accountants?
I’m sure there are a hundred reasons why communication skills are neglected in the Accounting...
3 minute read
Speaking Wider than the Numbers
In The 7 Traits of Today’s Accountant, I talked about speaking wider than the numbers being a...
2 minute read
The 7 Traits of Today's Accountant
You may or may not subscribe to the view that compliance is shrinking - that’s not the point. You...
2 minute read
Stop Scope Stretch!
I’m redefining ‘Scope Creep’ as ‘Scope Stretch’, and for good reason.
5 minute read
The real power of proposals
During my 17 years running an accounting firm, particularly in the last five years when I was...
3 minute read
The three freedoms your clients want
About 10 years ago I was having lunch with a friend (let’s call her Jane) when she asked, 'why...
2 minute read
Helping your clients win the business success trifecta
We often refer to the three essential tools in business as ‘The Business Development Trifecta’....
2 minute read
The curious incident of the dog and the nail
There’s a proverb about a young man walking down the street. He comes across an older man sitting...
3 minute read
How to attract and retain excellent millennial talent
Millennials challenge the way we work and manage. The perceived ‘millennial mindset’ is not always...
5 minute read
The Power of Drawing
A picture paints a thousand words. So why don't we draw more? My old excuse ( below the line...
1 minute read
The gold in our failings
Secretly, humans are conditioned to love a good fail. While stories of triumph are inspiring, epic...
3 minute read
Value add services - delivered on demand or basic duty of care?
True story An accounting firm relayed this scene to me this week. One of the firm’s partners,...
3 minute read
Communication,
Sustainability,
Systems,
Leadership,
Natalie Eady,
Core Values,
Appreciation,
Core Purpose,
Growth
8 Questions for Effective New Client Screening
Screening potential clients sounds rather clinical, a bit like screening for a disease. Truth be...
3 minute read
Communication,
Sustainability,
Leadership,
Mark Jenkins,
Coach,
Accountability,
Leverage,
Professional Development
The Evolution of the Accountant
There is no doubt accountants need to evolve. The accounting industry is going through a...
3 minute read
Where have all the 'Young Guns' gone?
Recently I ran a‘Succession Insights Poll’ in New Zealand, with 441 accounting firms...
3 minute read
Sustainability,
Mark Jenkins,
Core Values,
Appreciation,
Agility,
Walk the Talk,
Team Engagement,
Culture,
Balance
Let's get to the Core of the problem
I’m a firm believer that everyone comes to work to do a great job - initially anyway. So why do...
3 minute read
Systems,
Leadership,
Mark Jenkins,
Responsibility,
Appreciation,
Agility,
Team Engagement,
Leverage,
Growth
Can I Outsource Leadership?
The biggest challenge in business stems from 'TLT' - too little time. One of the best solutions...
1 minute read
Sustainability,
Leadership,
Mark Jenkins,
Accountability,
Responsibility,
Core Purpose,
Walk the Talk,
Goals,
Team Engagement,
OARBED
Managing Poor Performance
I firmly believe that when anyone starts a new role they come to work with the intention of...
2 minute read
Selling,
Leadership,
Viv Brownrigg,
Accountability,
Core Purpose,
Industry Insight,
Marketing,
Value
Would the real modern firm please stand up
And that was possibly the most ridiculous blog title I’ve ever written. There is no such thing...
4 minute read
How to develop your storybook
Business storybooks tell a compelling, authentic and fluid story. Both content and form are...
5 minute read
Client events streamlined
Client events are a double-edged sword. 1. They provide literally a room full of opportunities...
4 minute read
Sustainability,
Leadership,
Accountability,
Natalie Eady,
Appreciation,
Agility,
Walk the Talk,
Goals,
Team Engagement,
Balance
New Year's resolutions to improve your business and leadership
A resolution is defined as: 'A firm decision to do or not do something.' When we set...
2 minute read
Be, Do, Have.
Our success in life can be summed up using these three words in their correct order. The...
1 minute read
How to write your 'About Us'
Your website is an important marketing channel to create awareness and generate leads. Use this...
4 minute read
Communication,
Sustainability,
Leadership,
Mark Jenkins,
Appreciation,
Agility,
Walk the Talk,
Growth,
Mindset
Bringing your business 'A' game
Success in sport is all about playing your 'A' game. Being the best you can be through...
1 minute read
Stop haemorrhaging value.
It's common knowledge that our perception of the value or quality of a product or service...
2 minute read
How to sell without product pushing
Fear of selling is holding accountants back. Product pushing is trying to sell a number of...
2 minute read
Sustainability,
Mark Jenkins,
Accountability,
Responsibility,
Walk the Talk,
Team Engagement,
Culture,
OARBED,
Mindset
The Most Powerful Behaviour Model Ever
When something goes wrong what is your natural reaction? Our behaviour responses are so...
3 minute read
Sustainability,
Organisation Structure,
Three Freedoms,
Systems,
Leadership,
Mark Jenkins,
Agility,
Team Engagement
Are you playing checkers or chess?
Are you adding value to your clients or are you spending too much time playing checkers? Let me...
2 minute read
'Stop listening to reply - listen to understand’
Holding a good conversation is an underrated, but required, skill in our industry. This...
2 minute read
Robots preparing tax returns?
31 March has passed, it's a good time to reflect on the future accountant. Last Wednesday, the...
3 minute read