New podcast out February 1. Building a second brain.
New podcast out February 1. Building a second brain.
Here are just some of the things we hear from coaches, consultants and advisors in accounting firms who’re looking to successfully grow a business advisory service line:
‘I want to scale from 250k to 450k in revenue’
‘How can we shift from 80% client project work to 80% client retainers?’
‘We want a consistent, firm-wide approach to business advisory delivery’
‘How do we systemise our advisory service delivery for greater leverage?’
‘We don’t want to re-invent the wheel, how can we offer pre-packaged service lines?’
‘I want to win larger, 100k plus client engagements’
‘We want to commercialise our client problem-solving meetings’
Many try a raft of support services, technology, coaching programs and other tactics to achieve success as quickly as possible, but often fail due to one key factor: A lack of relevant advisory capability.
If you want to work with quality clients, no amount of marketing hype, technology or cookie cutter solutions will overcome the strengths an advisor with high facilitation, delivery, strategy, implementation and other niche skill-sets can bring to the table.
Just building ad hoc capabilities without a plan often leads to advisors trying to be ‘all things to all people’, so a clear strategy is essential for lasting success.
So where should an advisor (whether a coach, consultant or in an accounting firm) start when building and implementing a successful business advisory strategy?
Six Steps to Accelerate your Business Advisory Strategy
1. Develop a Broad ‘Now & ‘Where’ for Your Advisory Business
Start by assessing where your advisory business stands today (‘Now’) and defining where you want to be (‘Where’) at a time in the future. Consider revenue goals, client needs, services, capability development, industries and more.
2. Identify Capability Gaps to Address
Evaluate existing skill sets and identify areas for improvement. Where are your capability gaps? What resources do you need? What courses do you need to do? What technology should you be leveraging? How do you compare to top practitioners in your field?
3. Map or Refine Service Lines & Pricing
Define clear advisory service lines and pricing models. Complete an Income Matrix listing products, services, annual price points and target customer segments. How much of each product or service will you need to sell to each target segment to achieve your revenue goal? Where are your gaps?
4. Review Best Marketing Strategies to Achieve Goals
Examine the most effective marketing strategies for your advisory business, whether through referrals, networking, partnerships, or content-driven approaches. Identify key channels that will help you attract ideal, target clients and communicate the value of your advisory services effectively.
Referrals will be your number one strategy to double down on. The key question to ask yourself is ‘are you referrable?’. Many are not due to a lack of model clarity, poor go-to market strategy, no demonstration of capability or inadequate capacity. All leading toa limited track record and wary customers.
5. Practice, Practice, Practice
Confidence and capability comes only through a lot of practice. Practice leveraging your new services and approaches internally, with friendly clients and by saying ‘yes’ to new opportunities. Doing a specific type of work once or twice a year will not boost your capability levels. Delivery needs to be practised weekly, or at least monthly in alignment with your available capacity and desired revenue.
Overtime, through practice and self-reflection, you will find your preparation time reducing, a streamlining of processes and confidence in pricing. The more confident you are the more likely you are to say ‘yes’ to the right opportunities.
6. Build Accountability Loops Internally & With Your Business Advisory Coach
Regularly assess what’s working and what’s not. Establish accountability loops within your advisory business if you have a team, and/or seek support from a business advisory support coach (as Mindshop advisors do). Ongoing evaluation of your performance and refinement will ensure long-term success and continuous improvement.
To accelerate your business advisory success, take one of our two Mindshop business advisory performance diagnostics, designed to reveal your performance strengths and capability gaps.
Completing the advisory diagnostic will generate a tailored Business Advisory Roadmap & One Page Plan for success, delivered straight to your inbox. Click a link below:
Reach out to Mindshop for a walk through of our complete business advisory support ecosystem to discover its potential to support your success. Contact a Mindshop Regional Director here.
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Everything you need to confidently deliver a better business advisory experience.
