So how do you feel about the brand new acronym that will forever remind us of 2020? Do you love it because it has driven new advisory opportunities for your firm? Or, are you just over it because of the significant increase in workload that came out of nowhere and stole your summer? Whatever emotion comes to mind when you hear reference to the ‘PPP,’ I’d like to offer a vision for how we can use a positive spin on this acronym to prioritize a game plan for 2021.

Before I explain further, the answer is yes. You do need a game plan for 2021. 

You cannot go to bed on 12/31, wake up on 1/1, and slide into the year with the mentality of just making it through another tax season. Believing that what you’ve done for the past 30 years still works in today’s environment will help your competition immensely- but it won’t help your firm. The business of accounting is shifting at a pace that was accelerated even further by the pandemic. My favorite analogy, when discussing the shift in firm business models from compliance work to advisory work, is the difference between Blockbuster and Netflix. The one that continued to iterate, re-imagined what their clients wanted, and enthusiastically embraced change is the one that is still in business today.  

PPP Perspective

In a recent conversation I had with the Founder and Managing Partner of Roberts Accounting CPAs, Pat Roberts enlightened me with his concept of ‘PPP’ as a model for firms to organize their priorities for 2021. People, Process, and Product are the three pillars of every firm. A solid strategy for growth in an increasingly competitive environment must support a balanced relationship between the three pillars. 

People

The most valuable asset in your firm is your people. Are you setting them up for success in their roles?

Vision

A natural and foundational starting point is your vision.  As a partner, or collectively as a management team, you need to cast your vision for the firm into the future. That vision must inspire every role in your business every day.

Leadership development

Leadership development is equally critical. To lead your most valuable asset (your people) towards your vision, you have to know how to do two things: inspire them and develop the next leaders in the firm. As Jeff Pawlow stated in a recent CPA Advisor article on the topic of leadership development, “leadership is the cornerstone of your firm’s future.” 

Talent

True of most firms I work with, finding talent tops the list of ongoing challenges. With fewer college graduates going into public accounting and nearly three quarters of AICPA members approaching retirement age by 2023, you must build a culture that appeals to the type of talent you want. Update your space. Make sure you have a professional presence on LinkedIn and a good website. Create a culture people want to be part of and where people feel that their work matters. All of this will help you stand out and attract the best people to perform for your business. Further, it will help you retain them. 

Finally, if you haven’t already adopted a remote or hybrid work model, you will find a bigger pool of talent if you do. Even before the pandemic, people wanted flexibility. Now that most firms have been forced to work remotely- even temporarily- having that option will be the new normal.

Process

To enable your people to perform, you need the right process.

I bet your brain jumped right to the ‘t’ word, right? Technology? Or maybe automation? Or, are you checking out about now because let me guess…you have great processes in place already. As a matter of fast, they’ve worked well for the past 40 years! 

Kidding aside, do you have the systems in place that drive a level of efficiency that gives you additional capacity (aka more time) in your day? What are you writing down? Emailing internally? Tracking in Excel? Manually reviewing? Touching more than once? 

In short, how is capacity being created at the partner level to focus on leadership and business development? What could be streamlined for time savings with the right mix of technology and process re-alignment? 

Focus on efficiency first. And then, seek the automation to address it. This quote I saw recently sums it up perfectly:

“The first rule of any technology used in a business is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency. The second is that automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency.” ~ Bill Gates

Product

With inspired People working through an efficient Process, you can deliver valuable Products. Compliance services aren’t going away anytime soon, but as they commoditize, a variety of very profitable advisory services are needed by today’s small businesses. Further, there are opportunities to bundle advisory services with compliance work for stickier clients.

Your Niche

Define the niche for your firm. You may not think you have one, but you do. Every firm has a service they sell “more” of or a set of clients in a specific industry. If you’ve never considered what your niche is, it’s an important exercise to differentiate your firm in today’s extremely competitive market. Is it a specific service? A client base in a certain industry? Where does your firm have traction that could be magnified?

Once you identify your niche, build a message or “package” around it for your website. More on the importance of updating your marketing message and how to do it in an upcoming post. For now, you need to be able to help your prospective clients understand exactly what value you offer and why you are the right guide for their journey. Every prospect and client you have is on a journey to solve a problem or achieve success (whatever this may look like).

Delivering your product

And last but not least, how are you delivering your Product in this digital world? Can you believe I had a firm as recently as last year tell me they deliver some returns electronically, only to find out they thought that delivering returns on CDs was ‘electronic’? True story. 

Are you using a portal for efficient delivery and reduced contact? Do you use video to meet and save time (and contact) to review projections or conduct other advisory meetings? Remember, there is tremendous value in being easy and efficient to do business with. 

In order for firms to remain relevant and compete in today’s environment, you need a game plan for change. You must seek ways to develop your People, through an overall efficient firm Process, to deliver a high value Product to your clients. 

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