Growth and Success Strategies for Hungry Accounting Firms - Accounting Influencers

Episode 4

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Published on:

13th May 2018

Growth and Success Strategies for Hungry Accounting Firms

Trent McLaren

Trent Mclaren is Australia’s thought leader of the year in the Accounting Industry. He is the head of accounting and strategic partnerships at Practice Ignition. His role see’s him partnering with accounting professionals all over the world as he strives to drive innovation and disruption with his partners. Igniting a culture to challenge the status quo and create true customer centricity. Trent comes with years of experience working with disruptive accountants in his former role at Intuit Australia, as senior business development manager.

He has completed his MBA with an elected focus on strategic marketing and has a diverse background in online payments and eCommerce. He was also recently named Thought Leader of the Year at the Australian Accounting Awards. His combined experience between accounting, payments and online ecommerce puts Trent right at the centre of small business disruption that we are witnessing all over the world. Listen to this brilliant interview for these great quotes and takeaways:

  • Why NOT being an accountant brings valuable perspective to the accounting profession
  • How accounting firms are changing from ‘compliance tax shops’ to advisory, wealth and even mortgage broking
  • The importance for accountants to contribute to your business community if you want to develop business
  • The number one factor that has had the biggest impact on the accounting profession in the last 10 years
  • How technology is transforming the way accountants interact with clients
  • Two great outcomes of technology for accountants – the speed at which you can get the work done and the quality of the data you produce for clients
  • Key definitions of business development, marketing and sales for accountants
  • If you’re not confident your accounting firm can deliver on the work, it will restrict your business development efforts
  • The pie is not necessarily getting bigger – most accounting firms only win clients from other accountants
  • The two best ways for accounting firms to set growth targets
  • How a lack of communication skills limits many accountants to more compliance than advisory work
  • The key attributes that make a good work winner or business developer in accounting firms
  • If you take care of your accounting clients deliver beyond what they expect, there will always be a market for you
  • A good answer to the common BD objective “I’m too busy to go out there, network and win more business”
  • Problem on the horizon – a lot of accounting graduates coming out of university aren’t equipped to use all technology
  • Progressive accounting firms are now employing inhouse developers and technology experts
  • These days, we need technically good accountants that are also pretty good geeks!
  • How accounting firms can best encourage or incentivize their people to win business
  • Progressive accounting firms are using Slack, Skype, Zoom etc to engage with clients AND to improve the communications internally with their teams
  • The best piece of sales advice accounting influencer Trent McLaren has ever been given!

https://www.practiceignition.com  |  @trent_mclaren  |  www.linkedin.com/in/trentmclaren

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About the Podcast

Accounting Influencers
Insights, interviews and commentary for accounting, CPA, bookkeeping and finance professionals
ACCOUNTING INFLUENCERS is a weekly podcast for accountants, CPAs, bookkeeping and finance professionals, together with the networks, associations, fintech vendors and influencers who lead them, work in them and serve them.

The show is hosted by Rob Brown. co-founder of the Accounting Influencers Roundtable (AIR). The style of the show is not overly technical/technological/tax in nature but more on people, performance and success in the accounting world. Popular topics and themes covered include:

☑ leadership, executive presence, trust, integrity & reputation
☑ M&A, business models, future proofing, drivers of change & disruption
☑ performance, values, culture, vision & strategy
☑ employer brand, gen z/millennials & talent - succession, recruitment and retention
☑ industry trends, statistics and patterns
☑ growth, marketing, differentiation & positioning
☑ pricing & profitability
☑ digitisation, cloud, technology & automation
☑ advisory services, niches & emerging markets
☑ environmental & social governance ESG
☑ diversity, equity & inclusion DEI
☑ professionalism, career development & CPE/CPD
☑ business acumen & commercial awareness

Sources and guests come from:
★ EXPERTS - influencers, disrupters, consultants, gurus, podcasters and broadcasters in accounting and fintech
★ EVENTS - live coverage and interviews from exhibitions, conferences and a range of industry events
★ MEDIA - newspapers, online outlets, commentators, writers, bloggers and authors
★ VENDORS - suppliers and providers of accounting apps, platforms, fintech and software
★ REGULATORS - professional accounting bodies, institutes and associations
★ NETWORKS - alliances, associations, networks and communities of professional firms and accounting practices
★ SOCIAL MEDIA - opinion pieces, high engagement posts and controversial conversations

Rob Brown is a renowned presenter, facilitator and chair of high level conferences, panels and events globally for the accounting and fintech profession. He is retained by many professional networks, alliances, associations, practices and vendors to chair their events and provide high-level interview content for their communities.

He is a dynamic speaker and accomplished expert on trust, reputation, employer brand, talent, career development, succession, gen z/generations, executive presence, referrals, networking and winning new business. He is also the bestselling author of Build Your Reputation (Wiley) and his TEDx talk ‘The Personal Brand of You’ has been viewed 320K times on YouTube.
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About your hosts

Martin Bissett

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Martin Bissett is the founder of the Bissett Group of companies that provide practice and personal growth communities, content, and continuing education exclusively to the accounting and bookkeeping professions worldwide.

Previously he established a high six-figure consulting firm while serving as a keynote speaker with over 100 one-off and repeat engagements to his name, as well as becoming the most published author on his topics of specialism with 11 books including 1 bestseller.

Since 1998, he has played a major part in working with over 1800 accounting firms in over 40 countries. These projects have led to those firms acquiring over £500m of recurring fees before inflationary increases, referrals and upselling are factored in. He stopped keeping track of this number over 5 years ago. Martin now advises both accounting practitioners and FinTech companies alike, at board level.

Rob Brown

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Rob Brown is a renowned MC, facilitator and chair of virtual and in-person panels, conferences and events globally for the accounting and fintech profession.

Rob is co-founder of the Accounting Influencers Roundtable (AIR) mastermind group and co-hosts the world’s most popular accounting and fintech podcast: Accounting Influencers.

Throughout the pandemic, he chaired 24 virtual panels with leaders of global accounting networks and alliances to discuss the key issues and challenges. Rob is retained by several associations and vendors to chair their events and provide high-level interview content for their communities.

He is the bestselling author of Build Your Reputation (Wiley) and his TEDx talk ‘The Personal Brand of You’ has been viewed 300K times on YouTube.