Fast track your practice in 2014 - technology tips from Bob Torella MBA

The end of another year is approaching rapidly and tax season is in the near horizon.  Here is my short list of technology resources you should consider to get 2014 off to a great start. Reading the list does little good - please find an item or two and move forward.

1. Update your website. Prospects, clients, and search engines like fresh content. Your website has 3 main purposes: 1) brand your firm, 2) attract new clients, and 3) service your existing clients better.  If your website is not working for you - take action. You can get a great new website online before tax season. Call me for a special offer.
2. Use Google Analytics to track who is visiting your website and how they found you. And Use Google Alerts to track what others are saying about you and your firm on the net. Two free must use tools.
3. Enhance your brand on the net.  Visit my website for a free web business listing scan. Caution - you may not like the results!
4. Claim your business listings on Google+ and post updates regularly to keep it active. You may not care - but Google does!
5. Take a step toward the cloud. Host your QuickBooks Desktop clients in the cloud. That means you and your clients will continue to use the full featured QB Desktop application while getting the benefits of the cloud: real-time collaboration, no file transfers, no versions or updates to manage. Easy conversion.
6. Activate a client portal. Can we please make this the year you share documents with your clients online 24*7, just like every financial institution out there! I call it Documents Ondemand.
7. Get more engaged with social media. The big 3, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook are all now public companies with huge business valuations. Their capabilities are only getting started. You have to be where your clients are to win.
8. Blog. This allows you to share your expertise with prospects and clients.  Social sharing is big.  Blogs are ranked high in search engines. Keep your clients educated about events that can affect their personal lives or business.
9. Move toward business advisory services.  Compliance services are a commodity and will become less profitable. Business advisory services are highly needed to help small business grow, desired by small business owners, high revenue engagements and highly profitable. Plus it is more aligned with the reason you became an accountant in the first place. You will need to be cloud and social media friendly to provide real time advisory services - read the first 10 items again!
10. Automate your AR and AP processes to slash your time processing payables and get paid faster. Take a look at www.Bill.com. Good for you and great for your clients too.

Keep this list handy, add it to your calendar, move as fast as you can or pick one item a month. If you are not moving forward you are losing ground. Of course, if you need help in any of these areas I am here to fast track you forward.

Best wishes for your greatest year ever.

Bob Torella MBA

BAT Consulting Group Inc.
If you haven’t done so already, connect with me on LinkedIn or Twitter to stay on top of emerging technologies that can advance your practice.

A great solution to easily transition your accounting engagements to the cloud.

I have been touting the benefits of the cloud many times over. Briefly, the cloud delivers:

• Access the applications anytime anywhere for real time collaboration,
• Eliminates dealing with multiple versions of the software,
• Eliminates transmitting those large pesky QB files,
• Minimizes most of the travel to the customer site improving productivity,
• Allows you to expand your services without worrying about internal infrastructure,
• You can keep better tabs on your client.
• Plus you are keeping your practice current and building your practice valuation.

All of the aforementioned benefits allow you to provide more efficient and more profitable services to your client. Feel free to visit my website for more information on the benefits of the cloud.

You may be asking, “But Bob, I have tried QB Online (QBO) and it doesn’t have the same feature set of QB Desktop (QBD). And Bob, I do not want to learn a whole other application, nor does my staff or my clients!”  Well, what if I can deliver ALL the benefits of QB Desktop AND the ALL the benefits of cloud solutions with no learning curve?  Have I piqued your interest? I hope YES! It is termed hosted cloud solutions.

The way to accomplish this is to host the QB Desktop solution, the same application you love, in the cloud! That means QBD is installed on a server in the cloud and not on your local machine (nor your client’s PC). Now you, your staff, and your client access the application from a common portal via the internet. All data updates are real time. You use the same QBD application that you know very well and you eliminate the core hassles of desktop solutions while getting all the other benefits of cloud services I mentioned previously.

This transition will also help softly step your practice into cloud services while building your practice valuation. With that said, keep in mind the QB Desktop application will not be available forever, but you can buy a few years staying in your comfort zone while easing into the cloud.  Hopefully in a few years, the QBO solution (or other cloud-based accounting applications) will have a richer feature set - and then moving to a pure cloud solution will make more sense.

How do you get started? Contact BAT Consulting and we’ll help set you up with a service that hosts QB 2013 (free upgrade) in a secure server right here in Long Island. The service also includes Microsoft Office 365 so you get Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Publisher, and Lync (a Skype-esque conferencing tool) for you to access anywhere. You get both core products you love for just $99/month per client (no additional staff fees). Considering that you are eliminating travel, eliminating file transfers, eliminating worries about back ups, and working real time with your client from anywhere AND you do NOT have to spend any time learning a new program that doesn’t even have all the features you want - it makes great sense.  Plus your practice is uplifting their technology capabilities which is great for your business valuation and staff moral. It is the classic win-win situation.

The transition and implementation is easy and painless. Simply give me a call and we can take your practice to the next level. I am confident that you, your staff, and your clients, will appreciate this enriched service. We can get you started before tax season.

For further reading and insights, I recommend an article from CPA Practice Advisor titled, “How Cloud Services Can Differentiate Your Firm”.

Best wishes for your greatest year ever.

Bob Torella MBA

Happy Thanksgiving from BAT Consulting Group

I am personally thankful for many reasons this holiday season, but this blog article is not about me per se. With that said, I will add that I am thankful that you continue to subscribe to my blog and I hope it will help drive you and your practice to a more rewarding place.

I came across an recent article from a colleague of mine, Darren Root of CPA Practice Advisor titled "Is Your Firm Plugging In, Or Pulling Out?" - a must read if you plan on being in practice for a few more years. I am sure he will be thankful that I am driving more visitors to his website. I recommend that you read the article in full, but here is a key excerpt:

“I have written and spoken many times about the importance of firms having a strong web presence, a cohesive brand, and online access for their clients, but it bears repeating: the quality and functionality of your website and the degree to which your firm employs technology is fast becoming a critical part of a firm’s brand—it’s one of those intangibles that clients are coming to expect as a standard option when they shop for accounting services.”

It seems that great minds think alike since I am betting my consulting practice on that same premise!

I have many other resources on my website to give you further details, but in a nutshell here are some Thanksgiving nuggets to ponder to solidify and protect your brand:

• Put a power statement on your website homepage speaking directly to the clients are you trying to attract. Better yet, make it a video statement. Don't have a website - you are off the grid!
• Update your web site and web presence regularly. No one, including search engines, likes stale content.
• Use Google Analytics to track where your website traffic is coming from - it's free.
• Use a local listing service to build a consistent brand image across the net. Get a free scan at my website here. Spoiler alert - you will not like the results.
• Get engaged with multiple social media tools and link them you your website. It's professionally rewarding and easier than you think. Plus follow me on Twitter and LinkedIn.
• Monitor your firm name and your name using Google Alerts. You must know who is saying what about your brand on the internet.
• Add a client portal to share and archive documents 24*7 with your clients just like EVERY financial institution out there. Your client uses online banking, he/she checks their credit card statements online and more. If you build it they will come, else I say - get new clients!

Imagine you are on a (post-Thanksgiving) diet. Wouldn't having a personal coach/trainer to help keep you focused and push you forward help you be more successful faster? Obviously, yes. If you need help in any of the aforementioned areas, I can be your personal coach and I am more than willing to push, pull, kick, or do whatever it takes to get you more connected. And best of all you will like where you end up, the biggest winner!

It's 4:11 in the morning and I am glad I finished this blog before the holiday. Back to bed! Busy days ahead. Go turkey!

All the best this holiday season and best wishes for your greatest year ever.

Bob Torella MBA

BAT Consulting Group, Inc.

Closing Credits: Darren Root is founder and president of RootWorks. He is the executive editor of CPA Practice Advisor, voted a Top 25 thought leader in the accounting industry, and Top 100 list of most influential people in the accounting industry. Do as I do, follow Darren Root and CPA Practice Advisor and on Twitter.

New clients are looking for your firm on the net - will you be found?

The first step is to set a baseline. Find out where your firm is listed on the net (and not listed) at www.GetListed.org. It's a free service that scans the internet directories for your business/practice. Then you will have the opportunity to Claim your business listings if they exist or you can add a new one. Claiming your business listing at various search engines allows you to add additional details about your business. Ads that are more complete stand out and drive more traffic.

Sounds easy? It is not. Each business listing requires a verification process whereby they may call or text your business phone (and this option doesn't work if you have an automated attendant answering your phone - aka, press 1 for ...). Some listings will send an email verification and some will send a postcard. Until you are verified as the owner, your listing will not activate. Once verified you can continue to update the listing. Most people fail right at this point.

The issue gets more convoluted. If you do NOT update your business listings regularly (logging into each individual search website and making a change to the listing), you will eventually lose visibility in the search engines due to other (new) ads being more current. The time it takes to manually update all of your listing, even in just the big 3 (Google, Yahoo!, Bing) and some other notables (Yelp, Manta, Superpages, Yellow Pages) is just too time consuming and you will most likely not continue. Even for me, a webmaster, I find it almost impossible to keep the content fresh with this method. I gave up!

The answer is to consider a Local Search Business Listing service. This service will allow you to build ONE profile and push the profile to 50 to 150 search engines.  This provides consistent data about your business across the net, provides valuable back links for SEO, and since you can easily update the service - your info can be freshened up quickly (seconds versus hours!). Plus, these services have built in features not even available in the search engine listing including a Featured Ad (small text action item added to the listing).

Bottom line: Clients ARE looking for your firm on the net. Will your business be found? Give your business a fighters chance.  Click here to get a free report from my website about your listings. Spoiler alert - you will probably not like the results. Then contact me for a free consultation to talk about a subscription plan that can move your firm from the search engine basement (with many other businesses) to the penthouse (with very few competitors). I would also like to add that if you will not give your web listings the attention they deserve, use a consultant to ensure that you are getting the most form this listing service.  You need to be all in - or go all out (and leave the web traffic to your competition.

Best wishes for your greatest year ever.
Bob Torella MBA
www.batcgi.com

Twitter valued at $30 billion+, still think you should be on the sidelines?

If you are already using Twitter (for personal or business), congratulations on getting engaged with this hot social media technology.

Unfortunately, most accounting and tax firms have NOT adopted social media as part of their marketing and practice development strategy. Now that Twitter went public and it’s valued at over 30 billion dollars, I truly hope this is a wake up call to many firms. You shouldn't sit on the sidelines any longer (unless you are winding your practice down).

Part of effective marketing means that you need to be where your clients are. Millions of potential cloud-friendly prospects are using Twitter everyday. These Twitter users need tax services and accounting services for their businesses. How can you ignore this gi-normous potential.

Twitter is a tool for you to share your expertise and build local relationships. You can also use it to stay on top of key events and issues by using hashtags and by following industry thought leaders. You can build your reputation as an industry expert. And it is free.

Twitter will require a few minutes everyday to send a tweet or review tweets from users you follow. Share advice to millions real-time.

When you do get engaged with Twitter, you will probably want a personal Twitter account to follow things you like to do, plus a business Twitter account to tout your expertise and brand, and yet another Twitter account dedicated to your clients to keep them on top of happenings in your office.  There are great tools to help you easily manage multiple accounts.  I like HootSuite, it is free for up to 5 social media accounts including LinkedIn.

Take a moment to review my previous blog article on the benefits of social media for your practice. Getting on board now can move you from nowhere to the top 5% of firms using Twitter.

WHY SOCIAL MEDIA - WHY NOW? IT'S NOT A FAD - IT'S JUST THE BIGGEST OPPORTUNITY THE BUSINESS WORLD HAS EVER SEEN!

I hope to see you on Twitter real soon. If you are there already you can follow me @BAT_Consulting. Time for me to stop blogging and get back to Twitter.  

I will discuss LinkedIn in a followup blog.

Best wishes for your greatest year ever.

Bob Torella MBA

BAT Consulting Group

www.batcgi.com

10 Questions to Help Build a Better Practice

Now is the time to spend some quality time working ON your  practice. Start today and take a few minutes to set some goals for the upcoming year (and think big). Then write your goals down (paper or electronic media) - they are more likely to be implemented.

Start with the end result in mind and ask yourself:  What do you want your practice to look like a year from now?

Here are some questions to help get your juices flowing:

1. Do you want more clients or more lucrative clients (clients that pay what you deserve and/or clients that you enjoy working with)?
2. Do you want a better bottom line while working less?
3. Do you want to be more technology friendly? mobile-friendly? more social media friendly?
4. Do you want stronger client relationships?
5. Do you want to make a difference in your clients businesses/lives?
6. Do you want more time away from the office to do the things you enjoy?
7. Are you happy with the practice that evolved or are there other (higher revenue) engagements that might be more attractive?
8. Do you want to build your brand? Don't underestimate the power of your web image!
9. Do you want to sell/buy/merge your practice? (Or raise your practice's value)
10. Or do you have other visions of your practice in the future? Great!

Setting goals is a great start to drive your practice growth and this will help create a clearer vision of where you want to go.

Next you will want to prioritize your goals and then begin planning actions to support your goals. What obstacles are in the way? Staff? Technology? Money? Other?? And how can you minimize or eliminate obstacles to get to the practice you deserve. As a cloud evangelist, I can confidently say that there are technology solutions that can help you achieve your goals in virtually all the aforementioned areas.

BAT Consulting Group is vendor neutral. In many cases, you may even have the right technology tools in place - but you are just not using them to realize their greatest benefits. We can help! Start with a free consultation to review your practice today to identify areas for workflow improvement or service delivery enhancements,  and finally we can determine what new solutions can help you achieve your goals.

Don’t put off moving your practice forward. Contact us today to set up a totally FREE initial consultation.

Let's make 2014 your greatest year ever! Visit our website for more ideas to get the most out of your practice!!

Bob Torella MBA
President, BAT Consulting Group Inc.
www.batcgi.com
Let's connect on LinkedIn
Follow me on Twitter @BAT_Consulting (cloud computing and tips to advance your practice)

Another great reference I found from CPA Practice Advisor: Hey CPAs: Don't Be Just Your Clients' "Tax Guy/Gal”.