In the several decades since the U.S. Supreme Court legitimitized marketing for professional firms including CPA, Law, Architectural, and Engineering firms, they have groped with basic mechanics of marketing. Now, over 15 years later, most firms and their marketers are mired in these mechanics, even as a growing sophistication indicates a need for new strategies, new concepts, new behavior patterns, and marketing perspectives. The purpose of this book is to show professional services firms to not only see themselves in the perspective of the past and present, but to provide them with a blueprint on how to create a marketing structure, process and culture for the future.
Book Details:
- Author: August J. Aquila
- ISBN: 9780471453130
- Year Published: 2004
- Pages: 277
- BISAC: BUS001000, BUSINESS & ECONOMICS/Accounting / General
About the Book and Topic:
In the several decades since the U.S. Supreme Court legitimitized marketing for professional firms including CPA, Law, Architectural, and Engineering firms, they have groped with basic mechanics of marketing. Now, over 15 years later, most firms and their marketers are mired in these mechanics, even as a growing sophistication indicates a need for new strategies, new concepts, new behavior patterns, and marketing perspectives. The purpose of this book is to show professional services firms to not only see themselves in the perspective of the past and present, but to provide them with a blueprint on how to create a marketing structure, process and culture for the future.
The growth and increasing competition in the accounting and legal profession, added to the profound effects of the corporate and public accounting scandals, has placed demands on professional firms of all sizes for new and better ways to compete. This book modifies the balanced scorecard approach and applies it to professional firms. It looks at the firm from a client, shareholder, process and learning perspective and shows how each area creates or destroys clients. It provides the blueprint on how to create a marketing structure, process and culture needed to become creators and retainers of new clients.
Client at the Core: Marketing and Managing Today’s Professional Services Firm modifies the balanced scorecard approach and applies it to professional firms, while looking at the firm from a client, shareholder, process, and learning perspective. * Discusses the four primary forces in any professional services firm that builds or destroys clients. * Shows how to build a firm culture and measurement system that creates accountability and success. * Offers techniques that reflect the new realities of competing for clients, and includes examples of proven practices. * Provides guidance on how to restructure the firm to achieve its marketing goals and expand its practices.
About the Author
August J. Aquila (Minnetonka, MN), Vice President-Mergers Acquisitions, American Express Tax and Business Services. He is one of the country’s leading consultants and authorities in the areas of profit improvement, new business development, strategic marketing planning, and management issues for professional firms. He has been a leading force in the industry’s consolidation movement and has written numerous articles including, “How to Lose Clients Without Really Trying,” receiving the Journal of Accountancy’s best article of the year award. His articles have also appeared in The Practicing CPA, Accounting Today, CPA Software News, Professional Marketing (UK), Certified General Accountants Magazine (Canada) and on various accounting Web portals. He is the editor of Aspen’s Partner-to-Partner monthly newsletter, and the books, Breaking the Paradigm: New Approaches to Pricing Accounting Services, and CPA Merger Strategies That Work, 1994, McGraw-Hill. Bruce W. Marcus (Easton, CT) is a widely published author and consultant to some of the nation’s largest corporations and to many professional service firms, including accounting, law, and consulting. He is the editor of The Marcus Letter on Professional Services Marketing (circulation 22,000) and the author of New Dimensions in Investor Relations – Competing for Capital in the 21st Century, as well as numerous articles, studies, and position papers on business, finance and marketing. He is a contributing editor and a member of the advisory boards of many publications, including Accounting Today, Partner-to-Partner, and Practice Development for Solos and Small Practitioners. He writes regularly on marketing and other subjects for the Microsoft Network and American Bar Association publications.