128 Selling to Serve, with James Ashford of GoProposal

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Many accountants over-service and under charge their clients. This creates a lose-lose situation, where clients don't value what the accountant does, and the accountant doesn’t isn’t charging enough to be able to provide the level of service the client actually wants.

Not only does this undercharging result in the accountant leaving piles of cash on the table, but more importantly, the client is left wanting.

The thing is that it’s not a lack of expertise and information that is causing accountants to stay stuck on the hamster wheel - it’s something else.

Today’s guest is James Ashford.

Sales misconceptions

Many accountants carry misconceptions about sales. What are accountants missing out on when they hold false beliefs about selling, like it is and must be pushy?

Adopt a sales mindset

You need to be in a sales frame of mind - that you are always selling your ideas. It’s not simply limited to acquisition. You need to sell your clients on proper client behavior. You need to sell your staff on the direction of the company, and the culture. Sales is the most important skill, you’re selling all the time.

Be clear with your clients about expectations

Think about the skills required to get your clients to do the things you want them to do

You need to be kind to your clients by being clear about what is expected.

Kind and nice are not the same. By being clear about expectations, you are being kind to them because they understand what is expected of them. It’s not at all the same as being nice, which can be a falsely placed substitute for being liked.

How do you get your clients to shift from being passive to proactive?

You’re helping your client to get one step closer to their stated goals.

You’re helping them make the best decisions for themselves.

Avoid inadvertently giving away your control out of the gates that then leads to getting walked all over and needs to be corrected, for example:

Meetings to overrun
Discounted services
Threw in goodies for free
Allows the client to control the relationship

You need to set precedents at the outset to establish your role as expert and leader in the relationship.

Intimidating conversations

So often it’s the fear of rejection or disapproval that keeps accountants from moving forward. It’s not until the pain of staying still (not enough time with family, health effect, etc) exceeds the pain of the difficult conversation does the account move.

How can you make intimidating conversations come more easily, so that one does not need a health scare to discover previously unfound motivation?

When something is a “should” you won’t do it. When it becomes a must, you will do it.

What had been a should, became a must in these two stories.

“If you were to acquire your own business today, what decisions would you make today?”

You’re not getting out of here alive, and you only have so many laps around the sun.

Time to establish what you want in your business and in your life, and build it.

Connect with James:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesashford/

Website: https://goproposal.com/professional-proposals/

Book: Selling to Serve

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