Excelling at Personal Business Development May 2015

1. Excelling at Personal Business Development May 2015 Leading Edge Alliance Presented by Art Kuesel

2. Art Kuesel, President • EXPERIENCE • Sales Executive • 3 years inside $60M CPA firm • 5 years inside $25M CPA firm • 6 years at PDI/Koltin Consulting • 2 years at Kuesel Consulting • EXPERTISE • Sales Coaching • Sales/Marketing Training • EXPERTISE (Cont.) • Keynotes, Presentations, Workshops on Growth • Growth Plan Development/Implementation • Managing Partner Coaching • Sales & Marketing Recruiting • STREET CRED • Top 100 Most Influential Person in Public Accounting: 2014 • In-house and external experience • Clients include scores of T250 Firms including a third of the T100 • Frequent writer and blogger for Accounting Today • Accomplished speaker and presenter on growth trends

4. Workshop Agenda • Accelerating your career path • The four quadrants of personal business development • Top strategies and tactics for success in each quadrant • Next steps 3

5. Accelerating your Career Path

6. Since the Great Recession Technical Specialty Client Development PLUS Staff Development New Business Development Career Accelerants in Public Accounting Throughout History • Before the Great Recession • Technical Knowledge • Client Service

7. Since the Great Recession Technical Specialty Client Development PLUS Staff Development New Business Development Career Accelerants in Public Accounting Throughout History • Before the Great Recession • Technical Knowledge • Client Service

8. Four Quadrants of Personal Business Development

9. Four Quadrants of BD Success

10. Polling Question #1 • What isn’t one of the four quadrants of personal business development success? • Referral development • Prospect development • Client development • Advertising 3

11. Top Strategies for Success

12. Q1: Client Development • Relationship Depth • Relationship Breadth • Cross-Selling

13. Q1: Client Development • 1. Relationship Depth

14. CPA Firm Client Generation 1 Owner CFO Generation 2 Owner Office Manager Q1: Client Development/Relationship Breadth • Partner • Manager • IT Consultant • Accounting Services

15. CPA Firm Client Generation 1 Owner CFO Generation 2 Owner Office Manager Q1: Client Development/Relationship Breadth • Partner • Manager • IT Consultant • Accounting Services

16. Q1: Client Development • 3. Cross-Selling

17. Q2: Referral Development • 1. Access your client’s COI

18. Q2: Referral Development • 2. Aim for 10 “A’s” and think broadly • An “A” RS sends you one good client/year • Most accountants only have 2-3 “A’s” • Think beyond bankers and attorneys… • You will need to meet 25-50 people (or more) before you find ONE “A”

19. Q2: Referral Development • 2. Aim for 10 “A’s” and think broadly • An “A” RS sends you one good client/year • Most accountants only have 2-3 “A’s” • Think beyond bankers and attorneys… • You will need to meet 25-50 people (or more) before you find ONE “A”

20. Q2: Referral Development • 3. Touch your “A’s” quarterly! • A good referral source for you is a good referral source for your competitor • “last touch” does influence referrals • Lunch, coffee, cocktail, thought leadership, event invitation, etc. • Plan and execute effectively

21. Polling Question #2 • How often should you touch your “A” referral sources? • Only when they call me • 4x year • 12x year • 24x year 3

22. Q3: Personal/Professional Development • Find a few trade/civic/business groups to join • Find a niche and specialize (personal brand) • Find a sponsor within your firm

23. Q3: Personal/Professional Development • Find a few trade/civic/business groups to join • High quality target audience • Frequent meetings (8-12x/yr) • Vendor member friendly • Low competition • Opportunities to get involved, promote, share thought leadership

24. Q3: Personal/Professional Development • 2. Find a niche and specialize (personal brand) • Specialization is the future • Niche expertise • influences decisions • Specialists deliver • greater value • …Charge more • …Earn more

25. Q3: Personal/Professional Development • 3. Find a personal sponsor within your firm • Who’s looking out for you? • Who has your back when you’re not in the room? • Who can advocate for you? • Who can coach and support your career development? • Meet with your coach quarterly!

26. Q4: Prospect Development • Define your target market • Touch these targets frequently • Succeed at the sales process

27. Q4: Prospect Development • Define your target market • Size • Industry • Geography • # Employees • Now, identify your “top 25”

28. Q4: Prospect Development • 2. Touch these targets frequently • Research connections on LinkedIN • Circulate your list to your partners, referral sources, clients, etc. • Make value added touches • based upon your research • Be persistent and patient!

29. Q4: Prospect Development • 3. Succeed at the sales process • Facilitate an effective discovery meeting • Create compelling value propositions by asking great questions during the discovery meeting! • Skip the old quality, service, and relationships pitch and create unique value propositions that prove you’ve been listening

30. Q4: Prospect Development • 3. Succeed at the sales process • ASK: • What do you expect from your CPA/advisor? • What do you like/dislike about your current firm? • What’s missing from your current relationship? • What’s the biggest change on the horizon? • What are you most concerned about? • How will we be evaluated/What do we need to do to earn your business?

31. Polling Question #3 • From the prospect perspective, what differentiates your firm from others in your marketplace: • Service • Relationships • Quality • None of the Above 3

32. What’s Next?

33. What’s Next • Find a BD buddy • Commit to increasing your personal BD activities • Staff/Senior Supervisor • 2-4x Month • Manager • 2-3x Week • Director/Senior Manager/Partner • 1x Day • Ask to be more involved! • Resources @ www.kueselconsulting.com/LEA

34. What’s Next

35. Thank you! Resources for you at www.kueselconsulting.com/LEA Art Kuesel art@kueselconsulting.com 312.208.8774 www.kueselconsulting.com