The Two Best Sources of New Business for Accountants

Barbara Koenen is the author of the book Beyond Billable Hours and Global Head of Business Development and Marketing at Al Tamimi, the largest law firm in the Middle East. She is based in Dubai and has 10 years of business development and marketing experience in the professional services industry. She writes regular blog posts and is very passionate about helping fee earners in professional services firms to thrive as she knows how hard it is to focus on things beyond billable hours. Shownotes: Why it's hard for professionals like accountants and lawyers struggle with doing business development The importance of winning business for career progression in commercial firms, and good news - it can be taught The danger of copying what other people are doing to win business in your professional firm Whether winning business is a team sport or more of an individual responsibility in accountancy firms Where to focus first if you want to bring in new business for your accounting firm The importance of networking to win business but only if you do it the right way (and the one networking thing accountants should not do) How trust and relationship strength are critical factors for accountants if they want to give and receive more referrals How very few partners in professional firms know exactly how many and what kind of services they provide for their clients Why culture and leadership are key drivers to ensure professionals in a firm open up their clients to cross-sell and upsell services across functions and locations The different ways you can identify which are your best clients to focus on and it's not just about revenue they bring to your accounting firm The similarities accountants share with their clients, and how finding common ground builds more trust in a relationship Questions accountants can ask of their clients to uncover cross-selling opportunities Barbara is a mother of 2 year old Olivier, born on Christmas Day, and she is expecting another boy Christmas 2020. She is a keen golfer, sailor and skier and she loves to cook and bake. Contact her here: http://www.beyondbillablehours.com (Website and blog) https://www.linkedin.com/in/barbara-koenen-geerdink-231a4613 (LinkedIn)