Editor's Forward
When I hear the words Reflection and Rejuvenation it takes me back to Ethel and Norman Thayer, and what was likely their last summer spent 'On Golden Pond'1 as portrayed in the 1981 movie with Katharine Hepburn and Henry Fonda. The film showed us reflections of the couple's long life together, yet depicted their rejuvenation through the reuniting with their estranged daughter, portrayed by Jane Fonda.
Liz on the other hand chose to use reflection and rejuvenation as her two favorite words from QuickBooks Connect, it's definitely a perspective of age, I suspect. That's why I'm just like Norman Thayer, "an old poop", as Ethel always called him.
It's been said that "repetition creates retention" which certainly applied to me during this year's QuickBooks Connect conference. Listening to similar messages allowed my stubborn skull to absorb, adopt and grow in some of my favorite topics.
The areas I focused on during were value pricing, firm financial goals, technology development and marketing. I think I chose topics wisely because all of the presentations were 'Fantastic'!
My mind was blown away as these 4 topics were explored in classroom presentations and round table discussions.
Value pricing continues to be at the front of my interests and conversations about how to incorporate and implement the method fascinate me.
Value Price Chalkboard
Sitting at a round table with Joe Woodard as our thought and conversation leader he made my brain churn with the idea of every year evaluating value pricing needs to monitor both sides. The intention is ensuring all parties are getting value.
If a client has turned stagnant and is no longer being compliant with the outlined engagement they should be let go since they no longer are a good fit or model for your firm's focus. There are several ways a client could be non-compliant including:
- inability to provide timely bank statements or setup online banking,
- continuously missing appointments, or
- non-adoption of needed training.
These are all good reasons to let a client go and replace them with someone who is part of your vision of the firm you want.
The flip side is that your firm should also evaluate its role over the course of the year to decide if you did in fact add value to the client. There are several reasons the answer could be no. These include:
- lack of training and therefore under-performance, or
- the client is outside of firm's specialty.
Evaluating annually if value was added uncovers underlying issues which often, in my case, mean undercharged clients leading to overworked, spread too thin staff and insufficient resources to devote to a particular client.
This is unfortunate for all involved because it leads to neither party being completely satisfied.
Stay the course
Firm financial goals was another class I attended and was a great reminder to first map out the income you desire and then create a path to achieving it by determining your target client and price.
The key point was simple but poignant, the best of plans can go astray if no one is monitoring daily, weekly, monthly and annual progress. Continued evaluation keeps you on course to achieve the goals.
Technology was a huge WOW at QuickBooks Connect! Artificial Intelligence and and Machine Learning have lifted-off like a rocket ship. I'm talking going to moon type changes in the way we think.
No longer is our industry constricted to the four walls of an office and the clients who walk in them. Now that accounting technology is in the cloud it can THINK and TALK! I'm blown away by how fast technology is change, just in our own little industry.
Both internally at Intuit, and externally by an App developer, the same concept as Alexa is being applied to QuickBooks. With it comes verbal communication of the status and events associated with financial can be queried using simple everyday speech patterns, and then verbally shared by the bot using both spoken words and visual references.
Marketing. This is a big one for me personally and professionally. As someone who was born an introvert I neglect how important it was to be open about who I am and our firm's vision.
Remembering people want to connect with people and simply telling them that you are “a great bookkeeper or accountant” isn't enough. You have to clearly define the who and what you are and how you are different in a way that's easy for everyone to understand.
Clearly communicating your personal and professional 'why' helps others understand you and makes it easy for them to determine if you can help and connect with them in order to build their goals and dreams together.
There are several ways to accomplish sharing your why:
- a short story or clearly stated mission statement can express who and what you are.
- Even photography can bare the soul.
Currently, we are working on our firm's website. I am now imagining the inclusion of a short video to relay our purpose. But no matter how you share your 'why', it's important that you do so.
Connect
So, will I go to another QuickBooks Connect? Defiantly! I truly felt connected! I felt connected to the people, to the vision and to the purpose!
Being rejuvenated leads to excitement and excitement leads to productivity. That's a snowball I want to be a part of!
But I have to say that the people are by far my favorite part of going to a conference. As an industry we really do share our experiences, which leads to both self development and industry growth.
I loved seeing my friends from past conferences and making a lot of new ones...and that's the biggest part of the 'connect' in QuickBooks Connect.
Footnotes and Disclosures:
1 - On Golden Pond is a 1981 American drama film directed by Mark Rydell. The screenplay by Ernest Thompson was adapted from his 1979 play of the same name about an aging couple, Ethel and Norman Thayer (portrayed by Katharine Hepburn and Henry Fonda), continuing their long tradition of spending summer at their cottage on a lake in the far reaches of northern New England. The movie portrays their likely last summer on Golden Pond as not only a reflection upon their lives together, but also a time of rejuvenation as the couple earnestly reunites with their estranged daughter Chelsea (portrayed by Henry Fonda’s own daughter, Jane Fonda).