Research Center >> October 2009

What Accountants Know: It’s a People Business
The best CPA channel marketers know it, too
by Rick Telberg/For the CPA Channel Marketer
AICPA Custom Media Solutions

With busy season approaching, accountants and accounting firms are naturally looking closely at how best to manage their most important asset — their people.

CPA channel marketers don’t need to look far to get some insight on the profession’s seriousness in the matter of human resources. The AICPA, for instance, dedicates an entire section of its Web site to Career Development and Workplace Issues and the Institute’s marketing and distribution subsidiary, CPA2Biz Inc., features a high traffic Career Center. The AICPA Journal of Accountancy is planning a Special Focus Report for the December issue on “CPA Career Trends.”

Click here if you’d like to learn more about the CPA Career Trends Special Focus Report.

People issues are always a central topic of conversation when accountants get together. I recently facilitated a meeting among partners of a major firm. Among the array of pressing issues they could have discussed — new business development, client retention, the economy or profitability, to name just a few — they spent the bulk of the time discussing partner-to-partner relationships. Many accountants have known their practice partners longer than their spouses and the issues can be just as complex and sensitive.

Some firms understand that their clients, too, are struggling with people issues. Regional firm Cherry Bekaert & Holland recently advised its small business clients that “keeping spirits high is increasingly more important, and the best way seems to be face-to-face.” CB&H recommended increasing morale “through a culture of appreciation.”

The CPA firm quoted from a report that showed managers may rank promotions and cash bonuses as the two most effective ways of recognizing employee accomplishments. But workers said they preferred an in-person thank-you or having a job well done reported to senior management. “In other words,” said the report, “employers often underestimate the degree to which workers value kind words delivered face to face.”

The lesson for CPA channel marketers is this: Take a moment to understand the people factor in the accounting profession and how to apply it to your sales strategy. Accountants believe firmly in integrity, objectivity and competence. And the products and services that help them to live out those character traits will appeal to their sense of self. At the same time, every accountant knows time is money. So anything a vendor can do to save either will get their attention.

In the end, accountants are a tough, judgmental market to sell into. They apply rigorous standards to their buying decisions. But once made, they remain loyal customers for life. It’s a lesson the most successful CPA channel marketers already know.

More for CPA Channel Marketers by Rick Telberg:

RICK TELBERG is president of Bay Street Group LLC, which provides research and marketing and communications services to CPA firms and the vendors who serve them. He is the founding editor of the Insider newsletters and serves as AICPA Editor at Large and Director of Online Content. In his two decades in media and marketing for the finance, tax and accounting industries, Telberg has played pivotal roles in the development and operation of the leading media and e-commerce outlets in the business, including Accounting Today, The Practical Accountant, Accounting Technology, WebCPA.com, SmartPros.com, and CPA2Biz.com. Contact Rick at rtelberg@baystreetgroup.com or (914) 674-4531. He blogs at cpatrendlines.com.

Follow CPA Trendlines on Twitter.