Not all CPA firms look like - what makes you different from other firms is what draws clients and potential team members to you. This session will cover different ideas on how to brand yourself personally and as a firm to improve your image in the community and your bottom line.

1. BUILDING YOUR BRAND IDENTITY
Or “How to Not Look like Every Other O.W.G. CPA Firm
In 10 Easy Steps”

2. 2
• Partner with Butler and Company CPAs, PC (affectionately, I’m “And Company“)
• AICPA PCPS Executive Committee – 2012 – 2015
• AICPA Governing Council – starting Sept 2015
• 2010 AICPA Leadership Academy Graduate
• Been in practice since 2003
• One wife, one son and one on the way
• Was a Seattle Seahawks fan WAY before they won (and lost) the Super Bowl
• Started doing acrylic painting
• Used to host a radio show
• Went to Malawi, Africa back in May for a church mission trip
Jason Deshayes
Quick, who is this guy?

3. What’s our mission?

4. 4
Establish how you fit
into the CPA market
Establish opportunities
to showcase YOU
Get in front of the right
people
Stand out as different
GAME PLAN
ITEM ONE ITEM TWO ITEM THREE ITEM FOUR

5. 5
Some context, perhaps…

6. 6
“Approach each customer with the idea of helping him or her
solve a problem or achieve a goal, not of selling a product or
service.”
“Stop selling. Start helping.”
Brian Tracy Zig Ziglar
Some sage words…

7. Clients need help as they get older and their businesses transition
What happens to a client whose needs outlast their senior CPA’s career?
Technology is still a big sticking point with more classical firms
More reliance on timely service
Less demand for compliance services
Increased demand for insights
There is still a demand for traditional services
Certain markets can sustain more “exotic” services
Scan your current client base for untapped opportunities
What is the market saying?
CPAs aren’t
getting any
younger
Clients are
demanding
more
Services

8. 8
Thought
Leadership
You are
smart…start
sharing your
knowledge
Develop a
Service
Process
Most firms do not
have an unique
approach to
service that they
can communicate
Know Your
Market
Be able to
articulate the
difference
between you and
your competitors
Target Your
Audience
Find the people
you want to work
with and get an
audience
Be Available
Be the person
that other
advisors can call
with questions
Calendar Your
Appearances
Make them
regular, especially
during busy times
Branding Opportunities

9. Are you aligned with
their business
philosophy and
approach to service?
Alignment
THINK
ABOUT…
The Right People
Business contacts who
play in the same
sandbox as you
Your Niche
Are these people you
have (or could have)
regular engagement
with?
Regularity
Do they work alongside
of you or do you just
happen to have the
same client?
Collaborative

10. Get introduced to small firm
division of the NM Bar
Association – do a 30 minute
“top ten list” presentation to
20 attorneys
May 2012
You never know where it can start….

11. Attorney brings in new client
to our firm - client is a
relatively new thriving
business in need of a
proactive and engaged CPA
2015 Fees - $12,000
May 2015
One of the attorneys at that
seminar becomes a pretty
straight forward 1120S client
– roughly $600 of annual
fees
January 2013

12. Client is on a growth plan
that will involve multiple
locations, allowing us to
become the outsourced
accounting department and
their go-to-person
2016 and on…NOT EVERYONE NEEDS
ALL OF OUR SKILLS, BUT
THEY NEED ALL OF OUR
SERVICE MINDSET

13. Be boldly self-assured
about what you believe
in and who you are
People trust and do business with other people; not firms
Visual branding and name recognition only go so far
Figure out what you are passionate about
Be able to articulate it concisely to others
It is ok to not look like everyone else!
Stand out!

14. 14
Pricing models
Ability to service beyond the local geographic
market
Establishing clear services and delivery
timelines
Be physically present in your client’s business
Purposefully building in client time – not always
about producing something though
Distinguishers

15. Increase in revenues
from 2013 to 2014
Projected dollars spent
on marketing in 2015
New collections in 2015
18% $10k $149k $148k
New recurring billings in
2015
Seriously, this all works!

16. Let’s try it out What makes you unique?
How are you different from your competition?
Why are people working with you?

17. www.butlercpa.com
jason@butlercpa.com
505-821-0893 (w)
505-250-3864 (c)
4811A Hardware Dr. NE, Ste 1
Albuquerque, NM 87109
THANKS!