Impact Your Top Line Now.

• Author: Boress, Allan

The economic slowdown is affecting the top line of many firms across the country as client companies cut back on purchasing noncompliance services and become increasingly concerned about fees. In response, as business slows, firms tend to cut expenses and attempt to become more efficient. Eventually, a serious effort has to be made to improve revenues immediately, as competition for the limited dollars being spent becomes more aggressive than ever before.

Here's an idea that has generated increases of 12 percent to 20 percent in revenues for many of my clients over the years: "It's payback time."

The shoemaker's kids go barefoot

In our sales training programs, we have attracted retail salespeople in addition to professionals. After years of training salespeople, it dawned on me that the most successful salespeople possessed traits that we CPAs take for granted, such as being organized and systematic. Your firm can be much more successful at boosting revenues by being better accountants--when it comes to managing the top line of your business.

It is simply a matter of applying organizational and systemizing skills to tracking referrals. Unfortunately, most firms do not apply their skills in this way, as they have not thought of it or they think it requires too much effort. No one wants additional paperwork; however, business may slip through your fingers, and you may lose future referrals because of this. Because we often do not track the referrals we give out, we lose many in return.

Immediate business now

Gather partners and managers together and hand them a blank piece of paper. Have them title the page, "Who Owes Me?"

Have everyone list the referrals they have given out over the past two years, to the best of their recollection, with the referral sources, the name of the client or company referred, and the amount of the estimated fees involved in the referred business.

It is especially vital to recognize those referral sources that owe you return referral business but for whatever reason have not paid you back.

We, as CPAs, are often very good referral sources for other professionals and businesses. Typically, we have more contact with the client's business than do others and the client often sees us as a center of information to the marketplace.

Many CPAs give referrals to--

* Computer consultants.

* Attorneys.

* Bankers. Insurance people.

* Securities brokers.

* Financial planners.

* Other CPAs.

* Real estate agents.

* Clients.

* Other...