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With business development a continuing challenge for CPA firms, we asked Ford Hording and Gary Pines of Maplewood, N.J.-based Hording & Company for insight into being an effective rainmaker in today's marketplace. Hording is the author of Rain Making: Attract New Clients No MatterWhat Your Field (published by Adams Media).
CPAPR: As we move further away from the recession, how can CPA firms improve business development?
Gary Pines: When it comes to business development, firms need to be more organized, more disciplined, and more proactive. Pre-2008, CPAs were able to get business without having a focused process. If 2009 was the year of survival, 2010 begins the era of reconnecting. CPAs need to reconnect with everyone they know. These are not cold calls, but warm calls. If you haven't worked with or talked to someone in three years, give them a call to catch up. It is amazing what can happen when you do that. People do this and have immediately picked up new work while others have narrowly missed opportunities for new work because they didn't reconnect sooner.
Old classmates, formerclients, old prospects, former colleagues, family friends, whoeverare usually delighted to reconnect. Linkedln is a very powerful tool for reconnecting. Even if you haven't worked with a client in five years, send them an invitation to connect on and use that as a way to initiate contact. All corporate people now realize that their jobs are no longer secure. In the past, they didn't see the need to network, but nowthey are delighted if somebody calls to reconnect with...