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Let’s talk the same language…
Sometimes I meet an Accountant who isn’t really a CA, CGA or CMA at all. They run a public accounting practice, sure, but they’re really entrepreneurs as opposed to Accountants.
These same people are the ones who are always ‘on the go’ have ‘back to back meetings’ and just love what they do. They inspire others to want to increase their personal output and their clients just love them!
What’s their secret?
Well, one of their secrets is that they read. They read a lot.
Before falling asleep, they have a business book in their hands and rattle through 3 or 4 chapters every night, often making notes as they go. They spend a lot of time in their car, driving from one meeting to another, so they’ll have audio books on CD or on their iPod in their car.
They’ll rip through a couple of newspapers over breakfast, and they’ll even find time to read a bedtime story to their kids!
These people carefully select what they feed their mind. They are always on the lookout for a good idea, a tip that can save them time or increase their productivity, and they keep an open mind.
When taking in an idea or concept from an author, they’re thinking ‘How can I adapt this and work it into my practice?’ or something similar.
Gaining knowledge and applying it to our own businesses is great, of course, but there is another excellent reason why every practitioner should be reading business books.
Let’s go back to basics to understand what this other reason is. Who are business books written by? Yes, there are many excellent works from academics on the market, but a large number of business books are written by business people who have been successful in the area they are writing on. And who are these books written for? Yes, other business people.
Oh, and who are our clients? Bingo.
Business books are written for our clients. Business people buy and read business books. That’s the main reason why those of us who advise business people should be reading these books.
We need to speak the same language as our clients!
Be honest, if a client called you and asked for some help in clarifying their ‘Hedgehog Concept’ (from Good to Great) or needed some advice in defining their ‘Blue Ocean Strategy’ (from ‘Blue Ocean Strategy’) would you know what they were talking about and be able to add value to the conversation?
Many practitioners would not be able to honestly answer ‘yes’ to the above question. Only the accountant who reads consistently, and wisely, would know what a Hedgehog Concept or Blue Ocean Strategy was.
Yet many of your clients do.
There’s already enough jargon in our profession to confuse even the most educated client. Let’s try to start speaking the same language as them by reading the same books that they are and building common ground between us.
Being able to recommend a good business book to a client, or even better, buying one for them and sending it to them with a comment or two on what they might learn from it, is a great way to
- Differentiate yourself from the competition – after all who does that these days?
- Build a bond with your selected clients by sharing ‘insider knowledge’.
- Gain respect and loyalty with your clients.
By consistently reading, you’ll often find yourself generating so many new ideas to implement that you’ll never have time to do them all. And what a great problem that would be to have.
For those who want to get started, here’s a list of recommended (non accounting) reading for you:
- The Referral Engine – John Jantsch
- Never Eat Alone – Keith Ferrazzi
- Good To Great – Jim Collins
- Built To Last – Jim Collins & Gerry I Porras
- How To Work A Room – Susan RoAne
- Mavericks At Work – William C. Taylor & Polly LaBarre
- Talent Is Never Enough – John C. Maxwell
- Freakonomics - Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner
- Fierce Conversations – Sue Scott
- The Brand Called You – Peter Montoya
- The Tipping Point – Malcolm Gladwell
- The E-Myth – Michael Gerber
- The 80/20 Principle – Richard Koch
- The Ten Demandments – Kelly Mooney
- Clients For Life – Jagdish Sheth & Andrew Sobel
- 1ndispensable – Joe Calloway
Enjoy!
© 2003-2011,
Steve McIntyre-Smith. All Rights Reserved. |
