Marketing directors needs to spend time with the managing partner and other partners. They need to understand the firm's culture, how partners are compensated, they need to get partner support and win over some of the skeptics. Marketing is a managerial function, it needs to lead within a firm. Added to the difficulty of the position today, many firms are hiring business development professionals as well as marketing professionals. Often the two are different breeds.

If you think this is hyperbole, consider captivating products like the iPhone. Can you imagine ever seeing an iPhone salesman? Instead, zealous customers are lined up in front of Apple stores for hours. Too many firms expect growth for the sake of the growth from their CMOs. Well, growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell, not a sustainable, long-term profitable business. The right customers, at the right price, is what matters. Again, look at Apple. They've never cared about market share, yet the have the majority of profits in almost every market they enter (especially with the iPhone and iPad).

If firms stopped expecting their marketers to sell and instead actually engage in marketing, CMOs would be far more effective in their positions.

Marketers must understand the accounting profession and their firms. Read books. Attend conferences. Build your network. Talk to your partners. Understand the services your firm provides, the industry specialties, how your firm makes money.

Marketers must think strategically. When creating the firm's marketing plan the marketer must make a business case for each program or campaign. The marketing plan should support the firm's vision and goals. Think like an owner/partner. Show results.

Marketers must have strong communication skills. Communicate early and often about how you spend your time and the status of marketing programs. CPA firm marketers are busy people. Your partners shouldn't be wondering about what you are doing. Make sure that you are working on the high priority items. Manage your time.

Marketers must focus on their strengths. Know what you do well and what you need help with. Make the business case for additional marketing team members or outsourcing services.

There are also things that partners can do, including:

• Not hiring a marketer until they are committed to making them successful.
• Defining the role and expectations of their marketer before hiring anyone.
• Treating their marketer with respect and trusting the ideas they bring to the table.

I urge people in professional support roles for CPA firms to be bold in pressuring the partners to help them learn the business. Much of the training about the services the firm provides can be taught internally. However, most firm leaders just want them to "do marketing stuff" and the new hires respond by just focusing on a narrow path because they "aim to please".

A career development plan for a CPA firm marketer is just as important as a career development plan for a new accounting college graduate. Firm leaders need to take on the role of educating these people - new hires, without previous CPA firm experience, don't know what they don't know. Part of the plan is facilitating their exposure to others in the profession. Have them join the Association for Accounting Marketing or The Association for Accounting Administration. Hire a coach or advisor to help them quickly get up to speed. Send them to the national conferences of AAM or AAA or ones sponsored by the AICPA.

Bottom-line - firms must be generous with CPE dollars for these professional support positions. But that's not all, CPA leaders need to budget time to mentor and train these support professionals.

• Firms hire them for the wrong reasons. Best example: Bringing in business. That's not what they do.
• Partners get frustrated at their own failure to grow the firm, so they decide one day to hire a marketing director to see if that works. When they see that doesn't work, they fire the person.
• Firms under-hire. To save a buck, they hire a young (usually female), relatively inexperienced person from another field. But the person usually lacks the assertiveness to stand up to the partners.

Here are some things marketing directors can do to increase their tenure:

1. Manage expectations. Most marketing personnel are not hired to sell. Yet, it's common for partners to expect this. Make sure the partners are educated on this.
2. Need to report to a MP, not a committee or an COO.
3. Be part of the visioning process; be a strategist, not just a tactician.
4. Deliver what you say you're going to deliver. Partners like to see follow-through and tangible end-results.
5. Build trust through little successes; Focus on a few things and do them really well.
6. Show you're a team player; step up and take on other duties.

• Provide professional sales training to your partners and managers on the entire sales cycle. Most accountants have never received formal sales training and don't practice proper selling techniques. Professional sales training will also motivate your partners and staff to get out the office and spend more time with prospects and referral sources. It will also reduce the fear and anxiety that accompanies selling by non-professional sales people. The potential for failure prevents many accountants from devoting the time and effort it takes to build relationships that can lead to a new client. Success at sales depends on knowing and accepting how long it takes to succeed and the number of failures you will have along the way.
• Each partner and manager should have sales goals and objectives that are realistic and measurable for which they will be held accountable. It's essential that sales activities be monitored and results accessed periodically internally and possibly by a sales coach.
• Closing sales normally requires building and maintaining relationships over a long period of time. It means periodically and continuously following up with "qualified" prospects and referral sources. This is where most accountants fail at selling by not maintaining the required follow-ups and contacts that are crucial to the selling process. Prospects should be evaluated periodically to determine if there is a realistic basis of closing them.

1. Act like a consultant and avoid "attachment"
2. Recognize that they speak a foreign language and they need to translate their ideas into CPA-speak
3. Pick their battles
4. Offer strategic advice, don't focus on tactical activities or get relegated to administrative tasks
5. Focus on niche specialties and growth
6. Work with those that WANT TO market, don't bang your head against the wall of those resisting -- they will come along when you prove success with others