Measuring Partner Performance

Source: The Marc Rosenberg Blog

The following blog post by Marc Rosenberg is reproduced in its entirety with permission.

Jeff DeYoung, managing partner of the Chicago and Minneapolis offices of Baker Tilly, the 16th largest CPA firm in the U.S., gave a marvelous presentation to my Chicago roundtable group.

A few years ago, the former Virchow Krause boldly changed its name to Baker Tilly. “We really like the international brand name – there are only eight or 10 in the world. Our marketing studies show that with a 30 percent increase in brand awareness comes a 20 percent increase in new clients.”

BT's overarching marketing philosophy: “We go to market by industry,” standard practice for firms over $20 million, but strangely missing among most smaller firms.

One of the keys to Baker Tilly's success is its adherence to the precept “you get what you measure.” When you decide what to measure, you predetermine what is going to be important. Among other things, BT measures its partners according to:

• Achievement of formal, written goals.
• Upward evaluations by the staff.
• Getting a Net Promoter Score (a measure of client service excellence evidenced by getting client referrals) of at least 90 percent.
• Mentoring staff.

“It's all about growth and leadership,” says DeYoung.

CPA firms in the Midwest experience one of the lower levels of female partners in the country (only 10 percent in the latest Rosenberg MAP Survey), but Baker Tilly bucks that metric. Its Minneapolis office has 30 percent female partners, and Chicago is at 22 percent. “We put a wall around our female staff and have a special program for women.”

DeYoung shared with us a dramatic new trend: “Almost overnight, big firms are hiring huge numbers of college graduates.”

Baker Tilly has merged in roughly two dozen firms in the past 10 years. “We are particularly attracted to firms with quality partners having industry specializations. But don't come to us to solve your problems.”

For the original post, read “You Get What You Measure.”

From The Marc Rosenberg Blog, blog.rosenbergassoc.com, October 24, 2011.