Time to Cross-Sell Your Firm's Services

Source: Solutions for CPA Firm Leaders

The following includes excerpts, reproduced with permission, from a blog entry by Rita Keller.

It's that time of year again. You and your team will be seeing clients face-to-face. It's time to cross-sell your firm's services. The challenge is mastering the art of cross-selling.

Why is this valuable? Why should you be encouraging even your first-year accounting staff to recognize cross-sell opportunities? It is because the more services you provide to a client, the more profitable they become and the harder it is for them to break away from your firm.

As with most new activities inside a CPA firm, you will probably need a system -- a process, a checklist, a questionnaire -- whatever tool it takes to help your accountants actually explore expanded services with current clients. Some firms call it the Additional Services Checklist. Others may call it The Expanded Services Questionnaire or The Enhanced Opportunity Checklist.

The goal is to bring extra value to your clients. Right now, do all of your team members, even the most recent college recruits:

• Know what to look and listen for while they are at a client's location?
• Know about all of the firm's service offerings?
• Know to whom they should refer new opportunities?

If you answered "no" to any of these, quickly take action. Host a "breakfast & learn" or "lunch & learn" in early January before your engagement teams go into the field.

If you would like a sample copy of an Additional Services Checklist, just let me know.

For the original entry, read "Additional Services Season Is Coming."

From Solutions for CPA Firm Leaders, the blog of Rita Keller, December 11, 2012, http://ritakeller.com/blog/.