What business are you in? Whether you’re a CPA, CEO, lawyer, banker, entrepreneur, or anything else – the truth is you’re in the people business.
Will Hill and Paul Miller are the hosts of the podcast “Pulse of the Practice.” Will has been with Thomson Reuters since 2001 and currently serves as Customer Proposition Strategy Lead. Paul is the owner of Business by Design, an advisory-focused tax and accounting firm. They are going to explore different aspects of building a sustainable relationship business in your organization.
Paul had the opportunity to co-present one of Thomson Reuters partner summit events, and his message (to think about things differently and examine how people are helping their clients) resonated strongly with the audience. As clients heard that message, people started reaching out to him asking to buy his work, but he wasn’t exactly selling his methods. He sat down with Will and, together, they created Practice Forward, where they help firms become advisory-centric in their client relationships.
We have to stop looking at our job as just being in the tax business, otherwise, as soon as taxes are done automatically, we’re out of a job. We need to know our true value so that we can keep growing and moving. Taxes are a function of our business, but our true value is in helping clients achieve their goals.
Our world changed so much over the last year and people had one of two responses: they hunkered down and waited for things to go back to “normal,” or they adapted to the new way that things were. Surprisingly, the approach that’s more exhausting is the first. People drained their life away by waiting for a chance to come up for air. Meanwhile, those that learned to adapt are now riding the waves. Waves may be choppy, but they also build inertia and energy. The sooner you can come to terms with the fact that business has changed, the more energy you will have to spend on it.
We have to change our mindset. We’re in the relationship business. Only then will our behaviors change. And when that happens, nothing can make you obsolete.
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