Keep Your Firm Agile During Challenging Times

If you’re a business developer in an accounting firm, where can you start if you feel like you are stuck moving forward with your client list?

THRIVEcast, the monthly podcast of THRIVEal, is a place where CPAs build Community, Collaborate, focus on Technology and Innovate for the future of the CPA industry. In Episode 112, Jason Blumer and Greg Kyte welcomed Amy Franko on the show to share her tips for keeping your firm agile during times where pivoting is a must. Some highlights from the episode:

• Even in the pandemic, pockets of the industry are thriving. As entrepreneurs, sales/business development professionals, and accounting professionals, our job to find those pockets and, and continue to grow them. This is where skills like strategic speed and agility come into play. (37.30)
• A modern business developer is holistic. On any given day, we have a finite amount of time, energy, motivation, and discipline. Those are resources that get depleted throughout the day, and the choices we make with those resources in any given moment determine where we’re going to head into the future. (38.57)
• Strategic speed  is what helps us move toward a goal, at pace that creates both short-term and long-term value. It keeps forward momentum going. (42.43)
• There’s never been a more important time to maintain agility. Agility is the ability to strategically make pivots in a way that makes sense for where you want to move forward. You have to anticipate what’s coming around the curve, even though you can’t see that far. You have to make decisions confidently. You have to be decisive in your actions, even though you don’t always have all of the information at hand, but there is a fine line between being agile and running in circles. (50:05)
• With your strategic business development plan, think about the verticals that you’re either in today or that you want to be in. This is an opportunity to think creatively about how you can serve your clients. (53:49)

Listen to the full episode here:

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