The Madness of March

As a basketball fan, the two best days of the year for me are the first Thursday and Friday of the college basketball tournament. Of course, as a CPA, I don't get to spend two days in the local sports bar watching all the basketball that is humanly possible. Thinking about basketball reminds me of the greatest sports movies of all time, "Hoosiers", and how the fundamentals taught in the movie can apply to networking.

The movie tells the story of Hickory High's basketball team's improbable rise to the Indiana state basketball championship. It is based loosely on the real story of the 1954 Milan High basketball championship. This small school of less than 100 students beat all the big schools to win the state title. In the movie, Hickory gives Coach Norman Dale (played by Gene Hackman) a second chance to coach after losing a college coaching job due to punching a player. Coach Dale came in to the small town of Hickory using his methods of coaching. His methods changed the philosophy of the team. The first practice consisted of passing drills ("how many passes before you shoot, ...FOUR!"), dribbling drills, running wind sprints, suicide runs, and stairs, but no shooting. His focus was on team, on the fundamentals, doing the little things, that produced success. His methods were brash, rough, and against everything the little town was used to. After struggling as everyone learned the fundamentals, in true Hollywood, and in this case, Indiana basketball tradition, the little school beat the big school to win the title.

Fundamentals, the little things, and teamwork brought success to Hickory and are the foundations for quality referral relationships. Even in busy “madness” times, professionals have to stick to their networking fundamentals (attend their regular networking group meetings, prepare strong introductions for all occasions, listen for referral opportunities). We also must do those little things (thanking referral sources, doing personal meetings with our referral partners). Finally, as always, we must follow-up and follow through with our referral partners. Madness times or not, failure to follow up and follow through will cause much more harm than good.

No matter your situation as a professional, no matter your “madness”, we must all strive to make our shots, and make our FOUR passes (do our fundamentals) to become champions of the referral process.

Busy Season Means Too Busy To Network?

For CPA's, it is that time of year when our fancies turn to the next 1040 we have to prepare or that next client meeting on the calendar. We go from one return and client to another to another to another. I cannot tell you how many times I hear this statement, "You must be extremely busy this time of year." To which I normally reply, "Yes Mom, I am and I should call you more!" Forgetting to check in with Mom is not the only call or meeting we miss. During "busy season," our faces generally don't make the chamber mixer, professional meeting, or the BNI meeting.

Here is the problem; this is exactly the time we should be at these meetings. Networking in the CPA profession does not stop between January & April 15th. In fact, we may miss major new client opportunities by burying ourselves in those stacks of files on our desk. Yes our time is limited and our current clients deserve our time and attention. However, we should not shut the door to that potential ideal referral our existing client, family, or friends wants to refer to us. So, here are a few things we can do to continue networking during "busy season":

• Use your business card folders or contact lists as conversation generators. For BNI members, your business card folder is an incredible tool to provide additional benefits to your clients. As we are finishing a meeting, let your client flip through your folder and tell them to see if they need any of the services provide. You will be happy to refer anyone in the folder to them. If you do not have a card folder, print out your Outlook contact list, ACT list or whichever contact database you use to let your clients look at. Providing this added benefit to your clients makes you their go-to person.
• End every phone call with "How else can I help you?" Clients many times do not want to unload their problems on you, unless you open the door for them. I know during this time of year I act as a marriage counselor, mediator, and de-facto bartender for clients' problems. By giving your clients an open ear and the offer of a referral to someone who can help, you become the "gatekeeper" they turn to whenever they have a need. This makes you a valuable resource clients come back to time and time again.
• Follow up. Such a simple concept, yet often times so overlooked. Yes we are busy and we will miss returning a call or replying to an e-mail. Even the best message tracking systems experiences failures during tax season. Failing to follow up causes our credibility to drop in the eyes of our clients and referral partners. I have experienced this unfortunate happening and so have even the best networkers. To mitigate these failures, try setting aside a portion of the day, each day, to timely follow up on calls and e-mails. Try blocking out 1/2 day each week for no appointments so you can return calls and e-mails, or simply get some work done. Your prompt follow up will increase credibility greatly. Failure to do so will reduce credibility even more.

With these simple, powerful, and non-time consuming steps, we can continue to be quality referral partners to our networking teams, even as we trudge along to April 15th!

Founder of BNI coming to Austin, TX

Anytime you have an opportunity to see and hear live from a world-reknown expert in any subject, business professionals should jump at it. Well, here we go!

Dr. Ivan Misner, Founder and Chairman of BNI, will be in Austin, TX on Wednesday April 2nd, from 12 noon 7 p.m. for an all-day workshop focusing on BNI Networking Secrets, the first-of-its-kind CD Car Coach Series from del Fuego Companies. Dr. Misner will give the keynote presentation and be available for Q&A. Also, you will have the unique opportunity to network with the "Father of Modern Networking" during a 2 hour open networking session to close the event. Other workshops will be presented by Flynn Noguiera and Sara Minnis of del Fuego Companies and Beth Anderson, of BNI-Minnesota and her company, OrgTrack.com.

Tickets are $99 until March 15th, and includes a set of the BNI Networking Secrets cd's. This is an opportunity to network with over 200 business professionals from Austin, San Antonio, DFW, Houston, and throughout Central Texas.

Visit www.bniaustin.com or www.bninetworkingsecrets.com for tickets or more information. This event is co-sponsored by BNI Austin, the Austin Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, del Fuego Company, OrgTrack.com, and Professional Meeting Consultants.

I hope you take advantage of this unique and amazing opportunity to hear from the world's leading networking expert! See you April 2nd!

Welcome

Thank you for taking a moment to view this blog. After 16 + years in public accounting, I have realized the old image of the CPA (green visor, pocket protector, big adding machine....remember the movie Look Who's Talking?) still exists with some people, including in our profession! Well, we can't be your "father's CPA" anymore. Over time, I hope we can share networking tips and strategies that work not only for CPA's, but for anyone in the service profession, including lawyers, insurance, real estate, doctors, dentists, etc.... Much of the information I will share comes from over 7 years experience in BNI, the world's largest referral organization. But, I would love to get your input as well. What works, what doesn't in terms of your networking plan and passing/receiving referrals. Notice I did say referrals, not leads and there is a difference we will address as we go. By following the basic, yet powerful BNI philosophy of "Giver's Gain" (helping each other by sharing referrals and knowledge), we can grow as professionals and personally by the relationship we develop. I look forward to your feedback.

For more information on BNI, or to find a chapter near you, visit www.bni.com.