Alistair Marshall has huge empathy with professionals who never get taught how to build their practice and this challenge has been exacerbated with the arrival of Covid 19 which has restricted the availability of random acts of coffee and lunch.
He has more than 30 years of experience in business development. His fast and proven solutions have helped law firms, accountancy practices, banks, engineers and other professionals to quickly attract new clients and win more new business.
Alistair has worked in business development for multi-national corporations, with responsibility for budgets in excess of A$100m.
Professional Services BD
Professinal Services BD specialises in helping professional services firms to become more successful.
They provide business development services to lawyers, barristers, accountants, bankers and wealth managers, infrastructure and engineering firms, digital agencies, ICT and software consultants.
In the Spotlight – David Dahm, Health & Life This month, we are meeting with David Dahm, Chartered Accountant, CEO and Founder of Health and Life. David Dahm deeply cares about healthcare and ethics, and has incorporated his beliefs and principles into his accounting practice. With a passion for finance and health, David brings a different perspective on accounting services.
David is recognised as a national healthcare expert and trouble shooter for medical, allied health practices and public hospitals. David has conducted, over 460 articles and media interviews. He has presented as a keynote speaker at conferences and presented over 950 presentations in his over 25+ year career. David has appeared in the Australian, The Australian Financial Review, Sydney Morning Herald, The Advertiser, The Medical Journal of Australia, Medical Observer, Australian Doctor, Readers Digest and In the Black. He also has performed audio interviews for GP Business Essentials.
In the Spotlight
In the Spotlight recognises legal and accounting practitioners who demonstrate innovation, success, and commitment throughout their work.
Each month, we select individuals or firms to acknowledge the positive impact they have had on their community or their industry sector. If you think you know someone who fits the bill, please send us a 100-word summary to media-au@quickfee.com telling us why they deserve recognition.
Submission criteria:
The legal or accounting professional has shown an unwavering commitment to customer satisfaction while still assuring the profitability and viability of their business or profession.
They have helped a client turn around business profits with innovative business opportunities.
They have outperformed their peers in their sectors, market segments and geographical areas in terms of community service.
In this second episode of In the Q, Bruce Coombes and Alistair Marshall discuss the importance of setting your fees high enough and getting paid what you’re worth.
Find out why discounting your fees won’t necessarily help you gain more clients and how you can, on the contrary, be more profitable by charging a premium fee.
Bruce and Alistair also discuss the importance of specialisation, especially when it comes to professional services business development.
Alistair Marshall has huge empathy with professionals who never get taught how to build their practice and this challenge has been exacerbated with the arrival of Covid 19 which has restricted the availability of random acts of coffee and lunch.
He has more than 30 years of experience in business development. His fast and proven solutions have helped law firms, accountancy practices, banks, engineers and other professionals to quickly attract new clients and win more new business.
Alistair has worked in business development for multi-national corporations, with responsibility for budgets in excess of A$100m.
Professional Services BD
Professinal Services BD specialises in helping professional services firms to become more successful.
They provide business development services to lawyers, barristers, accountants, bankers and wealth managers, infrastructure and engineering firms, digital agencies, ICT and software consultants.
In this series, we discuss some of the use cases behind cryptocurrencies and the consequences from a tax and legal perspective. Learn about emerging concepts such as peer-to-peer lending on the blockchain, and NBA’s $700 million NFT marketing strategy. We discuss the common missteps from a tax perspective, and how accountants can handle some of this complexity with the right crypto tax knowledge.
Access the Crypto Series (3h FREE CPD Points):
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We are launching our new podcast: In the Qwith BruceCoombes. Bruce welcomes thought leaders to discuss the best business advice for accounting and law firms. Tune in while you’re “In the Q”, waiting for your coffee in the morning or during your commute to work, and be inspired to grow your practice at the start of your day.
For our first episode, our Managing Director Bruce Coombes sits down with Alistair Marshall, Director of Professional Services Business Development, to chat about utilising your support staff to build strong client relationships. Watch the episode here: https://youtu.be/sQTeSPk7yGg
Alistair Marshall has huge empathy with professionals who never get taught how to build their practice and this challenge has been exacerbated with the arrival of Covid 19 which has restricted the availability of random acts of coffee and lunch.
He has more than 30 years of experience in business development. His fast and proven solutions have helped law firms, accountancy practices, banks, engineers and other professionals to quickly attract new clients and win more new business.
Alistair has worked in business development for multi-national corporations, with responsibility for budgets in excess of A$100m.
Professional Services BD
Professinal Services BD specialises in helping professional services firms to become more successful.
They provide business development services to lawyers, barristers, accountants, bankers and wealth managers, infrastructure and engineering firms, digital agencies, ICT and software consultants.
This month, QuickFee is launching In the Spotlight to recognise legal and accounting practitioners who demonstrate innovation, success, and commitment throughout their work.
Each month, we will select individuals or firms to acknowledge the positive impact they have had on their community or their industry sector. If you think you know someone who fits the bill, please send us a 100-word summary to media-au@quickfee.com telling us why they deserve recognition.
Submission criteria:
The legal or accounting professional has shown an unwavering commitment to customer satisfaction while still assuring the profitability and viability of their business or profession.
They have helped a client turn around business profits with innovative business opportunities.
They have outperformed their peers in their sectors, market segments and geographical areas in terms of community service.
In the Spotlight – Michelle Messer, MJM Accountants
Michelle Messer from the QLD-based accounting firm MJM Accountants is our first to be In the Spotlight. MJM Accountants, founded in 1992 by Michelle and her parents, focuses on bringing colour and fun to the accounting industry. Michelle’s vibrant personality brings a breath of fresh air and just seemed like the perfect way to launch our new Spotlight series.
It’s fair to say that Michelle likes to do things a little differently. Whether she is running the practice, painting watercolours, or creating comic books, Michelle manages to be both effervescent and down to earth at the same time – which is an approach that she has carried through to her practice.
From the vibrant and engaging superhero theme branding to their love of a good night out, this is one firm that doesn’t fit the cookie-cutter mould of most suburban firms. Their website even challenges this stereotype by asking, “Who says accountants are boring?”
Beyond being a successful business owner, Michelle ensures that fun is the core of everything she does, which means that the team at MJM Accountants also does things a little differently.
The team has built a profitable book of clients who love working with them while maintaining their positive outlook and creating a sustainable work/life balance.
They are firm believers of flexi-time, and for every minute someone works over their contracted 38 hours each week, they get time off as compensation. They also don’t hesitate to cross over roles within the team, with everyone jumping in to answer calls or complete admin work or anything else that needs completing. Michelle says that this all-hands-on deck model works so well because they don’t have any deadwood in the team. Instead, every team member wants to be there and support each other and the company.
They are a tightly bonded group that is intent on having fun. Like the time that the whole firm rented camper vans and took a road trip to Melbourne – alternating driving duties with completing tax returns – so that Michelle could don a horse costume and take part in Hamish and Andy’s Race That Slows Down the Nation. Their clients loved it, with many following them along the way on Instagram.
Their culture is founded on having fun, and they are so serious about maintaining a positive culture that they don’t tolerate demanding customers. Therefore, all potential clients need to meet with the firm in a two-way interview process whereby the team must agree they are the right fit before coming on board. By doing this, Michelle says they ensure they have a great group of clients who refer other great people.
Through initiatives like this, Michelle has built a loyal client base and an even more loyal team that genuinely enjoys the work they do and the people they work alongside.
But Michelle’s work-life looked very different seven years ago.
Her days were filled with back-to-back client meetings and phone calls, and to get the work done, she was consistently having early starts and late finishes – all with a young family at home. So, Michelle knew there had to be a better way of doing things.
It wasn’t until she attended a few medical appointments that she noticed that most specialists have specific days each week when they see patients – a very standard practice in the medical field. Which begged the question… if a patient is happy to accept this from their doctor – why would they not accept the same from their accountant?
So, in 2015 Michelle’s practice implemented something they call Client Days. These are two scheduled days per week purely dedicated to meeting with clients, meaning the remaining days are free to spend getting through the workload. With balance restored to their days and stress levels lowering, the team also decided to start sending two team members into every client meeting so that the client always had multiple people to contact if they needed help. It also meant that if someone wanted to take leave or was off sick, the client’s needs were still being met, and the business could keep ticking along.
This simple change instantly impacted the staff and created a lifestyle change that allowed for greater productivity and flexibility – while still delivering high service levels to their clients. With their streamlined processes, the team can balance their work and home lives and thrive in both.
Michelle has a lot to be proud of, from their humble beginnings in 1992 to the vibrant business they have built today. So, on the 16th of Sept 2022, MJM Accountants will celebrate its 30th year in business, and true to Michelle’s style the party will be a big one.
Join the Elites – Insights from the minds of the super successful
Our Managing Director, Bruce Coombes, was recently invited to participate in the first-ever episode of the webinar series Join the Elites. Host Taryn Holman, National Sales Manager at Seamless SMSF, is joined by a different accounting industry expert each episode to hear about their formula for success and seamless profitability.
According to Bruce, the accounting formula that gives you less frustration, more profits, and more time to yourself is one where you position “the right customers, the right staff, doing the right things that you want to do. So it stops being work and starts becoming fun.”
With 42 years of industry knowledge, Bruce outlined his key insights to help you get to that end goal and enjoy yourself along the way.
Surround yourself with good people
With the amount of time you spend at work, it’s essential to surround yourself with good people. Most successful businesses will agree that it is easier to find good clients than find good staff. However, once you find nice clients, they will gladly refer like-minded people if they are happy with your service. Likewise, nice employees will refer good people to work with you if they feel valued. Ensuring you invest the time to keep good people by investing in your culture and refining your processes builds an environment where you have the right people in the right positions doing the right jobs with a positive mindset.
Don’t try to solve all of the problems
The impact of the pandemic on Australian business has unfortunately meant an increase in the number of business closures. The flow-on effect to the accounting industry has been significant in terms of work volume. Accountants across Australia have been working tirelessly to support their clients as we work through the economic impact of the pandemic. According to Bruce, the “sheer fatigue in our profession needs to stop” as you can’t solve every problem for every person.
Being realistic about what clients should be a part of your practice is vital to the long term success of your business, and you will need to manage your clients to ensure you have the right ones on board.
Triage your clients
Helping struggling clients is one thing, but when you overload your books with too many of these clients, you will start to see the impact on the macro level. You are a business, not a charity.
Bruce identifies three criteria for good clients;
They have the ability to take advice
They have the capacity to listen
They pay
Simply put, clients that don’t take your advice or don’t pay should not be your clients.
A business that can balance helping clients in crisis and getting paid what they deserve will survive and thrive. Ultimately, you have an obligation to your primary stakeholder – your family. However, you do not have an obligation to a failing business that will not take your advice.
Finding good clients makes it easier for you and your team to do the work they enjoy. Don’t put up with the difficult clients – if they don’t align with your vision and culture, help them find a better-suited firm.
Don’t undervalue yourself
Consider this analogy, would you choose a discount heart surgeon or the best, most expensive one when it comes to your health? There is no doubt that surgeons deliver fantastic value to their clients – but they do not do it for free, and nor should you.
When you lower your costs, you undervalue yourself and the service you provide your clients. Which is a trend that Taryn says is all too common in accountants as, by and large, they are genuinely caring, good people and feel that minimizing their costs is the best way to help their clients. Remember that your clients are not paying for an hour of your time – they are paying for your experience.
Book a meeting with yourself
There will always be something that demands your attention, but according to Bruce, “being busy is not a badge of honour”. Instead, ensure you block time in your diary to allow yourself time to think and reflect. By taking back control of your time, you have the chance to properly digest information and create the opportunity for innovative thought.
Rules for scaling your business
According to Bruce, there are two basic rules for scaling your business.
“Growth for growth’s sake is absolutely pointless. There is no point in having a chart that goes up and profit that doesn’t move. You are in business to make money.”
You are in business to make money!
These rules mean that you simply will not stay in business in the absence of making money, and to stay in business, you must have a clear vision of your end goal in mind, value and invest in yourself, and surround yourself with good people.
About Seamless SMSF
Seamless SMSF is an Australian, privately owned Self-Managed Superannuation Fund (SMSF) Audit Firm that offers SMSF Audit services to accounting firms. Having built a Live, Fully Integrated Workflow Portal, accountants can access contractors who supply back-office labour to assist them with functions necessary to run their accounting businesses successfully. This unique portal, paired with outstanding service, has made Seamless SMSF Australia’s #1 SMSF provider for accounting firms, now auditing in excess of 19,114 funds. Click here to enquire.
Irrespective of the broad-reaching impact of COVID-19, this year has been especially tough for Australian children and young people growing up in poverty; those who cannot choose their circumstances.
According to the 2020 report* from ACOSS/UNSW on Poverty in Australia, 1 in 6 Australian children now live in poverty. For these children, even the most basic of life’s necessities are hard to come by.
Perhaps worse, children in families experiencing financial disadvantage are now more likely than ever to fall behind with their learning, since they generally have less access to vital learning materials and books in the home environment.
With most schools now requiring laptops or tablet computers for in-class and home learning, those who cannot afford these necessities struggle to achieve the continuity of education needed to succeed academically.
The Smith Family have been working to improve the lives of Australian children in Australia for over 100 years. Their flagship program – Learning for Life – supports 58,000 students with long-term support for their education and post-school support programs that aim to transition these children into the workplace.
Children who have a disadvantage in learning early on in life are more vulnerable to future hardships. They can often fall into what The Smith Family describes as the “Cycle of Disadvantage”.
The Smith Family aims to break this cycle by providing programs that give disadvantaged Australian children the support and resources they need to keep pace with the rest of the class.
This is achieved through a number of intervention initiatives such as learning clubs and programs aimed at the community, arts, literacy, numeracy and mentoring, amongst others.
The Smith Family relies heavily on donations from individuals and corporations to deliver these valuable programs. These donations help support young Australians to create better futures for themselves.
QuickFee makes an annual Christmas donation of $5,000 to the Smith Family. This donation aims to provide immediate support to the established programs to deliver long-term positive benefits for impacted children and their families.
To donate to The Smith Family, you can click here to set up a one-off or monthly donation to help provide access to learning and life education support programs.
What does the Great Resignation mean to Australia’s Accounting Industry?
There is no denying that the Great Resignation is a hot topic at the moment as Australia waits to see if our job markets will go the same way as the US.
In a recent webinar on recruiting and retaining the best talent, accounting industry experts Bruce Coombes – QuickFee, Craig West – Succession Plus, Alistair Barr – Striver and Stephen Watts from TOA Global discussed the potential impact of the Great Resignation on the accounting industry in Australia.
Who are the hardest to recruit and retain right now?
There is no clear-cut winner (or loser) in this respect. Striver’s Founder and CEO, Alisdair Barr indicated that finding and securing the best talent for those in 2–5-year entry-level roles are extremely competitive at the moment. This is mainly because whilst they may be fresher recruits – and less expensive – they have some experience and can provide billable hours from the moment they start.
Conversely, Succession Plus are seeing the market for higher-level roles tightening up and recruiting senior positions is becoming increasingly challenging. The power that desirable senior-level staff have in this shifting job climate means that more money and more benefits are making it to the negotiating table than ever before.
What are recruits looking for?
What happens in our job market is not just about a need for compensation in the traditional monetary sense. Instead, there is a greater desire for increased flexibility in working hours, days and location, and different benefits to what is generally on offer.
The flexibility and freedom many of us have experienced with working from home is not something most people want to give up that easily. On the contrary, there is a definite appetite for it.
However, not all employees love the idea of working from home every day. Sure, it has benefits in terms of flexibility, but how does that impact the incidental networking in the lunchroom or social get-togethers. For a graduate, bumping into the managing partner and striking up a conversation over coffee gives them a level of visibility they cannot achieve through zoom. Craig West, CEO and Founder of Succession Plus, says one of the most complex challenges right now is how employers can successfully build a corporate culture for people who have never met face to face. Weighing up all of these factors will undoubtedly be challenging, and we will likely see some creative solutions in the near future.
How important is a good culture fit?
Finding an employee that is right for the role and the company culture has always been a challenge, but it is has been even more challenging recently working remotely.
Having a clear understanding of the drivers for employees in this new environment and being able to put into place strategies that you can execute well and believe in is essential. Employees want to work for something they believe in. For younger workers, this may mean providing clarity on growth and development, and for more senior employees, it may mean giving equity options.
Keeping in touch with the community also has value, especially for the younger employees. Corporate responsibility and genuine community support keep your business connected to things that your staff believe in.
What makes employees want to leave?
Craig West calls this the Decision Point. This is the point when you weigh up your level of satisfaction with your current situation and whether there are better, more attractive situations. Many factors go into this decision, such as limited growth opportunities, reduced work/life balance, being underpaid, job insecurity, poor workplace culture, and high-stress environments.
If there are more attractive offers available, then the decision to move away from these stress factors becomes that much easier to make.
How do you balance the various flexibility needs?
As the pandemic drags on and the operational requirements continue to change, managing the differing preferences can be challenging. Therefore, creating a balance between working from home and working in the office is vital.
Stephen Watts from TOA Global calls this strategy Perform to Play. If your team is performing well while working remotely and it works for the business, it is reasonable to continue allowing this option. When expectations are clearly set, and dialogue is kept open, there is no reason not to allow flexibility.
Being consistent across all channels of the business is even more critical. For example, if one team has the option to work from home and another doesn’t have the same opportunities, it will generate discontent. Being consistent across the business will circumvent this.
How do smaller firms compete with the big players?
Providing employees with a voice at the table is easier for smaller firms than for big players. At the large firms, the table is just too big to hear every voice! Being able to speak up and be heard has enormous value for everyone, from the freshest graduate to the longest standing team member.
Providing good mentoring opportunities is also essential. Opportunities for growth and development tailored to the individual and their goals will always have a place in keeping staff happy.
So how can you recruit and retain the best talent in the face of a looming Great Resignation?
Have different options in your toolkit. Whether those options are flexible working arrangements, increased wages, paid paternity leave or a day off on your birthday – the most important thing is that they need to be visible to your team. Communicate these things clearly and openly and be ready to answer questions around them honestly. Transparency is the key here.
Offer appropriate compensation. This means offering a wage within or above market value and providing a compensation model that reflects the return on investment you will see. You are investing in an asset at the end of the day. Understanding what motivates the employee and trying to meet what is reasonably in your power will drive their engagement and increase their return on investment to the company. It’s a win-win if executed successfully.
Give people a voice. Ensure your team feel that their voice counts and that they are empowered to speak up. However clever you think you are, there will always be better, more creative ideas from your team. You may not implement every idea, but if you don’t give people an opportunity to be heard, you will never hear that great idea.
Effectively collaborate. One thing is sure – collaboration skills will be vital not just for employees to work effectively but also for businesses to ensure they have the suitable systems in place to facilitate a varied working style.
Any life event that causes us stress can have a significant impact on our ability to thrive and succeed at work and home. Having a strong understanding of resilience and calling upon tried and tested management techniques would undoubtedly help us withstand said challenges.
QuickFee recently had the pleasure of co-sponsoring a virtual event with Australian cricketing legend, co-founder and President of the McGrath Foundation – Glenn McGrath. Glenn’s easy-going nature and naturally positive mindset have helped establish his ability to maintain composure and positivity in times of adversity and endure challenges that may have set the rest of us back.
Glenn’s story started growing up in the small town of Narromine in Country NSW, playing different sports and building the foundations of his cricketing career. Through his sporting highs and lows, the personal tragedy of losing his wife Jane and ultimately founding the McGrath foundation, Glenn had to learn to overcome adversity and manage pressure.
So how does one of the greatest cricketers of all time maintain resilience and handle the pressure?
Glenn has developed and refined four fundamental principles which he relies upon to get through life’s challenges and build his resilience.
Self-belief
“What really matters is how we feel about ourselves and what we allow to affect/impact us. It comes from knowing yourself, having self-belief, plus planning and preparing as well as you can”, said Glenn McGrath. Self-belief and the ability to handle pressure needs comes from within. So putting yourself out there and ‘having a go’ is the best way to build up your belief in yourself and your abilities.
When stressful situations presented in his sporting career, Glenn focused on the process and concentrated on getting the next thing done to the best of his ability. According to Glenn, when you focus on one thing at a time, you don’t feel the pressure of the whole situation weighing on you. Getting through these challenging situations teaches us that we can endure and trust in our abilities.
It is how you pick yourself up and lean on the support from others that helps you get the perspective you need.
Be prepared
This one goes two ways; be prepared as much as you can for everything you do and be prepared to work hard when you do it!
Whether it is throughout his 14-year cricketing career or in his ongoing philanthropic work at the McGrath Foundation, Glenn always applies his solid work ethic and works hard to achieve the best outcome. So when you put in the time and effort to prepare for something – from a T20 match to a board meeting – don’t let yourself down by giving less than 100% on the day.
Preparation won’t necessarily prevent things from going wrong, but it does mean that when you have planned for what you know is coming, you will have more capacity to deal with the unexpected.
You need to be ready to make mistakes too! Accepting that mistakes have happened and learning from them will help you build up your resilience over the longer term and prepare you for the next time you encounter a similar situation.
Your plan may not always work out in your favour, but you make things a little easier on yourself by taking control of what you can. Glenn says that “the moment we start resting on our laurels and give that control away, everything starts getting that little bit harder”.
Never be satisfied
Glenn might be the only one of us who took a miracle catch at the Adelaide Oval in 2002 – but he does know that even when things go as right as they did that day, there is always room to improve.
The good times will always be there to look fondly back on and think about what worked in our favour, but what about when things don’t go well? In those times, Glenn says that we should use them as motivation and analyse why they happened, whether we can control it, and then work on improving next time. Give yourself time to slow down and collect your thoughts so that they don’t control your emotions.
On the pitch when things went wrong Glenn says, “I would tell myself that’s gone, no matter what I do I can’t change it and tried to focus on the next ball and bowl it as well as I could”. So, when things are beyond your control, don’t waste your mental energy trying to change them – take what you can from it and use it next time. The same rule applies to the past – no matter what you do, you can’t change what has happened, so try to focus on the next thing. When we continue to learn from our experiences, we can tap into this reservoir of experience the next time we encounter a similar situation.
Have fun
Even when Glenn was batting – which he freely admits was not his strongest aspect of the game – he says he still tried to have fun. If he got taken out for a duck that didn’t stop him giving it his best and enjoying the challenge of working with the guy at the other end of the pitch.
There is something to be said about living very much in the moment and seeing the best in every situation. A very clear positive mindset resonated from everything Glenn talked about in his chat with us. If his story alone was not inspiring enough, his approach to life, in general, is certainly admirable. He believes that you should have fun and enjoy every minute you have, and it’s such a simple sentiment but sometimes one that we overlook.
On the pitch when things went wrong Glenn says, “I would tell myself that’s gone, no matter what I do I can’t change it and tried to focus on the next ball and bowl it as well as I could”. So, when things are beyond your control, don’t waste your mental energy trying to change them – take what you can from it and use it next time. The same rule applies to the past – no matter what you do, you can’t change what has happened, so try to focus on the next thing. When we continue to learn from our experiences, we can tap into this reservoir of experience the next time we encounter a similar situation.
Whilst the world continues to throw new and interesting challenges at us – whether it’s a pandemic, a personal loss or something as common as a cold – if we have a strong sense of self-belief, work hard and just have fun we will continue to build our reserves of resilience.
Professional Services BD
This month, we are meeting with David Dahm, Chartered Accountant, CEO and Founder of Health and Life. David Dahm deeply cares about healthcare and ethics, and has incorporated his beliefs and principles into his accounting practice. With a passion for finance and health, David brings a different perspective on accounting services. 
Whilst the world continues to throw new and interesting challenges at us – whether it’s a pandemic, a personal loss or something as common as a cold – if we have a strong sense of self-belief, work hard and just have fun we will continue to build our reserves of resilience.