@Trev - I'd encourage you to do some reading/research on the topic of Positioning first and then consider your name.
I highly recommend the book by Al Ries and Jack Trout referred to here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positioning_(marketing)
For me the most profound idea is that the human mind (your target market) ignores all information that it perceives as the same. This is because we live in an over communicated society, we can't cope with all the information so we need a defence system. My view is that if you call your business your name you are like 99% of other bookkeepers, so you make it harder for yourself to stand out/get noticed.
I changed my company name to drop the word associates (as I didn't actually have any) and went for a name reminisent of a traditional accountancy practice (I bolted two relevant names together and put Co. on the end of it).
"MY" clients like it as they know that they are getting an old fashioned traditional accountancy practice type service (no cloud offerings here ).
My experience is that I seem to appeal to smaller limited companies but the name may be frightening off micro one man and his van type businesses. No worries as that was never the market that I was aiming at anyway.
The franchise type names that you touch upon are definitely more user freindly but to me such gives the impression of being a larger entity divorced from it's clients rather than the personal service offered by traditional practices.
I don't agree that we blank out the names of traditional accountancy practices. The phenominon that Al Ries and Jack Trout seem to be eluding to is the trick of the mind where something is absolutely trivial it gets blanked.
As an example. look into a mirror and look at one eye and then look at another. If someone is looking at you they can see your eyes move (even though such is trivial) but your own mind does not see your eyes moving at all as there is no need for it to store that information.
Thats quite different of course to not noticing a practice because it has a traditional name. Or indeed not noticing a franchise because it has a catchy name.... Also exactly the same as all of the others.
Human beings are more intelligent than that. They perceive value and quality whether that is in the form of a traditional accountancy practice or a franchise.
In conclusion, changing your name is often a sound marketing move but as Bob indicates from a somewhat different angle, know who your market is and what they expect of you.
My approach works for me, Bobs works for him, yours is completely down to you.
kind regards,
Shaun.
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Shaun
Responses are not meant as a substitute for professional advice. Answers are intended as outline only the advice of a qualified professional with access to all relevant information should be sought before acting on any response given.
Some great pointers there Shaun. Intuitively the theories that point to understanding and ultimately satisfying stakeholder needs seem the most attractive.
I've been doing a lot of mind mapping processes etc as part of trying to understand and control workflow, and the basic question always seems to come down to - What has to be done right for this process to work? Invariably the answers are satisfying stakeholder needs, whether that's Client, Staff, HMRC etc.
Do you have any suggestions for further reading.
-- Edited by ADAS on Saturday 19th of May 2012 02:08:24 PM
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Tony
Responses are intended as outline only. Formal advice should be sort from your Institutes Technical Department or a suitably qualified Accountant.
The key is that they all make you think about where you are now, where you want to be and give you the tools for how to get there.
That's the big AHHAA! I was looking for when I came across GTD, although that particular methodlogy centres around workflow management and not strategic planning although it leads you to inevitably embrace it.
Think I'm going to read Bob's suggestion's to. It's probably blindingly obvious to both of you, but accepting and starting to understand we are "knowledge workers" was another big AHHAA for me.
Others may well disagree but even if theories are developed for larger businesses I don't think it does anyone anyharm to spend time thinking in these terms.
Another thing that you might like to cast an eye over is the Natural Planning Approach to project management. Sits very comfortably with the Performance Prism and GTD.
-- Edited by ADAS on Saturday 19th of May 2012 03:28:32 PM
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Tony
Responses are intended as outline only. Formal advice should be sort from your Institutes Technical Department or a suitably qualified Accountant.
@Shaun & Trev - I must clarify that Crunchers is about people and relationships; that's why we have faces in our logo, not numbers or mathematical symbols.
Have you read the Positioning book?
The issue of being ignored has nothing to do with looking in the mirror and switching from one eye to the other. And, it is not about something being ignored because it is trivial.
What is it about is something being perceived as the same as something that is already in the mind. This is why being first to market is so important, or rather first in the mind of the market.
The Crunchers strategy is to position ourselves as "Alternative Accountants" and to play off the weaknesses of traditional firms. We are working on a positioning video at the moment and this should be ready in July.
It's vital that the market sees us as something very difference. This will work for business owners and potential franchisees.
For me the most profound idea is that the human mind (your target market) ignores all information that it perceives as the same. This is because we live in an over communicated society, we can't cope with all the information so we need a defence system.
Hi Bob, that's an interesting concept. Going off on a tangent are you familiar with David Allens work and his ideas on Getting Things Done (gtd). You might find it interesting given your thoughts above.
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Tony
Responses are intended as outline only. Formal advice should be sort from your Institutes Technical Department or a suitably qualified Accountant.
@Tony - thanks, I had a quick look at his Website and it looks very interesting.
Helping clients establish and review goals (personal and business) and be more effective is key part of the Crunchers business development programme. This is the type of material I like to consume and see if there are any concepts/ideas we can roll in to the programme.
The great thing about this type of knowledge is that it can be used by me, franchisees on themselves and with their clients.
I've been implementing it for the last month or so, it's a steep learning curve for me. Where it really does work, is I needed a framework to think about my business at all levels. From the highest level down to the day to day operations (50,000 ft to runway under GTD).
To be honest, it's been a revelation for me. The two concepts I'd encourage everyone to practice is "Inbox" to zero and the Weekly Review. The sense of control these two concepts bring has been great for me but perhaps others already feel they have control of this. As part of my Weekly review, I literally run down my client list and note anything new and review what's on going.
Not surprisingly Bob, I used your swot analysis as part of my "higher level" analysis.
I recommend you read the book bud, I think you'll take a lot from it even if you're not drawn to the methodology.
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Tony
Responses are intended as outline only. Formal advice should be sort from your Institutes Technical Department or a suitably qualified Accountant.
@Tony - I will do. I agree frameworks can be really powerful and I'm glad the Crunchers SWOT analysis helped. I'm going to do one on the accountants page.
Actually, no, not read the book that you suggest. It's from 1976 so not high on my reading list as a lot has changed in management thinking during the 80's and 90's (not so much since 2000 though).
That said, not everything that's come out in the last three decades has been good and often I find that many theorists simply stand on the shoulders of better men. (yes, I'm talking about you messers Johnson, Scholes and Whittington).
SWOT is too simplistic to be of any real use but it's a great starting place.
Really you need to look at it in conjunction with :
the BCG matrix
Harmons control process matrix
Anssoffs matrix
Gap Analysis
Mendelow stakeholder matrix
The performance prism
The Performance Pyramid
Fitzgerald and moons building blocks
Cyert and Marches behavioural studies
Absolutely anything and everything ever written by Michael Porter
There's a good book for toilet reading called Strategy Bites Back by Henry Mintzberg, Joseph Lampel and Bruce Ahlstrand (so quality theorists there) which really rips appart many of the jump on the bandwagon theorists that creep out of the woodwork with their "snakeoil" theories. I think that you would enjoy in Bob.
Not trying to teach you about management theory here Bob but personally I think that you should, for Crunchers, adopt the Performance Prism approach which brings in many of the other theories in order to achieve the goals that we are looking for.
Just a suggestion,
hope it helps,
Shaun.
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Shaun
Responses are not meant as a substitute for professional advice. Answers are intended as outline only the advice of a qualified professional with access to all relevant information should be sought before acting on any response given.
there's a wealth of information out there but to get a basic grasp on all aspects and the interaction between them before going on to the books of the various theorists I would suggest the Kaplan ACCA complete texts for paper P5 Advanced performance management and Paper P3 Advanced Business Analysis combined with the lectures available free on Opentuition (think about 24 hours worth of lectures for those two).
If you're like me you'll start relating the theories to what they can do for you (which has to be the ultimate goal of any management theory) and also dropping by the wayside those that you feel are just full of hokum (I'm not a big fan of McKinseys 7's model which seems to me too contrived in order to have a catchy title).
Most theories are aimed firmly at larger businesses than ours but things like the performance prism (which pulls in other theories) can be easily adapted to any size of entity.
The key is that they all make you think about where you are now, where you want to be and give you the tools for how to get there.
From the problems that you identify take a look also at Cyert and Marches work which looks at ways of keeping satisfied the stakeholders that you identify using Mendelow.
HTH,
Shaun.
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Shaun
Responses are not meant as a substitute for professional advice. Answers are intended as outline only the advice of a qualified professional with access to all relevant information should be sought before acting on any response given.
@Shaun - if you want a more modern book try Positioning for Professionals by Tim Williams, that is only a couple of years old and it has some content on how to do it.
I just skim read the first chapter of the Performance Prism and like it. Thanks. I believe introducing these theories/concepts into small business is how accountants/bookkeepers can add value.
I was thinking of a very subtle name change to my business, so that the initials remain the same (and therefore the logo still works). Just changing "Software" to "Services" which would be a bit more meaningful than having a 'software' company doing this sort of work.
Then I thought: Why not call it "Get Stuffed" to actually discourage potential clients.
Then I thought: Can't be bothered. As in I can't, not as a potential name. Though it does have a ring to it, thinking about it now. :)
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Vince M Hudd - Soft Rock Software
(I only came here looking for fellow apiarists...)
I've just scan read the Tim Williams book (using the look inside feature on Amazon) and you'll be pleased to know that I've added that one to my watch list.
Also had a look at the Ron Baker book which seems to be well written but what I read of it didn't pull me in the way that the Williams book did. I can also see links between Mr Bakers work and Crunchers in that he seems to be at the forefront of value pricing.
where the performance prism is linked to Porters Value Chain and also gives an insight into how it's adoption helped DHL.
I think that the article could have been improved by also linking to either Fitzgerald and Moon or the perfromance pyramid rather than using McKinseys 7s model (which I personally don't rate).
I also don't think that the example of London youth clubs where the writer is trying to tyre lever in a not for profit example adds anything to the article but all in all sure that you'll read through it and like myself start reading between the lines as to what strategies / methodologies should be employed for your business for the various perspectives of the prism.
Talk later,
Shaun.
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Shaun
Responses are not meant as a substitute for professional advice. Answers are intended as outline only the advice of a qualified professional with access to all relevant information should be sought before acting on any response given.
just took a look at Natural Planning Approach to project management and it's another one of those things that either JSW have "borrowed" or the author has borrowed from them.
As mentioned previously I'm no great fan of JSW but one cannot take it away from them that even is the ideas in their book are not always unique they do bring them together in such a way as to do a darn good job of selling them to the readers.
If you're interested in it the book is Exploring Corporate Strategy by Johnson Scholes and Whittington.
Its required reading for basically all management accountants and whilst I can see why, as I've said before there's nothing here that you've not read somewhere else before. It's just that by taking everytones ideas and bringing them together you get the big picture rather than lots of seperate fragments to construct oneself.
Personally I quite like the construction process and when I first read about the performance prism I was thinking, well that needs Mendelow and Porters Value chain would work there, and what Key Performance Indicators would we need here.
On the size to theory comment I actually agree with you in that most theories are scalable although the cost to benefit ratio on some may make them non starters.
As you state, we are knowledge workers but the real knack is trying to turn that into hard cash rather than a value added service.
I know that I could "fix" many of the businesses that cross my doorstep but try getting anyone to pay you to sort them out as if they're turning a profit they cannot see that they have a probelm.
To quote Marvin the Android (Hitchhikers Guide) "Brain the size of a planet and I get to open doors"!!!!
lol,
Shaun.
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Shaun
Responses are not meant as a substitute for professional advice. Answers are intended as outline only the advice of a qualified professional with access to all relevant information should be sought before acting on any response given.
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