Part 9 (1/2)

Attributes of Sis about your firs or options in the es on the web sites of the big-four accounting firely the same across al four firms

ATTRIBUTES OF SIMILARITY SHARED BY BIG-FOUR ACCOUNTING FIRMS

Depending on your type of fires are necessary coame At the very least they are co, client focus and client service, commitment to results, ”people are our most i attributes but are rarely funda of other fir uncos success” It's often your attributes of similarity, not those of distinction, that if done wel , forth of your firm

Attributes of Distinction Attributes of distinction are things about your firful difference when compared to others

One of our least favorite questions that buyers ask is: ”How are you different?” If we're asked this question, we'l typicaly respond, ”Different fro hoe're different from every other firory of firm? A particular firm?

As we noted earlier, difference implies comparison Without coood (in cases, our people are the slobal reach and assets to bring to bear for you, we're sold, our foundations are rooted in our research, etc) or so to the table (we're the only fir business with the financial coress expert on flux capacitor design innovation, etc)

Attributes of Experience Attributes of experience are things about your firarding what it's like to ith your firm

Is your firm buttoned-up or casual? No-nonsense or touchy-feely? Vanila or quirky? Is your don office worthy of Architectural Digest in elegance and sophistication, or is your suburban office Spartan and workmanlike? Do you wine and dine your clients or ame?

The one place where every service firm can, indeed, be its own special snowflake is in the experience of what it's like to ith you

Taken together, al of your attributes-everything theyou know about yourself-forth of your value proposition

It al coest as the secondyour practice, your firm, or yourself: ”What do we say about ourselves?” (Note that the first ets-”Who should we beeach of the nine questions, you wil be finding relevant answers to help you articulate the value you provide to the marketplace

11

Your Firm, Your Brand Look well into thyself; there is a source of strength which will always spring up if thou wilt always look there

-Marcus Aurelius The ”visible” half of execution-theprofessionals-can only perform as well as the ”invisible” operations area allows it to Moreover, the quality of operations can also determine an institution's ability to innovate

-Ay”28 ”Who am I? Why am I here?”

-Admiral James Stockdale In the previous chapter we looked closely at the questions you need to answer to unlock your key brand attributes We noted that you need to find these answers fro you are not a start-up) Before you venture beyond the fire, you must first ask the same questions ofyourself

Much has been written about what reat in the eyes of their clients Firhest level of client satisfaction enjoy the highest level of client loyalty and are et new business referred to the the best firhtly) the subject ofwhat you do, the more likely you'l be to succeed

Let's assuet better at e do and deliver stronger value to the ardless of universal agreeet better at e deliver in the future, we need knowledge about ourselves regarding e can deliver right now and how good we are right noe can build eneration

Who Are We? What Do We Deliver?

Your capabilities are what you can deliver to clients Thisyou need to do if you want to establish a strong brand is get a grip on your capability set

Companies often view capabilities as a list of services, but they're h two lenses: (1) what you do and (2) the outcoht, for exa in corporate overhead and then ies to the overhead structure based on this analysis That's the ”what you do” part

On average, this service produces 5 percent reductions in overhead spend At a bilion-dolar corporation, overhead spend ht be 10 percent of revenue, or 100 mil ion A 5 percent reduction in spend equates then to 5 h the lens of the outco reductions in overhead at an average of 5 percent without changing the quality of what the coets from its overhead investments”

To recap:What we do: analyze corporate overhead and iies

Outcoe by 5 percent

The distinction is important because it affects how you ask questions about yourself when conducting brand research Firht of what they do and don't dig deeply enough around the outcomes those services produce Ask 100 chief financial officers if they value ”overhead analysis and new overhead strategy iet answers like this: ”Overhead is necessary and we keep tabs on it closely; but we focus on building new plants, product developers and acquisitions (M&A) analysis on ad to dedicate a space for in my brain So, no, I don't think I'd find it valuable”

Ask about the value of reducing overhead spend by 5 percent, and you et a different answer ”A 5 percent reduction in overhead spend at s of about 15 mil ion Over five years that would be 75I'd pay attention to, for sure”

It's al a question of how you look at what it is you are capable of delivering

Co Blocks of Capabilities Capabilities are made up of two ure 111) Competencies-What Your People Can Deliver Professional services fir, we know) Those things are anization Coe, skil s, and attributes

Figure 111 Value Proposition Foundation (The Firht al three of these come into play? Consider the case of the law fir clients pursue and close overseas acquisitions

The top attorneys at the fircompanies acquire other coe of the process and legal technicalities of a successful overseas acquisition, but they also have the knowledge of hundreds of deals, including ent right and how to avoid the co acquisitions can fal

At this firotiation and ate the coalities of overseas acquisitions, and fluency in over 12 different languages

The firm also has the attributes of extreme client focus, likable attorney personalities, and a culture of teae, skils, and attributes creates the fir companies identify and coreat fir coreat fit, perhaps the best fit, for what you need

For this fire, skils, and attributes Froanizations, the two look fairly much the same

assets-What Your Firm Has That Helps Your People Deliver to Clients Unfortunately for our example law firm, the similar coe, skil s, and attributes that help it increase its overal ability to deliver to clients

One resource the competitor has is an actively ets across industries, sectors, and countries that can, within hours, narron acquisition targets to the top 20 raphies of focus

One tool the fir overseas firy in place, it created excel ent client results; but those results took six y, results come much faster