Articles about Practice Development

One of the problems we face as advisers is the subject of immortality. I may have already mentioned the fact that I was born in 1956, which makes me 28 of course, and in my busy life I was forced to confront immortality reasonably early on into proceedings. Primarily it was other folk's lack of immortality that drew my attention but more recently my own came in for an enforced review, triggered by the untimely departure of a close friend who was 2 years younger than me.

One option is to understand the value of your time and organise your day to be more productive  in generating business. Here are six concepts to help you do just that.

No doubt accountants will have read this week's Sunday Star Times article on the possible overhaul of trust regulations.

You've probably been told to be neat, tidy and organised by filing the emails you save into folders. However what if you can't remember where you filed an email?

Although some may dub it 'egosurfing', others might call it a wise career move to conduct a web search to see what information about you is available online. After all, what is visible to you also is visible to potential employers.

Activity equals success. Or stated differently, the business you  bring in today was generated from the marketing activities you did in the past. What differs industry by industry is the lead time required for that activity to create a sale. Stop the activity and in a corresponding time in the future - sales will fall.

Quite a statement to make... so how true is this? Let's confine the discussion to New Zealand specifically.

I recently reviewed the time and cost records of four clients covering a period of eight years in a "supposedly efficient" firm in provincial New Zealand.

Your email folders grow as you send and receive emails, set tasks, create appointments and meetings. Not only does the information become dated, it slows down the performance of your inbox and wastes time when you search for items.

Where is it!!!!?????

Ahhhh. You've felt the aggravation of that missing file or folder through to the frustration of hunting for an email you know you have - but just can't find.

Well don't despair.
There are ways of finding emails and a few ways of making vanished ones reappear like a rabbit out of a hat.

With the end of the financial year approaching there won't be a shortage of things to do in your office and your staff will have their hands full with the million and one tasks that already form part of your practice procedures.  I have no illusions about how welcome the suggestion that you consider adding a few more items will be.