{"id":1339,"date":"2022-08-25T22:02:30","date_gmt":"2022-08-25T12:02:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/markholton.com.au\/?p=1339"},"modified":"2022-08-26T09:29:42","modified_gmt":"2022-08-25T23:29:42","slug":"preparing-your-firm-for-advisory-success","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/markholton.com.au\/2022\/08\/25\/preparing-your-firm-for-advisory-success\/","title":{"rendered":"Preparing Your Firm for Advisory Success"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>So, you\u2019ve decided you\u2019re up for the challenge of business advisory work. The single most important piece of advice we can give you is this: you\u2019re not going to succeed if you don\u2019t have a solid, proven implementation plan and the resourcing and capacity to systematically roll it out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In my experience, you\u2019ll also need to nominate someone to champion the project \u2013 typically a partner, or senior accountant. Ideally, your project champion should be someone who is strong and determined and has the influence and leadership qualities required to push through the personal discomforts that may make some individuals in the firm hesitant to proceed or to step up to the plate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With that in mind, some of the key steps we recommend you consider at the outset include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><strong>A proven implementation plan<br><\/strong>I urge you not to proceed down the advisory path without a proven implementation plan. I have seen too many firms try and fail, and we know that doing so can be not only demoralising but also very, very expensive.<br><\/li><li><strong>Increase capacity<\/strong><br>Setting up a business advisory service is not something you can squeeze in around the edges of a busy compliance practice. One of the first things your plan should cover is how you\u2019re going to increase your firm and staff members\u2019 capacity and free up the time of those who will be most crucial to your success. This might involve hiring more team members, delegating work others can do, improving your internal processes and staff training to improve efficiency, upgrading your IT hardware and systems, or even letting go of some clients who you no longer want to work with.<br><\/li><li><strong>Resourcing<br><\/strong>Have you got the right staff, in the right roles, with the right decision-making power available to dedicate themselves to business advisory engagements? If you\u2019re considering taking on business advisory and its implementation yourself, do you have a succession plan for handing over your existing responsibilities?<br><\/li><li><strong>Targets<br><\/strong>Over the years I have observed that the firms that set themselves solid targets are the ones most likely to succeed. For example, you might want to set a goal that in two years, your advisory income from the first 10 clients you introduce to the service will reach 50% of your compliance billing to them. A concrete goal like this will also help you gain buy-in from your partners and co-workers.<br><\/li><li><strong>Accountability<br><\/strong>Aside from the list of action steps involved in implementing your plan, make sure you\u2019ve considered how you\u2019re going to keep yourselves accountable to your commitment. (If you need help with that, consider enrolling in Smithink Business Advisory Enabled program \u2013 it\u2019s been specially developed to keep you on track, so you achieve your goals).<br><\/li><li><strong>Systems<\/strong><br>There are a number of software tools that will enhance your advisory work, however, the systems and processes involved in successfully implementing an advisory service go beyond IT. How will you identify suitable clients to offer your advisory services to? How will you track your success rate? How will you price your services? How will you ensure each opportunity, now and in the future, is followed up for optimal outcomes for both the firm and the client? And how will you ensure all relevant people on the team receive the ongoing training they need in order to develop and improve their advisory skills?<br><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>Why not get the ball rolling by taking a complimentary 45 minute Business Advisory Readiness Assessment webinar with me? We will examine where your firm\u2019s business advisory service is at the moment, where you want it in the future, how to get there and who is going to do what. Just reach out to me at <a href=\"mailto:mark.holton@smithink.com\">mark.holton@smithink.com<\/a> and we can organise a suitable day and time.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>So, you\u2019ve decided you\u2019re up for the challenge of business advisory work. The single most important piece of advice we can give you is this: you\u2019re not going to succeed if you don\u2019t have a solid, proven implementation plan and the resourcing and capacity to systematically roll it out. In my experience, you\u2019ll also need&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1114,"featured_media":1342,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Preparing Your Firm for Advisory Success - Mark Holton<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"So, you\u2019ve decided you\u2019re up for the challenge of business advisory work.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/markholton.com.au\/2022\/08\/25\/preparing-your-firm-for-advisory-success\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Preparing Your Firm for Advisory Success - Mark Holton\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"So, you\u2019ve decided you\u2019re up for the challenge of business advisory work.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/markholton.com.au\/2022\/08\/25\/preparing-your-firm-for-advisory-success\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Mark Holton\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Mark.Holton.Speaker\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-08-25T12:02:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-08-25T23:29:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/markholton.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/398\/2022\/08\/Ladder.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"561\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mark Holton\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Mark Holton\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/markholton.com.au\/2022\/08\/25\/preparing-your-firm-for-advisory-success\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/markholton.com.au\/2022\/08\/25\/preparing-your-firm-for-advisory-success\/\",\"name\":\"Preparing Your Firm for Advisory Success - Mark Holton\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/markholton.com.au\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2022-08-25T12:02:30+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-08-25T23:29:42+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/markholton.com.au\/#\/schema\/person\/83f0e2248a201d4023b5702ac256fef6\"},\"description\":\"So, you\u2019ve decided you\u2019re up for the challenge of business advisory work.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/markholton.com.au\/2022\/08\/25\/preparing-your-firm-for-advisory-success\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/markholton.com.au\/2022\/08\/25\/preparing-your-firm-for-advisory-success\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/markholton.com.au\/2022\/08\/25\/preparing-your-firm-for-advisory-success\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/markholton.com.au\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Preparing Your Firm for Advisory Success\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/markholton.com.au\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/markholton.com.au\/\",\"name\":\"Mark Holton - Professional Services Presenter\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/markholton.com.au\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/markholton.com.au\/#\/schema\/person\/83f0e2248a201d4023b5702ac256fef6\",\"name\":\"Mark Holton\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/markholton.com.au\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/71a8ce8646bccbd631b47637f7ea6e84?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/71a8ce8646bccbd631b47637f7ea6e84?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Mark Holton\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/markholton.com.au\/author\/andreamarkholton\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Preparing Your Firm for Advisory Success - Mark Holton","description":"So, you\u2019ve decided you\u2019re up for the challenge of business advisory work.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/markholton.com.au\/2022\/08\/25\/preparing-your-firm-for-advisory-success\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Preparing Your Firm for Advisory Success - Mark Holton","og_description":"So, you\u2019ve decided you\u2019re up for the challenge of business advisory work.","og_url":"https:\/\/markholton.com.au\/2022\/08\/25\/preparing-your-firm-for-advisory-success\/","og_site_name":"Mark Holton","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Mark.Holton.Speaker\/","article_published_time":"2022-08-25T12:02:30+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-08-25T23:29:42+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1000,"height":561,"url":"https:\/\/markholton.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/398\/2022\/08\/Ladder.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Mark Holton","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Mark Holton","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/markholton.com.au\/2022\/08\/25\/preparing-your-firm-for-advisory-success\/","url":"https:\/\/markholton.com.au\/2022\/08\/25\/preparing-your-firm-for-advisory-success\/","name":"Preparing Your Firm for Advisory Success - Mark Holton","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/markholton.com.au\/#website"},"datePublished":"2022-08-25T12:02:30+00:00","dateModified":"2022-08-25T23:29:42+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/markholton.com.au\/#\/schema\/person\/83f0e2248a201d4023b5702ac256fef6"},"description":"So, you\u2019ve decided you\u2019re up for the challenge of business advisory work.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/markholton.com.au\/2022\/08\/25\/preparing-your-firm-for-advisory-success\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/markholton.com.au\/2022\/08\/25\/preparing-your-firm-for-advisory-success\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/markholton.com.au\/2022\/08\/25\/preparing-your-firm-for-advisory-success\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/markholton.com.au\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Preparing Your Firm for Advisory Success"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/markholton.com.au\/#website","url":"https:\/\/markholton.com.au\/","name":"Mark Holton - Professional Services Presenter","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/markholton.com.au\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/markholton.com.au\/#\/schema\/person\/83f0e2248a201d4023b5702ac256fef6","name":"Mark Holton","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/markholton.com.au\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/71a8ce8646bccbd631b47637f7ea6e84?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/71a8ce8646bccbd631b47637f7ea6e84?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Mark Holton"},"url":"https:\/\/markholton.com.au\/author\/andreamarkholton\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/markholton.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1339"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/markholton.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/markholton.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markholton.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1114"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markholton.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1339"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/markholton.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1339\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1341,"href":"https:\/\/markholton.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1339\/revisions\/1341"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markholton.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/markholton.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1339"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markholton.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1339"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markholton.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1339"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}