Implementation strategies - winning new business.

It's not an idea that counts it's the action that follows from the realisation that counts...

If you take up a subscription to our Tool Kit we will actively support your firm in achieving 4 basic implementation milestones. We want you to implement the strategies featured in the Tool Kit and start to benefit from their application as quickly as possible. Accordingly we place great importance on our customer service follow up, particularly, supporting subscriber's implementation of the various features of the Tool Kit. We will be in touch as soon as the sign up formalities are completed to start this process. Here's an outline of the strategies, the four implementation milestones that we will be promoting:

Milestone 1 - Making someone responsible...

Sole practitioners and partners lead busy lives. Unless they have a clear focus and time available to spend on marketing their practice, they will not be effective Implementation Managers.

This role should be delegated to a person briefed for the task and hopefully free of fee earning duties. For many smaller practices this could be an existing admin support person or a part-time appointee. Our first step will be to call you and identify this person.

Milestone 2 - Training...

We do our best to ensure that the documentation we publish on our web site is both clear and unambiguous. But nobody is perfect!

To ensure that you can make a quick start we will contact the person appointed to take responsibility for the implementation of the Tool Kit features and show them the simplest and most effective way to achieve results. Results in this context are taken to mean increasing practice fees.

Training will focus on the two issues set out below as Milestone 3 - adding report generators to your web site and Milestone 4 - integrating the use of the report generators internally.

Milestone 3 - Adding report generators to your web site

The core features of our Tool Kit are the four report generators - the Business Records Checker (BRC), the Business Fitness Assessment (BFA), the Tax Planning Report (TPR) and the Personal Financial Health Check (PFHC).

The first task is to add one or more of these features to your web site. To do this you will need the co-operation of your web site manager or provider. Our Implementation Training will take you through the process that has now been successfully used by numerous firms across the UK. You do not need a background in web site construction we provide the necessary html code and other instructions for your web site manager/provider.

We suggest that you add links to the Tool Kit questionnaires in a prominent position on your web site home page. See the links on www.swanpartnership.co.uk.

The training in Milestone 2 will also include an overview of the handouts, press releases and power point presentations that we provide in the Tool Kit downloads area - these can be used to push traffic to your web site and hence generate new leads for your practice.

The report generators are designed to act as a net to catch new leads but there is a more productive use they can be put to - creating an opportunity to win additional services with existing clients. Milestone 4 deals with this application.

Milestone 4 - Using the report generators internally

Once you have established the report generators on your web site you can train your staff, and partners, to use them with clients. Here're a few of the ways you could do this.

Each of the four main features offers an opportunity to create a targeted marketing campaign for your practice. To get the best possible results from your subscription we suggest you do this. The campaign can be equally effective with existing clients and new contacts. Don't forget, it is always easier to cross-sell to existing clients.

1. Face to face meetings - at the beginning or end of a client meeting. To discuss accounts or tax returns, sit with your client and complete a questionnaire online.
   
   
2. Staff generated reports - if your time with clients is limited, staff or partners could generate a report based on their knowledge of the client. This could be printed and used as a discussion document.
   
   
3. Advise clients to take a look for themselves...
   
   
4. Use technology - we have Tool Kit subscribers who hand their clients an iPad prior to a meeting and request that they take a few minutes to fill in the appropriate questionnaire.

The report created by our questionnaires is a valuable document - it is a qualified lead generator. It reveals those areas of your client's affairs that may offer you an opportunity to sell additional services.

However you generate the reports winning additional work from existing clients is your first option - developing new appointments is a longer term goal and one that will require methodical marketing to drive traffic to your web site.