Ty Hendrickson is a CPA, sales expert, and co-founder of The Sales Seed where she helps accounting firms grow through the integration of sales principles. She worked as an accountant at firms ranging from small to large prior to moving into the accounting technology sector successfully building sales training programs for both Wolters Kluwer and Bloomberg BNA achieving record sales successes. Shownotes:

Why accountants struggle with salling and what it takes to become more comfortable with the word 'sales'

A simple question to challenge accountants with who feel that selling should not be part of their job

Why firms with marketing and business development resource should still expect their people to win work

The reasons why accountants and other technically smart professionals can be good at selling

The key differences between marketing, business development and sales for accountants

Why marketing people in a professional firm should actually not be selling

Who is the best person in an accounting firm to actually be doing the selling and closing

Questions an accountant should ask themselves to develop a work winning or business development strategy

How to strike a balance between finding business for yourself and for others in your accounting firm

What dictates how coachable and willing to learn an accountant or CPA can be around winning new business

The importance of sales frameworks to help accountants be more confident and effective in selling

Why working in specialty areas, sectors or niches actually makes new clients easier to find

A 5 step sales process that will help accountants, CPAs and service professionals win business

The real difficulty accountants have in identifying a niche or target client to go after

How the business development and networking game has changed how professionals win business

The big problem with LinkedIn and what accountants should actually doing on there

Warmer ways for accountants to reach prospects than cold calling

Top tips to get prospects to switch from their current accounting advisors to you and your firm

Why compliance is still necessary for accountants but advisory services are much easier and more profitable to sell

The importance of the right culture in a professional firm to give people the support they need to sell

Why poor culture is a big reason professional firms are struggling with recruitment and retention

How leaders in accounting firms can identify and support more junior people who want to do business development

Why just trying to grow more revenues from an existing client roster or portfolio is not the best way to grow

Why your value is not the products and services you deliver

The factors that should help an accountant define their ideal client

Ty is a contributing expert in the accounting industry and has spoken at conferences and events hosted by Accounting and Financial Women’s Association, Association for Accounting Marketers, Alliott Group, CPAmerica, CCH User Conference and more. You can find her articles and insights featured in CPA Trendlines and the AFWA blog. Ty is based in Lexington, KY where she lives with her CPA husband and her two red-headed sons. Contact Ty here:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/tyhendrickson/

If you want to kick-start your business development activities, download our free guide on how to add 100 new prospects in just 1 month here: https://thesalesseed.com/100-prospects-1-month