Einstein & The Planning Day Guy For Accountants

Einstein
AND THE PLANNING DAY GUY
For accountants that want to build a business
that works for them rather than the other way around
CRAIG BADCOCK

© Craig Badcock 2016
All rights reserved to the author Craig Badcock. Except
as permitted under the Australian Copyright Act 1968, no
part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, communicated or transmitted in any form or by
any means without prior written permission. All inquiries
should be made to the publisher, Unicorn Business
Solutions.

Disclaimer
The material in this publication is of the nature of
general comment only, and does not represent
professional advice. It is not intended to provide
specific guidance for particular circumstances
and it should not be relied upon as the basis for
any decision to take action or not take action on
any matter which it covers. Readers should obtain
professional advice where appropriate, before making
any such decision. To the maximum extent permitted
by law, the author disclaims all responsibility and
liability to any person, arising directly or indirectly
from any person taking or not taking action based on
the information in this publication.
To my wife, Deb, and children: Rowena,
Dana, Lucas, Joel and Zara, for continuing
to listen to my crazy ideas.

The Author
Craig is a Chartered Accountant and lives in the small rural
town of Devonport in Tasmania, Australia. He is married to
Deb (also a Chartered Accountant) and has five children
aged from eight to twenty.
Craig describes himself as an unnatural salesman who has
managed to build two accounting practices from scratch.
He has done this through differentiating his offering and
imposing a $7,700 compulsory strategic Planning Day
requirement for new small business clients.
He is a sole practitioner at Unicorn Business Solutions
with a team of 14 based in offices in Devonport and
Hobart, Tasmania.
Over the past 15 years Craig has transitioned from
compliance work to delivering valuable consulting and
coaching services using brilliant but inexperienced and
unqualified team members. This approach often results in
annual client fees increasing from $5,000 to $50,000.
Craig believes that accountants are uniquely placed
to help their small business clients and prospective
clients build businesses that work for them rather than
the other way around. In fact, he believes they have an
ethical obligation to offer this assistance, even if their
client doesn’t ask for it.
Interest in Craig’s success has resulted in
him being requested to conduct strategic
planning days for accounting firms and to
share his experiences, ideas, systems and
sales processes. As with his business clients,
Craig has helped identify hidden opportunities
and identify significant resources that are
directed towards solving the
wrong problems.

Introduction
Einstein was initially ridiculed for his theories,
but over the subsequent 100 years, he has been
proven correct over and over again. I have always
marvelled at his genius and been impressed by the
quotes attributed to him.
This book uses some of these quotes to help you
see the future of your profession. My comments
are designed to make you think about the
opportunities for you, your business and the
businesses of your clients. Some comments may
pose more questions than answers as this is not
intended as a detailed prescription of precise
required action. Please refer to the Next Steps
page, at the end of this book, to obtain a more
detailed step-by-step guide.

Clients spend 90% of their time looking forward.
Traditional accountants spend 90% of their time
looking backwards.
Change this disconnect and help them shape their
future.
1

As we show our clients their potential to achieve
through their business, the opportunity to help
them navigate the infinite possibilities increases
dramatically.
3

We are efficient at preparing financial statements
and that is better than being inefficient at it.
However, imagine the impact if we had a quality
conversation with every business client, every
month. How much work would we generate and how
much value could we add to our clients?
5

It is easy to identify 100 things that need improving in
a client’s business. It is much more valuable to identify
the three big things that will drive their business
forward.
Show them what their business and their life will look
like after these three things change and help them to
develop a plan to make this happen.
7

Persistence will always beat brilliance.
Of course it is important to stay with the right
questions, as some will catapult us to a strong future
and some are irrelevant.
9

Value pricing is part art and part science.
Just because it can’t be described scientifically
doesn’t mean we shouldn’t use it, enjoy it and benefit
from it.
11

What is your absurd goal?
Aim high and help your clients to do the same.
13

Surround yourself with people with imagination -
creators.
Free up the future of any criticisers who work for you…
15

It will be easy for you to understand the business
opportunities your clients can’t get to and the
problems they can’t solve.
From there, all you need is a process and some value
pricing skills to help you and them.
17

It is important that all of your employees can find all of
the information your firm possesses and can benefit
from everyone’s collective experience.
19

Your employees are not equal. Stop treating them
that way.
21

Put your young employees in front of clients whenever
possible. Every client meeting you have without them
is a wasted opportunity.
23

Remember - a dream is a plan without action. This is
better than action without a plan which is a nightmare.
In order to make anything significant happen four
factors are required.
First, you must want to do it.
Second, you must believe it is possible.
Third, you need a plan.
Finally, you must act.
If any of these are absent, you will fail.
Continued…
25

… continued from previous
Belief is where a surprising number of small business
owners fail.
27

What if you train them and they leave?
What if you don’t train them and they stay?
Train your team to ask good questions, listen and then
ask good follow-up questions.
Reward employees that move towards responsibility.
29

Recruit people who believe what you believe and then
get out of their way.
31

Encourage and reward employees for challenging
and improving systems to provide more effective and
efficient outcomes for clients.
33

Here are some ideas as a test:
• Give your clients a choice of “yeses” when you
present them with a fee proposal.
• Don’t discount prices for the 90% of your
clients who are happy with your prices for the
10% that aren’t.
35

No one ever cut their way to success.
It is sad to observe the downward spiral when business
owners put cost cutting plans in action and become
the living dead.
37

Most successful people have made lots of mistakes in
sales. Lots of accountants haven’t.
39

People tend to live up or down to your expectations.
Give them the tools, systems and encouragement to
go and do it.
41

If you aren’t encountering opposition to your ideas,
then you either need better ideas or better quality
employees.
43

If we are able to apply some leverage through utilising
others greatest efforts in addition to our own then we
should aim even higher.
45

It is easy to encourage our employees to pursue the
wrong activities by measuring the wrong things. For
example, measuring chargeable hours instead of value
provided.
47

Now may be the time for some daring speculation in
your firm. This will increase the excitement levels and
energise the team.
49

Some of my best employees have no business
qualifications. Some of my worst hires have been the
best qualified.
51

Practice and perfect the skill of asking great questions.
The alternative often results in efficiently solving the
wrong problems.
53

If the “why” is big enough, the “how” doesn’t matter.
This is your job as a leader.
55

If you recruit from your competitors or from the same
place as your competitors, you are likely to end up the
same as them.
Instead, recruit for attitude and willingness to learn and
search everywhere you go. These people can be found
when you are riding your bike, having lunch or at the
gym.
57

Don’t remain silent, but don’t give answers – they are
overrated!
Not giving employees answers until they tell you their
suggested answer is an excellent technique for staff
development and also takes the pressure off you.
With clients, asking the right questions is more
important than providing answers.
59

‘Do as I say and not as I do’ is only ever a temporary
solution because your best employees will leave.
61

This is why clients need you as their business coach.
63

Chasing two rabbits usually results in disappointment
or a car crash.
What is your big hairy audacious goal for the year?
What do you have to achieve this month, this week and
today to make this happen?
65

Selling is complicated if you attempt to sell an infinite
number of solutions.
For example, if you only sell Planning Days it is
relatively easy to become an expert at selling
Planning Days. Of course these can be customised to
accommodate different client circumstances.
67

Enthusiastically embracing new technology before
others is far more likely to be a successful strategy
than predicting, and waiting for, the end of the
profession.
69

The current environment gives us an excellent
opportunity to measure our intelligence because if we
don’t change, we will die.
The only certainty is: what got you to where you are will
not get you to where you want to go.
71

Motivation and commitment are at their highest when
there is no plan “B”.
73

Ask clients: What would have to change in your
business for next year’s profit to equal last year’s
turnover?
75

Sometimes ‘right’ is important. Sometimes a fast
incorrect decision is better than a slow correct
decision.
Mostly we should aim for success, not perfection.
There is a correlation between speed of decision and
business success.
The partnership consensus model is often a problem.
77

How do you deliver your services to create a WOW
factor?
What do you do that makes you memorable?
What do you do that causes clients to talk about you?
79

It is the supreme art of the manager to catch
employees doing something right, and for them to
believe that you have their best interests at heart.
81

Build a financial model of a client’s business, based on
activity, with a maximum of ten numbers.
Show them how small improvements in productivity,
average hourly rate, number of sales, average sale
or other relevant metrics will impact their profit and
business value.
Continued …
83

… continued from previous
In order to increase the impact, show this upside over a
five-year period.
Establish what this would mean to them personally,
and then explain how you can help them achieve these
gains.
Here is another $50,000 consulting client!
85

Knowledge means knowing how to explain a Profit &
Loss Statement.
Imagine what could come from a conversation with a
client when you explain their biggest expense doesn’t
appear on their Profit & Loss Statement – it is the cost
of the lost opportunity.
Continued…
87

…continued from previous
Maybe no one else has ever had this discussion with
them.
Control of the client conversation comes from knowing
the questions to ask, active listening and then a great
follow-up question.
Information is of limited advantage.
89

Employ good people with a great attitude and a
willingness to learn and then get out of their way.
Show them an exciting future and make them aware of
the importance of their contribution.
91

How many business client groups do you have and
what is the annual average fee?
What do you want these numbers to be?
What do you need these numbers to be?
Now double your target and develop a strategy to
achieve this within 12 months.
That’s simple!
93

We are safe in our office, but that isn’t where the new
business is.
95

What are you prepared to stop doing today? Create
capacity for the things you want to do and then go and
do them.
Note that it doesn’t work the other way around.
97

Life is too short to deal with idiots.
Sack them as clients and your team will love you.
99

Clients are embarrassed to admit they don’t have any
idea what you are talking about. Stop using acronyms
and technical language to make you feel important.
It is almost impossible to dumb things down too much.
101

Define your “A” class client and document the criteria
for client selection.
Life is too short to deal with fools. Stop saying “yes” to
them, by giving yourself an objective way to say “no”.
103

Unfortunately we can’t always avoid client’s problems.
Sometimes the best we can do is to ask great
questions so that the solution is obvious.
105

We should aim for success not perfection. This
encourages action and prevents inertia from over
thinking.
Start today with one client, one conversation or one
whatever. Then build it as you fly. What is the worst that
can happen?
107

Common sense suggests if we work longer we will
achieve more.
Parkinson’s Law states that work expands to fill the
time available to complete it.
If you could only work two hours per week, what would
you do?
109

Clients have (lots of) problems in their businesses.
They need external assistance to give them a different
perspective and coaching to provide discipline and
accountability.
This is a big opportunity, but only if you initiate a
conversation and ask the right questions.
Just because clients have problems they can’t solve
doesn’t mean they will ask you for help.
111

Keeping your mouth shut is an important skill. Resist
the temptation to tell clients everything you know. Tell
them only what they need to know.
113

Ask good follow-up questions and amazing things will
happen.
Doing this demonstrates that we care, that we are
listening to them.
It also demonstrates that we know that no one cares
how much you know until they know how much you
care.
115

There is no correlation between qualifications
and capability. Hire people with a great attitude,
a willingness to learn and the ability to ask good
questions, irrespective of their qualifications.
Consider that most of the great breakthroughs in
history have been…
Continued
117

…continued from previous
…achieved by people under 25, before you reject a
potential employee because they aren’t qualified or
don’t have enough experience.
119

IDWISIWD - an acronym that will set you apart, not
only from your competitors, but also from every other
business that your clients deal with.
I do what I say I will do (and then from back to front)
when I say I will do it.
This is a one-word strategy that, if applied internally
and externally, will have a profound impact.
121

We have an ethical obligation to offer business advice,
within our expertise, to clients that need help.
The fact they haven’t asked for our help doesn’t
change this.
123

The pressure is immediately reduced if you admit that
you are not an expert in the client’s industry.
Follow this up by telling them that most successful
businesses, in most industries, are successful because
they do things differently to their competitors. By not
being an “expert” you don’t have the industry blinkers
on and some of your ‘dumb’ questions will lead to
interesting answers.
125

If the problem is that your current client selection
criteria is “breathing”, then spend 55 minutes working
out:
• What an “A” class client looks like
• How to identify 100 potential clients that fit the
criteria
• How to find the contact details of the decision
makers
• What a marketing campaign directed only to
these
Continued
127

…continued from previous
• potential clients would look like, in order to be:
o Persistent
o Consistent
o Interesting
o Educational
o Easy for them to respond to
• Then set KPI’s to acquire 20 of these clients in
the next 12 months
129

Financial targets should only be expressed in dollars
because you can’t spend percentages!
131

Can you explain how to obtain most of your new
business from word-of-mouth referrals, but you
haven’t invested anything in your referral system?
What results could you obtain from an effective and
efficient referral system?
133

Accountants can’t sell, or at least most of them can’t.
Forcing them to sell erodes their confidence and will
cause you unbearable levels of frustration.
However, accountants can follow a system and identify
opportunities to pass to salespeople.
135

You will be more successful if you concentrate your
efforts on selling rather than marketing.
If you operate a low volume, high value business (or
you want to) all you need to do is identify and convert
the opportunities you already have. Avoid hiding
behind long-term, expensive marketing strategies.
137

In my case an empty desk is normally a sign that I
sorted everything before I left for the holidays.
How do we create this same level of urgency and
efficiency on a regular basis?
Parkinson’s Law supports the case for more holidays!
139

If you couldn’t fail, what would you do tomorrow in your
business?
What is the worst that could happen if you did this and
you failed? It probably isn’t that bad!
141

Sales success is achieved through passion and
enthusiasm for what you do as well as a belief that
every business owner would have to be crazy not to
deal with you.
This is best conveyed with case studies and perfected
by doing it.
143

If you don’t enjoy what you are doing, stop doing it.
If you are not achieving the sales success you need,
ask better questions, listen more and talk less.
143

As a leader you must imagine a better future. You must
also believe you are the person to take your team
there.
Remember, no business ever outperformed its leader.
143

Understand that people don’t buy drills; they buy holes.
Understand that if three people are in charge, no one is
in charge.
Understand that 90% of price resistance occurs
between your ears.
143

You only have one life - not a work life and a home life. If
you love what you do, it isn’t work anyway.
It is ok to think about work when you aren’t at work.
143

Some simple questions to ask your clients and
prospects:
• Why did you go into business?
• Are you happy with your progress?
• What is preventing you from achieving your
objectives?
• Why do you your customers deal with you?
• What is your master plan?
143

Apply the five-year test to your employees.
If an employee is not performing or is annoying you,
do you realistically see them as a critical part of your
business in five years? If not, find a way to exit them
now.
143

The value of an accountant can be increased by a
guarantee.
A guarantee can increase enquiries from marketing
initiatives, increase sales conversion rates and
increase prices for you and your clients.
You can’t make it too easy for a client to say yes.
Reverse the risk.
143

Next Steps
Visit unicornbs.com.au/accountants.html to obtain your free
copy of:
• Craig’s 5 Reasons Why Accountants Fail With Value
Pricing and How to Succeed, and
• 7 Reasons Why Accountants Struggle to Profitably
and Successfully Coach Small Business Clients and
Craig’s Guide How to Overcome Them
Complete the free online assessment to determine
the actions required for you to succeed.
You can also purchase resources, subscribe to
Craig’s blog, ask Craig a question and/or learn how
you can work with Craig and his team to benefit from
their experience and fast track your results.

Einstein and The Planning Day Guy will make you seriously think
about the future of your accounting practice. It is full of useful
tips and techniques for managers and partners interested in
helping their small business clients (and prospective clients)
build a business that works for them rather than the
other way around.
The rewards of doing this are more interesting work, an engaged
team, grateful clients and an increase in annual fees from
$5,000 to $50,000.
The ideas are presented with links to interesting and thoughtprovoking
quotes from Einstein and these alone
will get you thinking.
Craig Badcock is the Planning Day Guy, having conducted nearly
200 strategic Planning Days with small business owners. He
says he used to be an accountant and describes himself as an
unnatural salesman. Let him show you how he has successfully
transitioned from compliance work to coaching and consulting
and how you can do the same.
RRP: $19.95