Paul Shrimpling

If the global employee engagement score is 23% – and it is this low – and the UK employee engagement score is even lower at 10%, where would you put the employee engagement score for your firm?
What’s clear from the research is that, whether you have a small or large team, the engagement of your team determines your success now and in the future.
Whether you have 1, 10 or 100 team members, let’s consider getting your team’s wholehearted, committed and enthusiastic participation in what… Show more

If the global employee engagement score is 23% – and it is this low – and the UK employee engagement score is even lower at 10%, where would you put the employee engagement score for your firm?
What’s clear from the research is that, whether you have a small or large team, the engagement of your team determines your success now and in the future.
Whether you have 1, 10 or 100 team members, let’s consider getting your team’s wholehearted, committed and enthusiastic participation in what your firm is doing and how they are meant to be working. Show less

Use goals to give yourself and others real focus. A goal's focus guides your actions and delivers greater success.
Make ‘ambitious’ SMART goals and plans part of your daily or weekly routine and watch your accountancy firm thrive.

In business, as in life, there are a handful of moments when your actions will profoundly affect the results you achieve and the quality of the relationships you experience.
In your own life, you’ll likely have experienced a conflict with a parent, a teenager or another family member where the stakes were high and emotions ran even higher.
To avoid the negative consequences of mis-managing conflict, build your crucial conversation skills to better resolve these important issues, improve… Show more

In business, as in life, there are a handful of moments when your actions will profoundly affect the results you achieve and the quality of the relationships you experience.
In your own life, you’ll likely have experienced a conflict with a parent, a teenager or another family member where the stakes were high and emotions ran even higher.
To avoid the negative consequences of mis-managing conflict, build your crucial conversation skills to better resolve these important issues, improve results and preserve, or even build, stronger relationships. Show less

It’s easy to dismiss the two proven paths to a profitable and successful firm.
It’s easy because the companies who’ve taken up these pathways are global giants now.
However, these businesses were anything but giants when they started.
In their early days, they had a lot in common with you and your firm. Then they learned to master a simple business principle, one which we can all take more seriously.
It’s easy to want to do more, to provide smarter, better products to please your… Show more

It’s easy to dismiss the two proven paths to a profitable and successful firm.
It’s easy because the companies who’ve taken up these pathways are global giants now.
However, these businesses were anything but giants when they started.
In their early days, they had a lot in common with you and your firm. Then they learned to master a simple business principle, one which we can all take more seriously.
It’s easy to want to do more, to provide smarter, better products to please your clients. However, in a complex world, simplifying what you and your firm do can unlock increased sales and profits, as it has for many global brands. Show less

You’d like to think that companies such as NASA, Google, Adobe, LinkedIn and Salesforce have worked out how to recruit and develop high-impact people in their businesses.
They have.
They have worked out how to build behaviours that tackle their business challenges in a high-impact, self-driven and valuable way.
You won’t be surprised to discover that there are 3 types of ‘players’ in these businesses (and probably in your own firm as well).

Imagine you’re in a team meeting and someone takes an interpersonal risk and proposes a new idea to solve a thorny problem.
However, instead of receiving supportive, open-minded, constructive feedback, another member of the team is dismissive. Perhaps they belittle the idea and make sarcastic comments. It may even be delivered with humour, but there’s no doubting the put-down. The team member likely feels embarrassed and devalued. Chances are they are hesitant to contribute further… Show more

Imagine you’re in a team meeting and someone takes an interpersonal risk and proposes a new idea to solve a thorny problem.
However, instead of receiving supportive, open-minded, constructive feedback, another member of the team is dismissive. Perhaps they belittle the idea and make sarcastic comments. It may even be delivered with humour, but there’s no doubting the put-down. The team member likely feels embarrassed and devalued. Chances are they are hesitant to contribute further.
Chances are they they’ll avoid contributing at future meetings as well. Psychological safety is lost. Show less

Only when you let go of the lower rungs of a ladder can you grab the higher rungs and climb.
Ignore this simple principle and you are stuck on the rung you’re on!
In a similar way, because you have limited time, you must stop doing some things in order to free up time. Only then can you use this time to move onwards and upwards, and do better, more rewarding activities.
Hence the need for a ‘stop doing’ list!

It’s maddening, isn’t it, when a client doesn’t order your product or service – even though it is obvious that they’d be better off if they did?
And what about your team? Have you ever been frustrated by colleagues who fail to hit their performance targets and who miss their production numbers, sales targets or quality standards?
It could be that the way in which you communicate the relevant numbers prevents you (and them) from attaining better results.
Are you doing everything you can… Show more

It’s maddening, isn’t it, when a client doesn’t order your product or service – even though it is obvious that they’d be better off if they did?
And what about your team? Have you ever been frustrated by colleagues who fail to hit their performance targets and who miss their production numbers, sales targets or quality standards?
It could be that the way in which you communicate the relevant numbers prevents you (and them) from attaining better results.
Are you doing everything you can to make the numbers in your firm crystal clear? Show less

Do you sell your products and services to businesses or to consumers?
It matters not.
Both types of firm are thriving under the subscription business model.
What matters is whether you’re playing offence or defence when it comes to the subscription revolution.
Where are YOU at?

Any builder will tell you that the weakest part of a structure is the mortar connecting the bricks – the stronger the mortar, the stronger the building.
The pyramids, for example, used uber-strong limestone-based mortar and they’ve survived a rather long time!
In your firm, the mortar is your social capital – your team’s sense of connectedness – which builds trust amongst your team members, clients and all your stakeholders.
Weak social capital, weak trust, means that you’ll… Show more

Any builder will tell you that the weakest part of a structure is the mortar connecting the bricks – the stronger the mortar, the stronger the building.
The pyramids, for example, used uber-strong limestone-based mortar and they’ve survived a rather long time!
In your firm, the mortar is your social capital – your team’s sense of connectedness – which builds trust amongst your team members, clients and all your stakeholders.
Weak social capital, weak trust, means that you’ll struggle.
You’ll struggle because, without trust, the energy, commitment and engagement of your people will be half-hearted at best. Show less

Back in the spring of 2020, most of us were forced to work from home, to wear masks, to avoid contact with friends and loved ones. Our autonomy evaporated, and we had to comply. Many months later, we’d got used to the freedom of more flexible working practices. Any attempt to force us back to full-time office work threatens our autonomy and has contributed to the well-reported (and worth Googling)
‘great resignation’ and ‘quiet quitting’.
So what’s going wrong?

Planning to secure the future of your firm, but with you less involved, pays off in many ways.
So, what exactly does the future of your firm hold for you, for your fellow owners and, of course, for your team and your clients as well?

If you and your managers fail to improve your coaching skills, then your wider team are less likely to achieve the results you seek. In sport, you know that the best coaches are lauded with praise and gratitude, and for good reason. A good coach is a major part of a sports person’s or sports team’s success and can take on legendary status!
Could you?

If there was a quick and smart way to build new skills or to enhance existing skills, you would achieve so much more in your firm!
Share these same rapid skill-building techniques with your people, and you’d be right to say the sky is the limit for you and your team!
Fail to build new skills and capabilities and your firm will become less relevant and less attractive to both your clients and your team.
Irrelevance is not a good strategy for success!

High trust makes for an easier, less taxing and more profitable business life in your firm.
Low trust just feels oh-so stressful, don’t you think?
Low trust increases costs in all walks of life – business, family, sports teams, you name it.
Some costs are financial, some costs are emotional and psychological.
Some costs can be measured, some cannot.
High trust makes you better at everything you undertake as a leader.
Build trust, and you multiply your ability to grow revenue… Show more

High trust makes for an easier, less taxing and more profitable business life in your firm.
Low trust just feels oh-so stressful, don’t you think?
Low trust increases costs in all walks of life – business, family, sports teams, you name it.
Some costs are financial, some costs are emotional and psychological.
Some costs can be measured, some cannot.
High trust makes you better at everything you undertake as a leader.
Build trust, and you multiply your ability to grow revenue, profits and capital value. Chances are that your work and your firm will be more enjoyable as well. Crucially, employee engagement increases exponentially. Show less

It’s rare to find an accountant with complete clarity on the value they provide to their clients.
Even rarer to find one who has good enough client conversations to communicate the value they provide.
Your success is determined by your ability to communicate your value to your clients.
It pays to get absolute clarity on how to show the value of your firm and your firm’s products and services in a conversation because it’s not enough to be able to deliver value, you also need to… Show more

It’s rare to find an accountant with complete clarity on the value they provide to their clients.
Even rarer to find one who has good enough client conversations to communicate the value they provide.
Your success is determined by your ability to communicate your value to your clients.
It pays to get absolute clarity on how to show the value of your firm and your firm’s products and services in a conversation because it’s not enough to be able to deliver value, you also need to communicate your value too. Show less

The big lesson...
What your clients think, feel, say and tweet about their experience buying from you determines your success or failure.
Your clients’ experiences influence what your clients say about you and whether they buy more and buy more often. Or don’t!
The big question... Assuming you want your clients to think, feel, say and tweet positively, don't you need to take more seriously the work of creating, planning and delivering a great client experience for them?
Or would you… Show more

The big lesson...
What your clients think, feel, say and tweet about their experience buying from you determines your success or failure.
Your clients’ experiences influence what your clients say about you and whether they buy more and buy more often. Or don’t!
The big question... Assuming you want your clients to think, feel, say and tweet positively, don't you need to take more seriously the work of creating, planning and delivering a great client experience for them?
Or would you prefer to leave your client experience to chance and let your client experience focused competitors reap the rewards from your lack of attention? Show less

Let’s talk kids and beer!
If you were to place a bet on the future success of one of two kids, which child would you choose?
The child raised by loving parents in a solid home, living in an environment of routine and discipline, or the one living with apathy, cynicism and dysfunction?
No matter the intelligence of the youngster, or the finance and resources available, or the school they attended, you’d probably bet on the healthier family environment, wouldn’t you?
Your firm's… Show more

Let’s talk kids and beer!
If you were to place a bet on the future success of one of two kids, which child would you choose?
The child raised by loving parents in a solid home, living in an environment of routine and discipline, or the one living with apathy, cynicism and dysfunction?
No matter the intelligence of the youngster, or the finance and resources available, or the school they attended, you’d probably bet on the healthier family environment, wouldn’t you?
Your firm's success similarly depends on the health of your workplace culture.

IN A NUTSHELL - The short and long-term prosperity of your firm depends on the health of your workplace culture. The health of your workplace culture depends on the standards of behaviour, beliefs and values you, your people and your firm live by. Show less

Standing still in business is a recipe for irrelevance and ruin. Change is necessary to survive and thrive.
But change is hard and is often strongly resisted. People push back against change.
So, rather than use a PUSH approach to persuading people to change, adopt a PULL approach to win their hearts and minds.

Successful business isn’t just about delivering your products or services to your customers for a profit – it’s about having a deeper meaning that connects with your customers, your employees and other stakeholders.
Work out what you and your business stand for. When you know what you stand for your Company will tap into the source of success that has paid off for Whole Foods Market (and many other businesses small and large).
A clear sense of purpose brings clarity and alignment to… Show more

Successful business isn’t just about delivering your products or services to your customers for a profit – it’s about having a deeper meaning that connects with your customers, your employees and other stakeholders.
Work out what you and your business stand for. When you know what you stand for your Company will tap into the source of success that has paid off for Whole Foods Market (and many other businesses small and large).
A clear sense of purpose brings clarity and alignment to everyone in your business. But be sure to make your purpose live! Make it real (don’t let it become business BS!).
Read more about how Whole Foods Market weathered the storm and came out the other side, because they lead their business with purpose. Show less

Success comes when your customers buy from you. They buy when they recognise the value of what you’re selling.
Ask both ‘sad' questions and ‘happy ‘questions and you build value for customers.
Both are needed, and both can be learned.
If it’s easy for an 8 year-old to see there are two types of questions – sad and happy questions – we can all learn to use both, build value and sell more.
100 of the world’s largest industrial companies do and they sell lots!
You can do the same.

In the spring of 2020, the world of work experienced a large-scale work-from-home experiment.
How did you and your team get on?
For non-food retail, restaurants and others it was a non-starter.
Some businesses simply cannot respond with a home-working solution.
But many others can. Many business people have been surprised by how quickly and effectively they’ve adapted.
Adopting technologies for videoconferencing and other forms of digital collaboration have delivered results far… Show more

In the spring of 2020, the world of work experienced a large-scale work-from-home experiment.
How did you and your team get on?
For non-food retail, restaurants and others it was a non-starter.
Some businesses simply cannot respond with a home-working solution.
But many others can. Many business people have been surprised by how quickly and effectively they’ve adapted.
Adopting technologies for videoconferencing and other forms of digital collaboration have delivered results far better than they previously imagined.
The world of work will never be the same again, so is it time to make the most of a new way of working? Show less

In business, at sea and just like in chess, having no strategy means losing.
Bad strategy won’t help you either. Instead, get clear on good strategy: “The term ‘strategy’ should mean a cohesive response to an important challenge.” – Richard Rumelt, author ‘Good Strategy Bad Strategy’
In a nutshell: Work out the biggest and most important challenge your business is facing. Knowing the challenge helps inform your choices, gives you real focus, and helps you decide on the right coherent… Show more

In business, at sea and just like in chess, having no strategy means losing.
Bad strategy won’t help you either. Instead, get clear on good strategy: “The term ‘strategy’ should mean a cohesive response to an important challenge.” – Richard Rumelt, author ‘Good Strategy Bad Strategy’
In a nutshell: Work out the biggest and most important challenge your business is facing. Knowing the challenge helps inform your choices, gives you real focus, and helps you decide on the right coherent actions. Show less

A simple business idea connects Bono (from U2) to Google to Intel and other high-growth businesses…
It’s almost too simple to share, but it works!
Late in the 1990s 17 different search engines were fighting it out to dominate the web.
Then the 18th search engine started up – Google. Normally such a latecomer wouldn’t stand a chance, having given the others such a head start.
So how did this business start-up repeatedly race on with 10x annual growth whilst managing the most volatile… Show more

A simple business idea connects Bono (from U2) to Google to Intel and other high-growth businesses…
It’s almost too simple to share, but it works!
Late in the 1990s 17 different search engines were fighting it out to dominate the web.
Then the 18th search engine started up – Google. Normally such a latecomer wouldn’t stand a chance, having given the others such a head start.
So how did this business start-up repeatedly race on with 10x annual growth whilst managing the most volatile and tumultuous changes in technology? Show less

A simple business idea connects Bono (from U2) to Google to Intel and other high-growth businesses…
It’s almost too simple to share, but it works!
Late in the 1990s 17 different search engines were fighting it out to dominate the web.
Then the 18th search engine started up – Google.
Normally such a latecomer wouldn’t stand a chance, having given the others such a head start.
So how did this technology start-up repeatedly race on with 10x annual growth and become repeatedly rated… Show more

A simple business idea connects Bono (from U2) to Google to Intel and other high-growth businesses…
It’s almost too simple to share, but it works!
Late in the 1990s 17 different search engines were fighting it out to dominate the web.
Then the 18th search engine started up – Google.
Normally such a latecomer wouldn’t stand a chance, having given the others such a head start.
So how did this technology start-up repeatedly race on with 10x annual growth and become repeatedly rated as the best place to work more times than any other this century? Show less

In its first 3 days ‘Frozen 2’ the movie beat all cinema box office records.
£277million over one weekend in 2019 – more sales than any animated movie ever, including all the Toy Story movies and The Incredibles too.
But what has movie success got to do with your company’s sales and marketing results?
Everything it seems! Is your offer strong enough?
Have you ever wondered if you’ve got your company’s offer as strong as you could?
Have you ever doubted the words you’ve used to… Show more

In its first 3 days ‘Frozen 2’ the movie beat all cinema box office records.
£277million over one weekend in 2019 – more sales than any animated movie ever, including all the Toy Story movies and The Incredibles too.
But what has movie success got to do with your company’s sales and marketing results?
Everything it seems! Is your offer strong enough?
Have you ever wondered if you’ve got your company’s offer as strong as you could?
Have you ever doubted the words you’ve used to promote your products and services?
Or have you ever read your website words and wondered if you could be using more powerful language and messages to win more sales? Show less

Every day in business you spend much of your time persuading people to do what you want them to do.
You’re convincing customers to buy your products and services and to use them more often.
At home you’re coaxing your kids to keep their room tidy. Or you’re enticing your spouse to go out for a curry when they’d much prefer the French bistro in town!
Can you see how your ‘powers of persuasion’ skills help determine your level of success?
So, are you any good at it?

You wouldn’t really ever expect fully motivated people to need help finding the discipline and structure to get things done.
But they do. The world’s best sports coaches create an environment that supports world class results. It’s why Dave Brailsford insists on carrying mattresses perfectly suited to his cyclists to all hotels during the Tour De France. Managing the cyclists’ environment works for Brailsford –Team Ineos (aka Team Sky) have won 7 of the 8 ‘Tours’ up to 2019.
Brailsford… Show more

You wouldn’t really ever expect fully motivated people to need help finding the discipline and structure to get things done.
But they do. The world’s best sports coaches create an environment that supports world class results. It’s why Dave Brailsford insists on carrying mattresses perfectly suited to his cyclists to all hotels during the Tour De France. Managing the cyclists’ environment works for Brailsford –Team Ineos (aka Team Sky) have won 7 of the 8 ‘Tours’ up to 2019.
Brailsford acknowledges that the environment they create for their team helps determine the world-beating results they achieve.
A ‘good enough’ working environment does not deliver ‘world-beating’ or even ‘great’ results.
Improve your working environment and you’ll improve the results of your work. Show less

This business breakthrough report has to challenge your thinking. It has to challenge you because,
according to the research, the key to sales success is to challenge! Whether you sell complex solutions or simple products and services – if you want to grow sales the evidence says you should avoid building
‘the-customer-is-always-right’ relationships. What’s reassuring is that even big businesses make the mistake of not challenging, preferring to focus on building non-challenging… Show more

This business breakthrough report has to challenge your thinking. It has to challenge you because,
according to the research, the key to sales success is to challenge! Whether you sell complex solutions or simple products and services – if you want to grow sales the evidence says you should avoid building
‘the-customer-is-always-right’ relationships. What’s reassuring is that even big businesses make the mistake of not challenging, preferring to focus on building non-challenging relationships.
Here’s a global head of sales in the hospitality industry saying: “...this is really hard to look at. For the last ten years it’s been our stated strategy to hire effective relationship builders.”
Show less

The success of your business relies heavily on the performance of your people. The performance of your people relies on the enthusiasm they have for working in your business. For example, it’s entirely
unremarkable that a magazine publisher, Barron’s Magazines, published their monthly magazine
on time, as expected by their customers, on September 14th 2001.
However, this turns into a remarkable story when you know that their offices had been totally demolished 3 days earlier on the… Show more

The success of your business relies heavily on the performance of your people. The performance of your people relies on the enthusiasm they have for working in your business. For example, it’s entirely
unremarkable that a magazine publisher, Barron’s Magazines, published their monthly magazine
on time, as expected by their customers, on September 14th 2001.
However, this turns into a remarkable story when you know that their offices had been totally demolished 3 days earlier on the 11th September – their offices were next to the Twin Towers in New York. Show less

When something goes wrong for a customer, you’ll most likely want to put it right and then ‘wow’ them with memorable customer care.
It sounds like a worthy goal.
But what if it is exactly the wrong thing to do if you want to win future customer loyalty?!
What if there is a better way to deal with customer problems.
Instead of focusing on ‘delighting’ or ‘wowing’ customers when solving their issues, commit to reducing customer effort.

Business owners are often so busy being busy, they fail to ask themselves the breakthrough questions.
Innovation, creativity and inspiration (and the results these things bring) all start when you ask a simple question.
To get a breakthrough for your accountancy firm, use a proven 3-question formula so that you and your colleagues ask the simple, valuable and innovative questions.

The skills and deeds of the cartoon characters from the movie ‘The Incredibles’ are beyond belief, in the real world. Because they’re cartoon characters we suspend belief and enjoy the movie. But in real life, buyers of your products and services will never suspend belief. To spend their hard-earned-money they need to believe in you, your business and your goods and services. You have to be seen as credible.
And the larger the purchase price for your goods and services the more trust and… Show more

The skills and deeds of the cartoon characters from the movie ‘The Incredibles’ are beyond belief, in the real world. Because they’re cartoon characters we suspend belief and enjoy the movie. But in real life, buyers of your products and services will never suspend belief. To spend their hard-earned-money they need to believe in you, your business and your goods and services. You have to be seen as credible.
And the larger the purchase price for your goods and services the more trust and credibility you’ll need in the hearts and minds of your customers. You have to be deadly serious about your credibility or people will not buy from you. Show less

Accountability is not for the faint-hearted.
When a colleague’s behaviour or performance falls short of expectations you face a thorny and potentially costly conflict.
Such moments are risky and emotionally charged. And they’re often avoided.
But what if such moments were opportunities for a business breakthrough? A breakthrough in performance AND a breakthrough to a stronger relationship too.
Like Ken Blanchard (world-renowned business author and trainer) suggests: “The greatest… Show more

Accountability is not for the faint-hearted.
When a colleague’s behaviour or performance falls short of expectations you face a thorny and potentially costly conflict.
Such moments are risky and emotionally charged. And they’re often avoided.
But what if such moments were opportunities for a business breakthrough? A breakthrough in performance AND a breakthrough to a stronger relationship too.
Like Ken Blanchard (world-renowned business author and trainer) suggests: “The greatest test of a relationship is what happens when someone lets you down. Yet these are the moments of greatest opportunity.”
Is it possible to move from avoiding accountability (and messing it up) to embracing accountability (and being brilliant at it)? Show less

There’s a new face in selling. A new (common sense) view of sales now determines your success, the success of all your colleagues and the success of your business too.
No more is selling the exclusive remit of the ‘sales person’.
According to statistics, in the UK 10 of every 100 workers are directly involved in selling. Across the EU it’s 13/100 and in the USA 9 of every 100.
However, a ‘What Do You Do At Work?’ research study of 9,057 non-sales employees shows that 24 minutes of… Show more

There’s a new face in selling. A new (common sense) view of sales now determines your success, the success of all your colleagues and the success of your business too.
No more is selling the exclusive remit of the ‘sales person’.
According to statistics, in the UK 10 of every 100 workers are directly involved in selling. Across the EU it’s 13/100 and in the USA 9 of every 100.
However, a ‘What Do You Do At Work?’ research study of 9,057 non-sales employees shows that 24 minutes of every working hour is dedicated to non-sales selling.
Teachers are selling the merit of homework, managers are selling the merit of getting work priorities done.
So, 10% of people are selling as a traditional sales job, the remaining 90% are largely involved in selling ideas, concepts and desires.
Plus, the research suggests that nearly everyone considers non-sales selling to be crucial to their success. Show less

12 advisory firms and several world-renowned accountancy industry commentators sign post the way to success and profitable advisory work for accountancy firms. Helpful insider-stories and specific 'how-to' insights make the book a worthwhile for all firms wanting to grow their fees and profits from advisory work. Check out what other firms are saying about the book at https://www.paulshrimpling.com/

What do you believe is the purpose of your business?
Professor Theodore Levitt from Harvard Business School suggests that:
“The purpose of every business and organisation is to get and keep customers.”
And clearly, if your business is to succeed in any meaningful way, you must get and keep customers.
However, if your strategy to get and keep customers is built on simply ‘satisfying’ customers you’re setting your business up for an almighty fall.
Instead of aiming for ‘satisfied… Show more

What do you believe is the purpose of your business?
Professor Theodore Levitt from Harvard Business School suggests that:
“The purpose of every business and organisation is to get and keep customers.”
And clearly, if your business is to succeed in any meaningful way, you must get and keep customers.
However, if your strategy to get and keep customers is built on simply ‘satisfying’ customers you’re setting your business up for an almighty fall.
Instead of aiming for ‘satisfied customers’, aim to create ‘loyal customers’ who buy from you repeatedly and actively promote your business to others too. Show less

Have you ever been in a meeting that felt unproductive and wasteful?
How does such a meeting make you feel – disappointed, frustrated, demoralised?
Most people feel this way about most internal meetings, according to the research.
And like rust on your car, one mediocre meeting after another quietly eats away at your business.

Could it be that your mindset is derailing your success?
Any doubt about whether you can or can’t do something will hold you back.
Doubt puts the brakes on your success without you realising.
Doubt makes it less likely that you’ll achieve what you want because it limits the commitment and energy you invest in the action you take.
Know for certain you can do something and your self-belief improves. Know for certain, and the energy and commitment you bring to the actions you have… Show more

Could it be that your mindset is derailing your success?
Any doubt about whether you can or can’t do something will hold you back.
Doubt puts the brakes on your success without you realising.
Doubt makes it less likely that you’ll achieve what you want because it limits the commitment and energy you invest in the action you take.
Know for certain you can do something and your self-belief improves. Know for certain, and the energy and commitment you bring to the actions you have planned improve.
The wrong fixed mindset holds you back. The wrong mindset derails your ability to win. Show less

Fail to negotiate well, and you can set your business back.
Succeed at negotiating, and you put your business on the road to sustainable success.
And it doesn’t have to be an emotionally-charged battle.
For long-term business success, negotiation should not be seen as any kind of battle.
Whether you love negotiating, or like most of us, you feel anxious about negotiating, you can get better at it.

Your business success depends on the decisions you make. But it can be tough to make a decision.
Even tougher to make the right decision. Tougher still to get your decision carried out successfully.
But when you get better at decision-making, you set your business on the road to greater success.
As a business leader your job is to avoid the pitfalls of bad decision-making.

Working so hard and getting nowhere just feels so darned frustrating.
It doesn’t have to be.
Yes, running your business can be a demanding, exhausting and gruelling affair.
It can also be (and should be) a rewarding, worthwhile, valuable, meaningful and enjoyable part of
your life, where you can see and feel progress towards the vision you have for your business.
Just like steering a dinghy in fast moving water, you can only steer the boat if the boat is going faster
than the… Show more

Working so hard and getting nowhere just feels so darned frustrating.
It doesn’t have to be.
Yes, running your business can be a demanding, exhausting and gruelling affair.
It can also be (and should be) a rewarding, worthwhile, valuable, meaningful and enjoyable part of
your life, where you can see and feel progress towards the vision you have for your business.
Just like steering a dinghy in fast moving water, you can only steer the boat if the boat is going faster
than the torrent – you can only steer your business if you work on improving your business. Show less

It’s really easy to take email marketing for granted because so much of it pours into our email inbox every day.
But why would any sane business owner ignore the profitable power of email marketing when you realise…
• Email is 40 times more effective
at acquiring new customers than Facebook or Twitter (McKinsey & Co)
• When compared to social media, direct mail and other marketing, email has the highest sales conversion rate of 66% (the Data & Marketing Association)
• The number… Show more

It’s really easy to take email marketing for granted because so much of it pours into our email inbox every day.
But why would any sane business owner ignore the profitable power of email marketing when you realise…
• Email is 40 times more effective
at acquiring new customers than Facebook or Twitter (McKinsey & Co)
• When compared to social media, direct mail and other marketing, email has the highest sales conversion rate of 66% (the Data & Marketing Association)
• The number of email users worldwide (in 2017) is estimated to be 3.7 billion, and the amount of emails sent per day to be around 269 billion (Radicati Group)
Yes email marketing works. Email is far from dead, like so many critics suggest.
Email is on the increase. Show less

As a business leader or manager, your job is to solve difficult problems.
Deep-rooted people problems are often seen as the toughest of all.
So how do you get your people to change deep-rooted behaviours?
It’s your ability to change what people do, and how they do it, that’s the difference between winning or failing in business.
Your ‘people’ challenges probably fall short of getting 16,000 exconvicts, with violent gangland drug history, to embrace a productive and law-abiding… Show more

As a business leader or manager, your job is to solve difficult problems.
Deep-rooted people problems are often seen as the toughest of all.
So how do you get your people to change deep-rooted behaviours?
It’s your ability to change what people do, and how they do it, that’s the difference between winning or failing in business.
Your ‘people’ challenges probably fall short of getting 16,000 exconvicts, with violent gangland drug history, to embrace a productive and law-abiding life.
Or what about the challenge of getting millions of people in 21 of the poorest countries to change what they do and wipe out a distressing disease from the planet?
The world’s best influence experts use a formula – 6 sources of influence – to help them change what people do.
Follow their proven ‘influencer’ model and you become a winning influencer too… Show less

Andy Murray, Mo Farah and Usain Bolt are world class because of their talent and hard work.
Or is it something else?

Richard Branson, Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg have been so successful in business because of
their talent and hard work.
Or is it something else?
What if their success is a result of a way of working? A formula you can use. A formula your people
can use. A formula your children can use.

It’s easy to admire the business success of Facebook, iPhone or IKEA.
It’s harder to work out what they’ve done to grow so big, so fast, and with so much customer loyalty.
What if you could learn from their way of doing things? And enjoy some of their success too?

Dive under the surface of these businesses and you see a formula.
Apply the formula and you secure a profitable future for your business.

It’s easy to avoid a conversation with a key employee about their falling results.
It’s easy to drift into deeper debt by not discussing outstanding invoices with a large and important customer.
Should you deal with it or should you drop it?
The risks are high - by confronting things you might make the situation worse. Your customer might walk, your employee might walk. You may be verbally attacked or rejected. You may hurt a person’s feelings in a way you didn’t intend.
The… Show more

It’s easy to avoid a conversation with a key employee about their falling results.
It’s easy to drift into deeper debt by not discussing outstanding invoices with a large and important customer.
Should you deal with it or should you drop it?
The risks are high - by confronting things you might make the situation worse. Your customer might walk, your employee might walk. You may be verbally attacked or rejected. You may hurt a person’s feelings in a way you didn’t intend.
The problems are complex, and the people you deal with might not be easy to talk to.
But such problems rarely go away by themselves, so difficult discussions are vital. They’re a necessary aspect of running a successful business.
Want greater success? Then build your 'difficult conversation' skills and set yourself up for greater success with your team and business. Show less

Do you ever wonder how much more profit you’re missing out on by ignoring the science of pricing?
Lost profits is a business banana-skin to avoid.
And when you know a 1% increase in price can deliver an 11% profit improvement, it’s time to check out the power of profitable pricing.

In a nutshell
Pricing is too important to ignore or treat lightly.
Build your pricing toolkit around top-down pricing options and you tap into windfall profits for your business.

Leading and managing change is a critical skill for success in your business.
However, if you continue to do what you’ve always done in your business what happens?
Is it possible you continue to get the same results you’ve always got?
No!
Stand still only if you want your business to go backwards, go downhill, or lose out.

In a nutshell
When change works, it tends to follow a pattern. Embrace this pattern and you turn ‘change’ into a competitive advantage for your business.

You know those near misses or mistakes that jolt you into wide eyed disbelief or give you a cold
sweat at night?

Those near misses or mistakes that, if people did what they should do, would never happen?

Yet they are easily avoided, if only people followed your system, followed your rules, followed your processes.
So why don’t they follow your processes, every time?

In a nutshell - You, me, everybody would prefer not to follow a checklist, yet they keep us alive… Show more

You know those near misses or mistakes that jolt you into wide eyed disbelief or give you a cold
sweat at night?

Those near misses or mistakes that, if people did what they should do, would never happen?

Yet they are easily avoided, if only people followed your system, followed your rules, followed your processes.
So why don’t they follow your processes, every time?

In a nutshell - You, me, everybody would prefer not to follow a checklist, yet they keep us alive in
many walks of life. Checklists can keep your business alive too and help it thrive.
Show less

Most business owners hire new people to help grow their business.
However, hiring new people just isn’t enough.

Yes, business owners invest energy, time and money recruiting new people to grow revenues, grow profits and grow the capital value of their business.

There’s also the need for new people to make your life as a business owner less hectic and
less stressful too. More enjoyable even!

Yet most business owners fail miserably to methodically improve the skills… Show more

Most business owners hire new people to help grow their business.
However, hiring new people just isn’t enough.

Yes, business owners invest energy, time and money recruiting new people to grow revenues, grow profits and grow the capital value of their business.

There’s also the need for new people to make your life as a business owner less hectic and
less stressful too. More enjoyable even!

Yet most business owners fail miserably to methodically improve the skills, knowledge and abilities
of their existing people. Show less

Rarely do you hear a business owner or manager complain about how easy it is to run a business.
Quite the opposite!

Having too much to do has become our biggest complaint. Because running a business is a full-on, wholehearted, over-the-top, roller-coaster experience, you get to the end of the day empty, shattered, wrung-out.

Being physically, mentally and emotionally worn out is the norm. You’re working your brain to the max.

Or are you?
Yes you’re worn out, but have… Show more

Rarely do you hear a business owner or manager complain about how easy it is to run a business.
Quite the opposite!

Having too much to do has become our biggest complaint. Because running a business is a full-on, wholehearted, over-the-top, roller-coaster experience, you get to the end of the day empty, shattered, wrung-out.

Being physically, mentally and emotionally worn out is the norm. You’re working your brain to the max.

Or are you?
Yes you’re worn out, but have you used your brain in the way it was designed? Or are you just doing what you always do when you work?

In a nutshell - Better use your business brain and you’ll achieve better business results.
Show less

You’d be right to be sceptical or even ‘roll-your-eyes’ cynical about the world of branding.

You’d be right because so much marketing money, time and effort gets wasted by too many
businesses.

Understandably the branding world is obsessed with marketing sizzle. But marketing sizzle just
isn’t enough.

Marketing sizzle – logo change, corporate colour change, website change and more – can all be for
nothing if your core offer fails to appeal to your… Show more

You’d be right to be sceptical or even ‘roll-your-eyes’ cynical about the world of branding.

You’d be right because so much marketing money, time and effort gets wasted by too many
businesses.

Understandably the branding world is obsessed with marketing sizzle. But marketing sizzle just
isn’t enough.

Marketing sizzle – logo change, corporate colour change, website change and more – can all be for
nothing if your core offer fails to appeal to your customers.

So how do you know if your core offer is strong enough? How do you know you’re spending your
marketing money, time and effort wisely? Show less

Lurching from good times to bad times is stressful. Living such a roller-coaster business life should be, and can be, avoided even in the most turbulent times.

Some businesses succeed consistently, despite the most turbulent conditions. Others in the same industry and under the same conditions fail!
So what can we learn from businesses achieving consistent results whilst surrounded by chaos?

How come some businesses survive and thrive in chaos while others stutter and stall in… Show more

Lurching from good times to bad times is stressful. Living such a roller-coaster business life should be, and can be, avoided even in the most turbulent times.

Some businesses succeed consistently, despite the most turbulent conditions. Others in the same industry and under the same conditions fail!
So what can we learn from businesses achieving consistent results whilst surrounded by chaos?

How come some businesses survive and thrive in chaos while others stutter and stall in such chaos?

Fail to be single-minded about the one main thing in your business and you’ll be defeated by the ravages of change in your industry
Show less

It’s so frustrating when you’re told that you should be working ‘smarter’ and not ‘harder’. But what are the practical proven insights on how exactly you can work smarter?

It’s true that many business owners and their people are too busy, being busy.
But who do we turn to for inspiration on working smarter?
The world’s most successful car manufacturer should be your inspiration!

In this edition of Business Bitesize you’ll discover 7 ways to work smarter and 7 things you too… Show more

It’s so frustrating when you’re told that you should be working ‘smarter’ and not ‘harder’. But what are the practical proven insights on how exactly you can work smarter?

It’s true that many business owners and their people are too busy, being busy.
But who do we turn to for inspiration on working smarter?
The world’s most successful car manufacturer should be your inspiration!

In this edition of Business Bitesize you’ll discover 7 ways to work smarter and 7 things you too can use to make your business leaner and meaner. Show less

It can be so frustrating when your accountancy practice achieves less than it should.

Are you doing enough to help yourself?
Use goals to give yourself focus. Use goals to guide your actions and achieve greater success.

Ignore goal-setting and you’ll achieve less than you could.
Are you ready to learn how to sidestep second rate results using the science of goal-setting?

Your ability to win a sale is harder than you think. It’s because you aren’t just competing with your direct competitors.
For example these battles happen…
• Does a consumer buy a new bed or opt for a Caribbean cruise?
• Does an engineering business hire a new person or invest in new machinery?
Your buyers have a limited budget too. They can spend their money with you. Or they can spend their money on a variety of other products or services fighting for their cash.
How do you… Show more

Your ability to win a sale is harder than you think. It’s because you aren’t just competing with your direct competitors.
For example these battles happen…
• Does a consumer buy a new bed or opt for a Caribbean cruise?
• Does an engineering business hire a new person or invest in new machinery?
Your buyers have a limited budget too. They can spend their money with you. Or they can spend their money on a variety of other products or services fighting for their cash.
How do you compel customers to buy from you rather than any of your competitors?
One company grew by 400% and became the No.1 in their market because they put guarantees to great use. Read about it here and see how you can put guarantees to work for your business...
Show less

The thought of losing customers is frightening. So why would you treat customer feedback as anything other than a critical business issue?
As accountants we love the idea of customer feedback drilling down to just one number.

Click this link to discover how successful businesses like Apple, Lego, Ebay and Virgin Media (UK) deal with their customer feedback by determining their one number - ‘Net Promoter Score℠' – a number you should get obsessed about too.

Take customer… Show more

The thought of losing customers is frightening. So why would you treat customer feedback as anything other than a critical business issue?
As accountants we love the idea of customer feedback drilling down to just one number.

Click this link to discover how successful businesses like Apple, Lego, Ebay and Virgin Media (UK) deal with their customer feedback by determining their one number - ‘Net Promoter Score℠' – a number you should get obsessed about too.

Take customer feedback seriously. Use one well-proven feedback question:
“How likely are you to recommend our business to a friend or colleague?”

Turn the answers to this question into information you can use to improve your business results.
Show less

Wouldn’t it be great if more buyers said yes more often to your proposal, your offer, and your products?

It’s disappointing, disheartening and discouraging when you get a warm prospect for your product, or service and they don’t buy. Even more so when you know it’s right for them!

Here’s a bitesize business breakthrough you can start implementing today and get more ‘yes’ answers, more sales and more profit as a result.

In a nutshell - When you ask prospective customers… Show more

Wouldn’t it be great if more buyers said yes more often to your proposal, your offer, and your products?

It’s disappointing, disheartening and discouraging when you get a warm prospect for your product, or service and they don’t buy. Even more so when you know it’s right for them!

Here’s a bitesize business breakthrough you can start implementing today and get more ‘yes’ answers, more sales and more profit as a result.

In a nutshell - When you ask prospective customers smarter questions, in a smarter way, you’ll improve your sales results Show less

Almost every business owner we know despairs at the sheer number of demands on their time. They complain about time swiftly slipping through their fingers.

So why would any right-minded business owner waste 80% of their working week generating
just 20% of their profits? Look at it differently. Who’d choose to work 4 days a week to produce only 1 day’s worth of results?

Here’s a proven solution for you… Identify the 20% of your time, effort and resources responsible for 80% of… Show more

Almost every business owner we know despairs at the sheer number of demands on their time. They complain about time swiftly slipping through their fingers.

So why would any right-minded business owner waste 80% of their working week generating
just 20% of their profits? Look at it differently. Who’d choose to work 4 days a week to produce only 1 day’s worth of results?

Here’s a proven solution for you… Identify the 20% of your time, effort and resources responsible for 80% of your results. Then work out how to do more of the 20% high-value work
Show less

If your business lost major money for three months, one after the other, you’d be stressed.

You’d be stressed enough to do something about it. Making a loss prompts a strong emotional reaction. And a strong enough emotional reaction results in corrective action, as it should.

So a key measure in your business – a loss – gets you to do something to improve your business results – reduce costs or improve sales.

But shouldn’t you be taking timely action to prevent the losses… Show more

If your business lost major money for three months, one after the other, you’d be stressed.

You’d be stressed enough to do something about it. Making a loss prompts a strong emotional reaction. And a strong enough emotional reaction results in corrective action, as it should.

So a key measure in your business – a loss – gets you to do something to improve your business results – reduce costs or improve sales.

But shouldn’t you be taking timely action to prevent the losses in the first place?

Use customer-focused, healthy heartfelt business measures and you’ll take action sooner. Take action sooner and you’ll avoid problems leading to losses in your business.

Show less

Wouldn’t it be great if you could get your people to do a better job than you could do yourself?
It doesn’t need to be so depressingly demoralising when your people get the job done, but only just.

Wouldn’t you feel reassured to see your people take more responsibility for results and make the business less reliant on you?

Smarter delegation of work and tasks results in greater initiative. Greater initiative results in improved performance from your people (and frees you up… Show more

Wouldn’t it be great if you could get your people to do a better job than you could do yourself?
It doesn’t need to be so depressingly demoralising when your people get the job done, but only just.

Wouldn’t you feel reassured to see your people take more responsibility for results and make the business less reliant on you?

Smarter delegation of work and tasks results in greater initiative. Greater initiative results in improved performance from your people (and frees you up to do other things).
Encourage more initiative from your people by applying the delegation ladder to all your team interaction.

Show less

Wouldn’t it be great if you were able to generate greater sales and profits with the help of your customers? Even better if you increase profits without spending another penny on sales and marketing!

You intuitively know how dangerous it is to take your customers for granted. And yet how many businesses do you witness delivering average, or even miserable customer experiences?

Here’s a bitesize business breakthrough to help you focus on delivering a magical customer experience… Show more

Wouldn’t it be great if you were able to generate greater sales and profits with the help of your customers? Even better if you increase profits without spending another penny on sales and marketing!

You intuitively know how dangerous it is to take your customers for granted. And yet how many businesses do you witness delivering average, or even miserable customer experiences?

Here’s a bitesize business breakthrough to help you focus on delivering a magical customer experience. When you do, you improve profits because these same customers buy again, buy more, and buy more often. They also tend to recommend you to their friends and colleagues. Show less

Wouldn’t it be great if you only ever recruited high quality people for your business?Even better when these high quality people go on to have a highly profitable impact on your business performance?

This 4 - page Business Bitesize report and supporting tools provide a remarkable insight into how you install world-class recruitment processes so you avoid hiring the people who hold your firm back.
You can read it in the time it takes to drink a cup of tea. And if you like it you can… Show more

Wouldn’t it be great if you only ever recruited high quality people for your business?Even better when these high quality people go on to have a highly profitable impact on your business performance?

This 4 - page Business Bitesize report and supporting tools provide a remarkable insight into how you install world-class recruitment processes so you avoid hiring the people who hold your firm back.
You can read it in the time it takes to drink a cup of tea. And if you like it you can talk to us about having exclusive regional rights for delivering Business Bitesize - fully branded for your firm - to your clients, prospects and introducers. Show less

Wouldn’t it be great if you could achieve more sales for the same marketing time, same marketing effort and same marketing spend?

Increase the sales revenues from your existing marketing and your business grows without it costing you a penny more!

Here’s a bitesize business breakthrough you can start implementing today...

In a nutshell - You make more profit and generate more sales when you make every marketing pound you spend work harder for you.

You make your… Show more

Wouldn’t it be great if you could achieve more sales for the same marketing time, same marketing effort and same marketing spend?

Increase the sales revenues from your existing marketing and your business grows without it costing you a penny more!

Here’s a bitesize business breakthrough you can start implementing today...

In a nutshell - You make more profit and generate more sales when you make every marketing pound you spend work harder for you.

You make your marketing work harder for you when your marketing messages put the power of story-telling to work. Show less

Wouldn’t it be great if every day and every week you achieved greater results for your business?

What if, instead of working hard and feeling as though you’re getting nowhere, you feel a sense of progress for your business every day?

Here’s a bitesize business breakthrough you can start implementing today!

In a nutshell - What you achieve in life and business is determined wholly by how you use the 24 hours of every day.

Most business owners are frustrated by a shortage of high-value sales opportunities. As a result they don’t enjoy the peace-of-mind and confidence that extra sales revenues, profits, and capital value can bring them.

The thing is most businesses don’t know what to do to double, treble or even quadruple their sales opportunities.

Here you’ll find one business breakthrough you can start implementing today. When you do you’ll be on the road to doubling, trebling or maybe even… Show more

Most business owners are frustrated by a shortage of high-value sales opportunities. As a result they don’t enjoy the peace-of-mind and confidence that extra sales revenues, profits, and capital value can bring them.

The thing is most businesses don’t know what to do to double, treble or even quadruple their sales opportunities.

Here you’ll find one business breakthrough you can start implementing today. When you do you’ll be on the road to doubling, trebling or maybe even quadrupling the number of sales opportunities you get for your business. Show less

Wouldn’t it be great if your people worked together like a well-oiled machine?
Chances are you know you could be getting far more out of them – but you’re not.
Perhaps some of your people are even complaining that others aren’t pulling their weight?
Here’s one business breakthrough you can start implementing today to turn things round…

Here are the three simple steps of GUNG HO!, a story by bestselling business author's Ken Blanchard and Sheldon Bowles who has sold over 19 million copies of his books!

You can read this book summary in the time it takes to drink a cup of tea!

In this book summary you’ll discover how to get more from your team and increase your company’s success, like Peggy managed in just four months in GUNG HO!

In this summary of Chip and Dan Heath's book, "Switch", you'll learn that change is possible anywhere! You'll learn that you can achieve the results you want in your business with change.

You can read this book summary in the time it takes to drink a cup of tea!

This visually-stunning, easy-and-quick-to-read book summary is a shortcut to a world-class business book.

You can read it in the time it takes to drink a cup of tea or coffee.

In this edition you'll capture the key insights from BATTERIES INCLUDED by Nigel May Barlow. It's a must read book on how customer service can and does grow business.

In this summary of Tom Wanek's business book, "Currencies That Buy Credibility", you'll discover the 6 tools for growing your firms credibility.

You can read it in the time it takes to drink a cup of tea or coffee.

It is a must read for those of you who want to build trust and profits in your firm!

In this summary of John Warrilow's business book, "Built to Sell", you'll learn how to marximise the capital value of your business so you can eventually sell it!

You can read this book summary in the time it takes to drink a cup of tea or coffee!

In this book summary of STICKY WISDOM (by Dave Allan, Matt Kingdon, Kris Murrin and Daz Rudkin) you'll learn how to unlock creativity in your business!

You can read it in the time it takes to drink a cup of tea or coffee.

In short; a route-map to marketing success for your accountancy firm.

Knowledge, insights and tools already being used to successffully promote accountancy firms around the UK.

A box-set of audio cd's. 8 audio cd's packed with proven marketing insights plus a digital handbook with web-links to various proven (but simple) tools.

"The best bit I liked about Bamboo Marketing was that it seems to be totally relevant to what we need to be doing, and the ideas were all common… Show more

In short; a route-map to marketing success for your accountancy firm.

Knowledge, insights and tools already being used to successffully promote accountancy firms around the UK.

A box-set of audio cd's. 8 audio cd's packed with proven marketing insights plus a digital handbook with web-links to various proven (but simple) tools.

"The best bit I liked about Bamboo Marketing was that it seems to be totally relevant to what we need to be doing, and the ideas were all common sense and down to earth."

Neil Driver - Davis Grant, Ilford

Show less