I remember the first contact I had with my mentor, Michelle. I was calling her for some business article I was writing for the local daily newspaper. I must have caught her during a crisis because she was very short with me on the phone as though she was too busy to talk.

Five years later, Michelle was the first person I called when I was laid off from a marketing position, looking for guidance and the positive energy I had come to expect from her entrepreneurial view of the world.

“Don’t worry,” she told me. “In a month, you’ll have more work than you can handle.”

She was right… again. I started freelancing and Michelle became a client, introducing me shortly to Wendy Nemitz, who eight years later is my boss and another mentor.

When seeking mentors, my first piece of advice is to never judge a book by its cover. They may strike you on first impression as too busy, too different from you, or too “dated” to offer much assistance or wisdom. But look again.

Be open to guidance and you’ll find it. Ask partners or more experienced professionals in your firm to tell you about their best client or sales experience and what they learned from it. Observe the professionals who frequently introduce new events or resources to the team, who are good at networking and developing business. Find out how they set personal goals for themselves. Ask them about the books they read and websites they visit for ideas.

Hang around the people you want to become. There is a case to be made for dressing and looking the part you want to play in a firm. If someone you admire attends a particular association, ask if you can attend as a guest. Find out where the power players hang out for lunch, then use it as a meeting spot with prospects. Buy a pair of animal print heels or a leather rolling briefcase if that’s “what you wanna be.”

Create a peer mentoring group. Find like-minded young professionals building their power base and meet regularly to discuss your goals. Keep each other accountable. You’ll be amazed by your progress when others are cheering you on and offering their ideas.

Then put those ideas into play at a Power Up! event. You might just find a mentor who picks you up after a crisis, dusts you off, and introduces you to your next career leap.

Question: What is the best lesson you’ve learned from a mentor?

How do you acquire larger new clients who already have a service provider? Most CPAs, bankers and attorneys are wondering how to get new “A” clients. While it is fairly easy to acquire start-ups or smaller companies, building relationships with well-established companies is difficult. They
tend to be loyal to the providers they have. Switching is a hassle and involves some risk. How do you drive a wedge into the relationship and get them to see that a switch might help their business and yours?

The Association for Accounting Marketing – Minnesota recently held its first-ever client panel. All four people on the panel had strong relationships with their CPAs and talked about what was important when selecting and retaining their CPA fi rms. Although each had a different situation, there were some strong themes that emerged from their comments.

Loyalty Means Longevity
All four had very good relationships with the CPA firms they use now. Most chose the firms they use carefully and think of it as a long-term relationship. Dave Norling, a CPA and CFO at Auriton Solutions told us, “Most of the hiring of CPA firms is on a long-term basis. There has to be something wrong with the relationship for a company to think about changing. A lot of it is timing.” He said that there would have to be a huge and undisclosed fee increase or some big surprise for him to consider switching. Overall, the panel were very loyal to the firms they work with now.

Mistakes Create Wedges
The consensus was that if your relationship was working with your CPA, it is very difficult for a new firm to enter the picture. Amy Langer, CPA (inactive) and co-founder and partner at SALO LLC said, “You have to fi re someone to try something new. It has to be a broken relationship to make this big change.”

Networking is Critical
Mark Hockley, President of the Lindgren Group, which holds three metal finishing companies, said they get new providers through, “People we know, contacts through business associations. I know little about CPA firms. I do not pay attention to that. Referrals are how we would choose.” Sara Portner, CPA and the Accounting Manager with Frana Companies said, “Networking with the society (MNCPA). I would still choose people in my industry and ask for referrals.”

Norling added, “Networking occurs at your church and at sporting events. I am open to this. I have met people when our kids played soccer. I played basketball at the Y – I met the partner of the CPA fi rm we work with doing that. Everyone in the fi rm should do that.”

Visibility Brings Business
If a company does not have a direct relationship they would consider firms they “know about.” Portner said, “I get newsletters and year-end tax guides from firms we have not used. I know there is a quarterly newsletter I enjoy and that name would stick out more. It is a good newsletter and it is written in-house, Minnesota specific. It is not canned. This one is good. I would be more willing to speak with them if I had a reason.”

Langer said, “I meet someone or hear of them. Maybe there is an article, there is a newsletter – maybe I should know these people – combination of things. I would take a call anytime in the accounting world because we market to them. A lot of influences from a lot of ways. Be everywhere because it is such a relationship and trust thing – it is a big change.”

Telemarketing is not Persuasive
Unanimously, the panel said that cold callers get nowhere. They wanted relationships, referrals from relationships, or at least some knowledge of the firm before they talked to them.

Rapport Gets You in the Door
When you do get the opportunity to talk with potential clients, the panel said that building rapport is the number one quality they look for. While fees are obviously important to every business, personal relationship and interest counted more. This echoes the shopping Dawn and I have done. Some people are very able to demonstrate their interest in you and your firm and others seem to care less. It matters dramatically in an era when business owners believe they can talk to several firms before making a choice.

Langer said her company has been with one fi rm for four years. “We chose them because my husband worked there. Both my partner and I came out of the Big Four, but we wanted some size in a more local fi rm, based on our growth projections. We chose a middle market-sized fi rm. Our criteria came down to trust, knowing they have dealt with growing companies, and their overall competence.”

Hockley said, “This is our third fi rm in 30 years. We were not public so the Big Four did our audits in June. We interviewed2-3 regionals and a couple of locals. A smaller firm fit what we were looking for. One guy came in and we listened to him talk about taking business to China. We are a manufacturing
company and so are not for taking business to China. How could he misunderstand us so much? Paperwork and brochures get the interview. How you work with our management team is very important to get the job. It was the chemistry.”

Norling added, “It is the rapport you develop during the interviewing process. Our counselors must develop that instantaneously. Like the guy who comes in and talks about taking business to China, that guy did not set up rapport.”

To Sum It Up
Being well-known and active in industry associations and community events matters the most, having general firm visibility such as a good firm-created newsletter, being quoted in magazines, sponsoring events, or other activities can also help. There is no substitute for laying the groundwork of a strong personal network and being visible in the community.

None of these activities can be done overnight. All of them take a group of committed people who are willing to show up at various events, take on leadership roles, be willing to talk about themselves and their firms and set up a system of communication to clients, prospects, and the public that feeds the firm pipeline over time.