I Am The Priority
“I would love for us to co-host a seminar for our clients.”
The partner of an accounting firm made this offer. I love conducting seminars and was interested in taking up the offer. While I expressed my interest I needed more information:
“What do you hope to gain from conducting a seminar”
The partner responded: “I am looking to demonstrate to my clients that the firm offers more services than tax compliance.”
This set-off a red flag: “Are you talking about the firm or yourself?”
She went quiet, leaned back in the chair and crossed her arms.
I waited.
After a while, she leaned forward and explained: “I have been a partner in my own firm for 20 years. Over that time my focus has been on providing tax compliance services to my clients. When I look forward, I do not see myself doing this for the next 20 years. I am looking to reinvent myself to as advisor to emerging businesses and serve as a Director on Boards.”
I queried: “Do you know anyone who has made the transition you are looking to make?”
She thought about it: “No I don’t”
I asked a second question: “Do you go to places where the people you want to emulate gather?”
“What do you mean?”
“If you want to be Board Director, are you a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors?”
“No, I am not”
Then I saw a moment of recognition: “What you are saying is I should be speaking to people who are already playing the role I want to become and learn from them. I need to be going to places where they gather.”
She committed to two things. First: Ring her practice’s top three clients to arrange a coffee and chat – not about compliance but about what’s happening in the business today and into the future. Second: Identify three women who are already doing what she aspires to create and reach out to them to learn how they built what they have.
She came in wanting to co-host a seminar to market her firm. She left committed to reinventing herself as a board director and trusted business advisor. The seminar wasn’t the priority. She was.
