Five Ways Professional Services Websites Fall Short (Part I of II) Business leaders today know that how a firm’s website is planned and organized matters more than ever. What worked well enough five years ago to separate your firm from your competition may simply not work today. At Hinge, we audit hundreds of professional services websites a year—and we see many of the same mistakes repeated. In this article, I will explore five of the most fundamental mistakes professional services firms make long before a single page has been designed and published. Whether it was due to a broken planning…
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New Study Spotlights Five Proven Strategies There is an easy way to identify the most effective strategies for rapid growth. For the fifth year in a row, the Hinge Research Institute conducted a comprehensive study of more than 1,000 professional services firms. Specifically, Hinge looked at what “high-growth” firms (those with at least three years of 20% compound annual growth) do differently than firms that are not growing at all. This article highlights five proven growth strategies. Professional services firms face many new challenges, from talent shortages and changes in buyer behavior to the impact of technology and automation—and…
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Our Top Seven Ideas for Accounting and Financial Services The author discusses findings from a Hinge Research Institute (HRI) conducted with 523 professional services firms regarding why firms do not get more referrals. One interesting finding was why firms do not get more referrals. HRI found that in 72% of cases, the answer is simple: no one asked them. HRI also learned that 81.5% of service providers have received referrals from individuals and companies who they have never worked with. Below, the author explains the top seven referral marketing approaches HRI learned about. But first, the author takes a minute…
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Top 5 Business Challenges The author discusses the top five business challenges identified by professional accounting and financial services firms, and proposes ways professionals can readily address those issues.
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The Best Source of Referrals is One Not Readily Considered How can one maximize referral opportunities? What separates the most successful professional services firms from the rest? One key difference is surprisingly simple, and often overlooked: successful firms understand the process of referrals. Most firms work under long-held referral assumptions that are not effective. Most believe that winning new business through referrals essentially boils down to a simple formula: do good work for your clients and rub elbows with a few referral sources, such as attorneys and CPAs, and business will come from those sources. This article debunks that presumption.