Third Place is You're Fired!

Normally I view the holiday season much in the same light as a root canal with far too little Novocain.

The other 51 weeks of the year, my usual sunny persona (I can hear you laughing already) traditionally morphs into the screenplay for “Grumpy Old Men.”

There are far too many distant relatives who suddenly drop by – there’s a good reason why they’re “distant” and I strive to keep it that way – my credit card statements resemble the balance sheet of a bankrupt third world nation, and, despite annual pledges to do otherwise, I usually out-eat the offensive line of the New York Giants.

So by January 2, I’m bloated, cash strapped, and talked out.

But this year, there’s a small ebb in my holiday doldrums. The reason: I somehow managed to procure tickets to the Broadway revival of “Glengarry Glen Ross” starring Al Pacino. Although unlike the film a number of years back, Pacino plays the downtrodden Shelly “the machine” Levine character in lieu of his movie role, the slick Ricky Roma.

But as any true fan of the movie knows, the pinnacle of the performance comes with “the speech.” The unforgettable sales “coaching” session orchestrated by Alec Baldwin, a mesmerizing 9-minute oratory littered with four-letter words and sadistic humiliation of the underperforming real estate team at the Rio Rancho company.

Even though this time around the scene is led by renowned character actor John McGinley in place of Mr.  Baldwin, it doesn’t dampen my enthusiasm.

But it got me thinking about sales strategies and growth in general. It’s hardly a secret that a roller-coaster economy has made organic growth difficult – if not at times impossible – and certainly no small reason behind the explosion in the M&A arena or the fact that more firms are branching out to new client niches.

 I sincerely doubt that CPA firms would go as far as to deploy an Alec Baldwin character dangling the coveted Glengarry leads before their beleaguered staffs, but the days of having the managing partner or CEO assume the often Sisyphean task of mining for new business while overseeing his own book of business is probably akin to using an IBM Selectric instead of an iPad.

Over the past several years, a burgeoning number of CPA firms have begun employing business development specialists – those with both marketing or sales expertise and who often are not CPAs themselves.

And just as I wrote in this space last week how the strategies to nurture and develop Millennials at your firm are far different than the staff of previous generations, so too are the evolving sales paradigms when pursuing new business. Many in the Baby Boomer era are, sadly, intractable when it comes to adopting new techniques for growth.

 Sure, joining the local Kiwanis or Knights of Columbus can’t hurt, but the client of today is more knowledgeable, technologically sophisticated, and demanding in terms of personal attention. A souvenir pen, a business card, and a follow up call just aren’t enough anymore. And that’s when this new generation of business development personnel can often help. As I often lecture, this is not your father’s accounting firm and your sales strategies should not conjure up images of Willy Loman.

Or Shelly Levine for that matter.

Because anyone who has seen “Glengarry” knows that you never want to earn third place in the monthly sales contest.