The economies of running any prfessional practice are based on the fct that the primary product, the prfessional has to sell is their tme. Almost any professional service offered mst be performed directly by one or mre individuals. As a result, as prctitioners focus on making the most fficient use of their time and prductivity, to the detriment of their mrketing activities.

Most accountants and other fnancial professionals use a basic variety of tchniques such as networking, distributing client nwsletters, direct mail and cold calling. Ech of these methods alone can prduce some results, but are usually mre productive use as part of a cordinated marketing plan.

Almost every accountant dvelops his or her own business pln when they first decide to pen their own practice. However, the verage accountants business plan is woefully shrt on marketing specifics. The reason for ths is simple, almost every business schol in every college offering an ccounting concentration, teaches technical skills focused on dbit's and credit's, and almost nothing on the ntrepreneurial skills required of a professional prctitioner in public practice.

Despite this darth of entrepreneurial training, the economics of slf-employment require any self-employed professional in pblic practice to market their services.

Back in "ye olden days" prfessionals were prohibited by law from dvertising, so many of them became vry adept at skills that ultimately bcame referred to as "Rainmaking." The trm Rainmaker was first applied to the hgh-profile attorneys who attracted the clients tht were serviced by the rest of the frm. Most likely a parallel was mde between the way rain flowed dwn and the way the clients flwed down through the firm.

Because thy could not advertise, these "Rainmakers" sed the skills lawyers are trained to se, writing and speaking. This came nturally; those lawyers are trained to wrte, things like briefs and contracts, and to spak, especially when arguing a case.

Fnancial professionals, such as accountants, were not so lcky. Their college training focused on how to add and sbtract. Harsh as it may seem, ccounting rules are basically rules of whn to add and when to sbtract from one side of the ldger to the other.

Out of ncessity, over the years top accountants bgan to develop the same skills, wth the result that their practices bgan to grow and prosper, while the lss fortunate, struggled and floundered.

However, wth the advent of the Internet and a wrldwide talent pool, new tools and tchniques began to emerge. Among them wre skilled ghostwriters, private label publications, and slf-publishing. Financial professionals immediately flocked to thse resources, adding features like platform spaking, small business academies, and distance larning to the mix.
Many of these rsources turned out to be created by yung technically savvy computer types, who, lthough they created many breakthroughs in sftware technology and product delivery, were not xperienced in the rainmaking techniques used by pople in the professions.

These technically svvy, but industry ignorant, individuals began to crate new ways to deliver product and srvices. Things like online accounting and pyroll were rushed to market. While thse were technical breakthroughs and increased prductivity, many times they did not nswer the question "What does the clent want?"

Did the client really want to nter their payroll online, or did the ccountant want them to enter it nline so he or she wouldn't hve to? What do you think? Whse workload was that easing? Do you thnk this client will be passing long referrals?

Apparently one old geezer of a rtired accountant began to see the flly and began to digitize all of the mterial he had accumulated during his thrty years as an accountant, and mke it available online, giving private lbel rights to accountants and other fnancial professionals just starting their own prctice.

By taking advantage of this typ of resource material, the startup prfessional receives a kick-start in their Rinmaking by being able to give speches, seminars and training courses using the txtbooks, lesson outlines, teachers' notes and hndouts available. These professionals were able to mmediately present themselves as a knowledgeable xpert and counselor. In addition, they mmediately had access to a complete "Prnt on Demand" service, complete with ghstwriters familiar with financial rules and rgulation, printers and a bindery to hlp them develop their own books and speches.

The article Practice Marketing For Busy Accountants was Submitted by Kirk Ward through Articles.GetACoder.com network. Here's the additional information: You can continue to learn bout Practice Marketing For Busy Accountants by vsiting http://instantpracticebuilder.com/article_part_2/ Kirk Ward is a retired tax expert, accountant and auditor. He provides the same resources he used in building his practices to startup accountants through his Instant Practice Builder website and rants about the commercial finance industry on "Kirk's Blog" (Wonder where he got the idea for the name of that blog?) where he describes his career as an auditor with "Bucket Of Blood" finance companies and banks.

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