Mike Michalowicz explains why calling yourself an accountant or bookkeeper makes prospects tune you out. He argues that a novel, technical-sounding term like Profit First Professional triggers attention instead, letting you explain your difference before mentioning accounting services.
Hi, I'm Mike Michalowicz, and I am the author of Profit First and the co-founder of Profit First Professionals, and I've teamed up with Intuitive Accountant to deliver a very important message to you. If you want to stand out from the competition, don't use the label that your competition uses. As an accountant or bookkeeper, if you go up to a new prospect and say, "I'm an accountant," your prospect will automatically put you into the box of the familiar. They're already familiar with the term and they won't listen to you, at least at a subconscious level. And that's true if you say you're a bookkeeper too. If we rewind to biology class back in, you know, 4th or 5th grade, you already learned this lesson. There was the caveman and the cavewoman, and as the caveman went out hunting in the woods, he'd have crunching leaves under his feet, cracking branches under his feet. That was familiar noise, and the familiar meant it was safe, it was a known quantity, it can be ignored. But the second he heard in the distance a cracking branch or an animal running by, he froze and paid absolute attention to it because that new noise, that unfamiliar noise, represents something that was a threat— he could be dinner— or an opportunity— it could be his dinner. This was true for the cavewomen too. They would go out and they were the collectors. They would find berries, and when the new one presented itself, they paid absolute attention to it because it's an opportunity or threat. It could be their meal or it could be poisonous. So the mind of the current consumer hasn't shifted much. I mean, society has moved along, technology has, but our thinking is very similar. When something familiar presents itself, we put it in that familiar box and it gets filtered out. When something new and unexpected presents itself, we pay attention and we notice and we listen. So, going forward, if you say you're an accountant or bookkeeper, you now realize you're putting yourself in the familiar box of your prospects and they're actually ignoring you as a conscious level. I don't care what you say after you tell them you're an accountant or bookkeeper, they're discounting it because it's already familiar. Instead, do this. Lead with a new technical sounding term. With my organization, the Profit First Professionals, that's the term we use. And when someone presents themselves as a Profit First Professional, the prospect says, hmm, what does that mean? They give the deer in the headlights response. And when they do that, they are indicating they can't put you in the familiar box and they're giving you opportunity to listen to you. They're going to pay attention to you because you are now an opportunity or a threat. So in your business, come up with a new technical term for what you do and lead with that. Look for the deer-in-the-headlights response. That means they're listening. Then you explain how you're different than the competition, and then you say, and by the way, I also do accounting and I'm exceptional at it. I also do bookkeeping. I'm exceptional at it, but you should expect that from anyone you work with. What makes me distinct is— and you point back to the technical term you came up with. It's a wildly powerful tool. It's so simple to use. The only question I have for you now is, are you going to do it?
