Mike Michalowicz argues accountants and bookkeepers should ditch those familiar labels when pitching prospects. A new term like "Profit First Professional" triggers curiosity instead of being filtered out. Lead with the novel term, explain how you differ, then mention 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. The they're already familiar with the term and they won't listen to you, at least at a subconscious level. That's true if you say you're a bookkeeper too. If we rewind to biology class back in fourth or fifth grade, you already learned this lesson. There was the caveman and the cave woman. 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 couldn't be ignored. But the second he heard in the distance a cracking branch or, 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 cave women 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 a threat. It could be either a 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 pro 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 the you the 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. 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?
