Practice Success Podcast

Gaynor Meilke on People-Centric Accounting and Technology Friendly Firms

• Canopy • Season 1 • Episode 1

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Gaynor Meilke, owner of Charisma Ink, and an industry veteran is known for her people-centric approach to accounting. She shares valuable insights on marketing, technology, and the application of Artificial Intelligence in accounting practices.

KC Brothers:

Welcome to the Practice Success Podcast, brought to you by Canopy. In today's episode, we have Gayter Mielke, owner of Charisma, Inc., and an industry veteran known for her people centric approach to accounting. She shares valuable insight on marketing, technology, and the application of artificial intelligence in accounting practices. Whether you're a small or large firm, this enriching discussion has something for you. Get ready to take notes as we dive in. I am Kasey Brothers with Canopy, and I'm here with Gaynor Hardy Milkey, who works with firms and influencers and technology providers in the space, such as Canopy. Um, it's good to be with you, Gaynor.

Gaynor Meilke:

Well, thanks for having me. And, uh, so I'm Gaynor Hardy Milkey. I've worked with a lot of accounting firms over the years. I started, uh, back in, I guess it was in the late 90s at, uh, Thomson Reuters, working in their tax and accounting, I know, um, marketing department. And kind of just built, you know, a real love. For accounting firms during that time and then with accounting firms, helping small businesses. I like to do that too. So we always just seem to work really well together. And as I became more and more entrenched in the profession, I eventually went. And started my own company, Charisma, Inc. And so we serve accounting professionals and their firms, and then technology vendors like Canopy and, you know, other players. And then also we work with a lot of thought leaders. So we like to say we bring like the full circle of the accounting profession together.

KC Brothers:

You are a big people person. Love people. I would also argue that accountants are big people. People.

Gaynor Meilke:

I would say yes. And it's really interesting because, you know, the typical accountant stereotype is that down in the numbers, we don't like people and nothing could be further than the truth for that. And when I talk to people outside of the profession, they're one, how can you like work in accounting all day? And I'm like, are you kidding me? There's like so many different facets to it, but it really is the people because accountants are helpers and they love to help. People

KC Brothers:

yeah, and the relationship and doing something for people that they can't do because accounting can be complex But being able to solve that problem and provide that through a relationship. I see a lot of accountants finding joy in that

Gaynor Meilke:

Oh, definitely. I think that's what drives them to do what they do,

KC Brothers:

but I would also say The accountants don't have a lot of knowledge in how to help shout from the rooftops, market these efforts, their ability to

Gaynor Meilke:

solve business problems.

KC Brothers:

Yeah. And, and to, to help people who don't know them, who don't have a relationship, know that they can't, that that is a relationship and what that relationship looks like and the problems that they solve together through that. So how do you help firms approach, um, marketing?

Gaynor Meilke:

I mean, what we were just talking about is making them confident about the fact that they have these superpowers that they can use to help people and then how they can leverage those to tell a story about how they can really, I was just talking about this to a firm not long ago is they have the power to change the future of somebody's business with the information that they have. That's a really powerful message. Just getting comfortable with putting themselves in their firm out there and that you don't have to, as you said, like shout from the rooftops, just reaching the right people with your message and what, and you can do that in different channels. It doesn't have to be on YouTube and being an influencer. You know, you can have an email list, you can go to a networking event, you can do all kinds of different things, but just being confident and being able to tell your own story is really important to firms.

KC Brothers:

Yeah. So when should an accounting firm Get into marketing if they don't have any marketing efforts at all. Mm hmm. Is there a tipping point of size or headcount or service type or

Gaynor Meilke:

There's no tipping point. No, it's

KC Brothers:

I was I was that was a fishing question. I knew what the answer would be

Gaynor Meilke:

Yeah, from day day like zero. It's you know part of like business, you know I once heard the quote that business is just innovation and marketing so It's being innovative about what you're offering people and then, you know, letting people know that you have that service that can solve their problem. So, you know, the other facet of this is that you never stop marketing. And people tend to equate marketing as a expense, especially in accounting, but it's really an investment. And if you're consistent with it and you pick like I always say pick two to three things and just do them really well. Then you would start to see dividends come off that for sure.

KC Brothers:

Would you say those two to three things vary widely depending on the firm? Or would you say that there are some really common two to three things?

Gaynor Meilke:

I would say there's really common things that I've seen work. One, Obviously, social media has become, you know, a channel unto itself, but I don't see firms consistently using, like, business to business channels when they're trying to target business to business people, so, you know, being on LinkedIn and really leveraging that, I think is It's like a great thing to do, um, having an email list, you know, building that so that you can not just cross sell to clients or, you know, attract new, um, clients, but just keep in touch and keep on top of compliance issues with. Your existing clients, because if you take care of those clients, it has that ripple effect of then you're the referral, you know, the referral go to for them. And I would also say a great website so that when people do find out about you, you know, through different channels, you know, they can come. to your website and know exactly what they need to do next to work with you.

KC Brothers:

I would even go as far to say that not having a website is worse than having a bad website. Oh, definitely. Just get in, have a website, um, figure out how to refine it as you go. But if you're not Google able, are, are you there? You know, people won't find you. Even terms and trends like, accountant near me. The, the near me, like, is huge. And people use it all the time. And if you're not popping up in those searches... You're missing out.

Gaynor Meilke:

Yeah. That's definitely true. And, you know, that ties back into having a Google My Business, you know, profile that set up all of those things. So it's, you know, it can seem overwhelming, but if you put together a plan and it's really just a checklist that marketing should be a process in your firm and not something that we add on. Later when we have time,

KC Brothers:

you know, so depending on the firm and whether or not a firm has a dedicated marketing individual or marketing team An easy way and even with with a marketing team AI can still be a great help because of the nature of what it's able to do right now and how it's using Generative content and so on and so forth. How would you recommend firms utilize AI for their marketing?

Gaynor Meilke:

So I think I'm torn on this, I have to say, because I think it can be very efficient for, you know, sales emails or like just process emails, onboarding content, things that, you know, you can create something and maybe just Tweak it a little bit and that's super coming up with ideas as well for content. So, you know, doing, um, queries on different topics that might be relevant to your audience. But the thing with the accounting profession that I'm still not 100 percent sold on AI for generating content that is. You know, targeted on compliance or, you know, technical issues or anything like that, because it's not fact checked. And I think like chat GPT, the database stops at like 2021. So it's really not going to be useful. Another thing that, you know, I've been getting to the bottom of as well is just now Google's algorithm is also penalizing. You know, chat and GPT generated content. So you've got to think about, you know, what kind of content is this? Is it something that I'm trying to get SEO for? Is it something that, you know, my reputation is going to be harmed if it's not correct? Or is it something that's just like, I need to get this done efficiently and, you know, chat GPT is great for this or AI?

KC Brothers:

For me, chat GPT. Generative AI has just been a great help in terms of conquering the blank page. What I feel like I'm, I know I need to get something done, but I'm not sure how to start if I can put something in and even seem like that is. It's so wrong. And then you can correct it. Yeah. But it gives me a place to start as opposed to having to come up with it on my own.

Gaynor Meilke:

Yes. No, it's definitely true. And I would also say there's some great, um, video AI apps. So if you want to do video, but you don't want to be in the video and you can create some things that you can then edit pretty easily, that can be helpful too.

KC Brothers:

Yeah. Whether it's for your clients or for business efforts. Yeah. When it comes to business development, where do you see areas that you think firms could focus on more?

Gaynor Meilke:

I think definitely working their referral networks. I think there's a statistic that says most firms get 90 percent of their business from referrals. And so one, it's not just direct referrals from your clients, but from other firms as well. So really focusing on partnerships and networking. And I know there's all kinds of accounting communities out there. So being part of those is actually really important, especially. If a firm is not that comfortable with, you know, a lot of digital marketing and things like that, just having those strong networks.

KC Brothers:

Yeah, I love that. That's a great call, too, about partners, especially if accountants are being encouraged more and more to find an ideal customer profile, a specific niche. But as you do that, or as you are encouraged to do that, other firms are being encouraged to do the same. And that by just knowing who around you... Doesn't do what you do and them knowing that you do what they don't do what a benefit that is to your marketing as well

Gaynor Meilke:

Yeah, and I see that a lot with firms now It's almost like there's a divide happening between tax firms and then the you know CAS firms and they're kind of coming together So that, you know, the tax firms, they don't want to do the pre tax work and the accounting firms don't want to do the tax work. So, you know, they can really form some good partnerships there.

KC Brothers:

Yeah, get the right people on the bus doing the right tasks, even though maybe there are two buses in a parking lot.

Gaynor Meilke:

There you go. They park right side by side. Yeah. Yeah, definitely.

KC Brothers:

Um, well, any other technologies? Um, you know, AI is a hot topic right now, um, but particular to marketing efforts that you would say, like, these are solutions that firms really, if, if you're not utilizing, you need to be utilizing, or maybe it's even time to reevaluate how you utilize this system because it's so crucial.

Gaynor Meilke:

I would say CRM. Obviously, that's, you know, the first, um, touch point that you want to have in your firm. And if you're using an Excel spreadsheet, there's so many, yes, there's, there are tons of, you know, CRMs that you can choose from an email marketing platform, because this is something that I always tell. Firms too, is that you don't want to build your platform on social media. You want to have your own presence, you know, for your firm and that goes back to the website discussion. So if you don't have a website, there's lots of platforms out there that you can get one built relatively inexpensively. Yeah. Um, a social media, um, scheduling tool. I think that's That's important too, that can create a lot of efficiency. I mean the list goes on, but you know, everything from being able to text your clients, you know, and uh, prospects, reminders for appointments and things like that. It's all part of the client experience and that ties closely to marketing too.

KC Brothers:

Yeah. And I think a lot of it too, is meeting your clients where they are. What other technologies are they interacting with that they're now holding that standard to you? Even things like, um, I've heard it talked about as the Amazon experience and how Amazon upset, not just their own market, but the market in general, in terms of, uh, delivery times, like with two day prime or whatever it may be. Um, you think even with apps, um, Clients are going to be using modern apps like DoorDash or Instagram or whatever. And if you, if they're then having to log into systems that are not as modern or more antiquated, more difficult, um, are you going to get the behaviors out of them that you're wanting to? And are your marketing efforts going to be reflecting what they really could be if you updated to more modern technologies?

Gaynor Meilke:

I think that's true from marketing all the way through to the client service. Yeah. Piece of it because, you know, if you're still taking in paper forms and all of those things yet your marketing is over here saying we're a modern firm, you know, that's a disconnect. And again, just to your point, people are a lot more sophisticated. I think. Especially like this next generation of business owners. It, they're sophisticated. They're not going to have patience for accounting firms that aren't with the, with their, with their program, right? And, uh, because they see accountants as partners and they know what accountants can do for them. Uh, and that's where the whole advisory, you know, conversation is starting to take shape too. Well, thank you, Gaynor. Oh, thank you. It was a pleasure.