Association Membership

When I am talking with prospective members of our accounting and business consulting firm association, I often get asked what the real benefits of association membership are. Sure you get some group discounts (one of our members saved enough with his Computer Discount Warehouse discount to cover the cost of his dues in a single year!), and some great travel (this year alone ACPA conferences are in Jerusalem, Melbourne, Paris and Charlotte), but how does the firm's business development and client service really benefit?

The answer is, unfortunately for accountants, not simple to put into a pie chart or graph. It is not numerically-friendly. The answer is synergy. Synergy is the magic created by the combined efforts of each firm within the association that makes it a smart investment for member firms.

Fortunately, there are some solid examples of the synergy to be considered. For instance, Peter, from our Melbourne firm was meeting with his client the travel agent one day. The client mentioned that he had booked a group tour for some customers through a London office and hadn't heard back from them in quite a while. He was concerned that the booking company had walked off with the deposits. Melbourne is a long way from London, but not if you are part of an association. Peter picked up the phone and called Michael, who is in our London firm. He gave Michael the address and it turned out to be a few blocks away. Michael sent one of his staff to the address, only to find a "Gone out of Business" sign in the window. The booking agency had in fact walked off with the deposit money of Peter's client, as well as several others. Peter's client was amazed to have an answer to his inquiry within the hour, and Michael's firm ended up working on the resultant lawsuit against the booking agency on behalf of Peter's client.

"While my client was faced with a real mess in terms of the group tour he was planning, he was able to get the answers he needed to face his clients in a matter of minutes, " Peter said. "How do you think that client looks at me now? He's thrilled with my firm's services and is a loyal client indeed."

Business Alerts are one way that associations facilitate help and communication among members. At ACPA we do this via email. A member contacts us to advise us of a business need of the firm or one of their clients and we email that information to our members for them to respond if they are able. Answers often come within a matter of minutes.

"There's not one member who won't drop what they are doing to help you. The relationships built within the association are priceless," says Andy, of one of our longest-standing member firms.

To gain the most out of associations, members must participate actively. Conference attendance and regular interaction with other members are key to developing business opportunities and getting the information your firm needs to grow and expand business services. While CPE sessions are offered at conferences, the true benefit is interacting with the rest of the attendees.

"At every ACPA conference I've attended in the last five years, I've walked away with one idea that's added $25,000 to my bottom line. That's value," says Barry, of our Milwaukee firm.

Additionally, members can benefit from each other's experiences. One session at a recent ACPA conference was entitled "Mergers: the good, bad and ugly". It was led by 3 ACPA members who had been through mergers in the last year. Each merger had a varying degree of success - from full implementation to complete dissolution. The session was rated among the most valuable ever at an ACPA conference. The tips, hints, do's, don'ts and DEFINTELY don'ts were extremely valuable for those in the room.

"You can't put dollars on those sorts of intangibles of membership, they are priceless," said Sander from our Chicago firm.

Several of our members have out and out plagiarized the marketing materials for new services. The London firm took its marketing plan for not-for-profit services directly from the one the New Jersey firm had successfully implemented. Why reinvent the wheel when someone has already been successful at it?

When Australia implemented a new goods and services tax last year, two of our firms in that country sent staff to New Zealand to spend some time at our New Zealand firm. New Zealand had already implemented the GST and the Aussies were able to serve as "interns" at the office, performing work for the New Zealand firm while learning the ins and outs of the GST for use back home.

And yes, there are the opportunities for referral business. Our New Jersey firm had a relatively small client who needed services in other states and countries. That client grew to be a large client of the associations - involving half a dozen member firms in their services.

"You only need a few referrals to cover your dues," said Marv, of our Toronto firm. From the Huntingdon, West Virginia's need for a once per year translation from Chinese of a profit and loss statement to the setting up of joint ventures and other more-involved services, the opportunities for referrals are varied.

"We had a client who needed an inventory taken in several states. While these inventories were small jobs for each of the firms that helped us, we were able to gain this client, whose account was substantial to our firm, because of our out-of-state resources," said our Chicago firm.

Getting the entire firm involved is key to success within associations as well.

"Get your partners involved in what's going on within the association. You've got to sell this to your partners too," said our Detroit member. Getting your partners to think about the association and how they can best take advantage of the membership serves two purposes. It exponentially enlarges the opportunities for business development within your firm and keeps them aware of the benefits of the association, which saves the line item for dues from questioning during budgeting time.

For each story here, all of the full-service associations have just as many that are just as interesting. Some are fun, some are sad, but all of them are valuable examples of the synergy created when like-minded firms come together and make the best use of their firm's dollars by investing in association membership.