Last week we learned that, for most advisors, three to four strategic alliances is all you need to keep your calendar full of appointments. But what if you're working with four different CPAs? Will they care that you work with others? Won't they want exclusivity?
The answer is sure, who doesn't want exclusivity. In reality though, exclusivity doesn't have to mean just one. In my market there are around
200 to 300 different CPAs, enrolled agents and accountants. So the fact that I only work with four is still pretty exclusive if you think about it.
The reality is that most of how I bring value to a CPA in a strategic relationship is through helping them grow their business organically among their own base of clients. Helping a CPA increase client retention and referrals from happy clients are much stronger value propositions from me than trying to help them grow by stealing clients away from other "competitor" firms.
When you begin to understand this, it makes more sense that working with three to four professionals in the same industry isn't really an issue. The fact that I bring as much value as I do, and only to three to four, creates a very strong sense of urgency just to get to be one of the three to four.
