Do you remember the song “To all the girls I’ve loved before”?
It was originally written by Hal David and Albert Hammond on the album 99 Miles from L.A.
You probably remember the Willie Nelson version with Julio Iglesias.

To all the girls I’ve loved before
Who traveled in and out my door
I’m glad they came along
I dedicate this song
To all the girls I’ve loved before

Accountants love numbers.
Marketers love words.

Accountants break down a business by what it owns and what it owes. And what it earns and what it spends.
They give these categories as fancy a name as an accountant can dream: Assets and Liabilities, Revenues and Expenses.

You will see vehicles, buildings, leaseholds, cash, accounts payable, and investments as some of the items in the ASSET category.

A customer is not an asset to an accountant. She hides in revenues and expenses.

If you sell your business through the sale of assets, accountants will add up the book value of the assets and subtract it from the sale price. If the sale price is higher than the total book value, accountants add a new asset to the buyer’s balance sheet and call it Goodwill.

To a buyer, Goodwill is the future profitability of the existing customer base. It is an asset and can be depreciated, just like an office chair.

Although Marketers and Accountants speak different languages, they agree on the need for more customers.

Accountants say you can’t own a client.
Marketers think you can through influence with the right message.

Accountants put no value on a business name unless it has been purchased.
Marketers think reputation is what brings value to the name.

Accountants say marketing costs are an expense. From a tax perspective, that’s a good thing. Marketing efforts are not an asset on the balance sheet.

Marketers want to own the heart of the customer.
They want to own combination of words, unique words, syllables, characters, and letters.
They want to own occasions, thoughts, moments, and emotions.
They want to own connection, desire, need and wonder.

None of these things will ever appear on a financial statement until after you sell your business for more than the accountant thinks it’s worth.

The day before the sale, these things have no value on the accountant’s ledger.

Accountants are mostly historians. They use past data to predict the future.
Marketers are writers of the future and use words to create it.

Accountants are realists.
Marketers are dreamers.
Great marketers dream and create reality.

The accountant in you will help manage your business. He won’t launch it to the moon.

I don’t think there’s any use for the past, except for avoiding the same mistakes. So, I tell my little accountant to shut up from time to time.

Check your pulse. How much time are you giving the little accountant and little marketer in you?

“Remember when” is the lowest form of conversation

– Tony Soprano

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