I chose Universal Accounting because they are a real school. With real experience. A real company with real solutions focused on MY market ? the small biz market. No one else does that! They appealed to me because I know the value of financial literacy. The price was worth it to me because I approach business as a business. Not a business that cleans houses, but a business that has a financial structure that makes sense. To the point that if a biz does not have a proper financial structure, in my mind it is no business at all, regardless of the net profit. And UA differentiated itself as a school / company who recognizes that difference and who specializes in that difference.
Purchase Motivation ? UA?s ad appeared during a Google search when I was searching specifically for a proven, franchise-like course that showed step-by-step how to start and successfully grow an accounting business. And they offered a FREE CD! Which massively appealed to my value-oriented, entrepreneurial mind, i.e. their primary target market.
Product Acceptance
a. Functionality ? Gave me control, i.e. predictability of success in my business. Isn?t that what accounting is really about?!
b. Sensory Impact ? Professional DVDs that ?put me in the classroom?. Current, relevant information and knowledge. NOT rehashed, out-of-date, rah rah stuff.
c. Unconscious Associations ? Appealed to my desire and need to be an effective entrepreneur in control of my own destiny
d. Conscious-Mind Conclusions ? What I remember considering when I was deciding to buy this course or not was the testimonials from the students with accounting degrees and the students in corporate accounting positions who consistently said that this course taught them the fundamental accounting systems and logic that is hidden in the background by software-based accounting systems. His insistence on ?long hand? accounting so that I would finish this course understanding the ?hows? and ?whys?. This was valuable to me whether I decided to start an accounting business OR (and still) if I decided to start an unrelated business (which I did). I still needed this knowledge. There were many other subtleties that factored into my decision but this was the major issue for me personally.
e. Access / Convenience ? I was able to educate myself fully on this product from their website. I called their salespeople for specific questions. I was not interested in financing but it gave me confidence that they believed in their product enough to offer it. I ordered it via phone and it would show up in its entirety in a few days. This was important because I had plans to consume this course at an accelerated rate (which I did). And there was always someone there who would pick up the phone and explain to me any concepts that I just couldn?t get from the DVDs. I didn?t need to because the course is extremely well done and understandable.
I prefer UA because of their professional DVD ?classroom experience? course that explains the fundamentals of accounting that is relevant to the small business owner in a systemized way. They have the experience. And they are the only people who do this in this way!