Successful Accountants’ Blog
When growing your practice is NOT the solution you need
Many management consultants would argue that if your practice fails to grow it will stagnate. Is that true actually? I think it depends on what one means by ‘grow’. Grow the client base? Turnover? Profits? Range of services? Efficiency? I prefer the word ‘evolve’ as I’ll explain below. Many
How to stop your clients’ last minute-itus
How many of your clients only do things at the last minute? Too many, I’d bet. You’re not alone though as “Clients’ last minute-itus” is a common complaint I hear from accountants all over the UK. The question then is how to avoid this? First we need to be
Whether you call it closing the sale or completing the sale – you need to be able to do it
In an ideal world, you would simply tell people that you are an accountant and your ideal prospects would then find you and ask to become your clients. Life isn’t like that. Even when these people do find out about your practice you need to have a
Why I don’t discount my fees and why you shouldn’t either
We all know the old adage “if you don’t ask, you don’t get“. So it is perhaps unsurprising that some people ask if we will reduce our fees. This even happens occasionally when accountants approach me for my NED-style mentoring support services. Fortunately it's very rare. But
Make it easy for your ideal clients. Like I try to do.
I have long encouraged accountants, who can do so, to focus their marketing messages, website messages, social media and Linkedin activity on their target audience. I have also been attempting to practice what I preach. This leads to non-accountants asking what the heck do I mean now I reference
Why are you not as profitable as you want to be?
Not all of my clients want to discuss profitability issues with me. So I don’t always know how profitable they are. If it doesn’t come up during our conversations then I assume they are happy enough with their current level of profitability. Or perhaps they are embarrassed
Debunked: The ‘one thing’ you MUST do. There are 5 if you really want to be successful
A popular approach to getting your attention (and often your money) is to tell you that there is ‘one thing’ you must do to achieve your ambitions and succeed. I see this all over the place, in blogs, articles, videos and social media posts. Those who suggest
What does giving clients ‘added value’ really mean?
I first wrote about this in 2012 when I explained that I don't believe that accountants’ clients really want 'added value'. Heresy? No. It's just I'm not a big fan of buzzwords. I believe it's more helpful to think about what anyone means when they say they
7 common marketing challenges and solutions for accountants
When I was asked what are the most common marketing challenges that accountants face, I quickly listed the following: 1 Not enough time Time to set objectives. Time to plan. Time to consider options. Time to brief anyone to help. Time to try to do it myself.
What’s the best way for an accountant to win new clients?
Many of the accountants who take up the opportunity to book a call with me start with variations on the same question: How can I attract new clients? How can I grow my practice? What can I do to get more clients? I need more clients, what
How to start advising clients about their future rather than their past
It occurs to me that some accountants keen to do more advisory work might find it easier if they change their mindset. I suggest that the first and primary way to develop the advisory side of your practice is to be clear as to why you want
How’s your self confidence and experience?
In my experience many accountants have more potential to succeed than they themselves believe. They are better accountants than they are prepared to admit. And they deserve to be more successful than they have so far managed to be. Could this be true of you too? Equally
Make it easier for people to remember what you do
We know, don’t we, that good communication is important in business. In my view, one of the most fundamental pieces of communication is how we talk about what we do.There are many challenges to be overcome here. We want to avoid sounding just like everyone else in the
Debunked: Can you really rely on referrals to sustain or grow your practice?
Most established accountants running their own firms claim to get most of their new clients via referrals. I see at least three potential flaws with this perception. Firstly, it’s rarely based on empirical evidence. Often it is simply an easy answer to the question: 'Where do most
How to avoid premature evaluation and premature elaboration
Imagine being in pain and going to your doctor for some help. Within moments of your arrival the doctor starts telling you, very enthusiastically, how similar your pain is to their previous patient, what is wrong with you and what medicine you need to take. How would
