Successful Accountants’ Blog
An essential new way to categorise your clients and focus to boost your marketing efforts
Do you ever think about how your practice and your client base might be impacted by changes and developments over the next few years? Historically most clients stay with their accountant for many years. They generally move only when they feel their accountant doesn't care enough about
How to feel more self confident with clients and prospects
Do you consider yourself to be a confident person generally? What about in terms of your ability to attract and win over prospective clients? And to keep clients happy and willing to pay you the fees you deserve for the work you do? Whilst many accountants I
What you can do when clients won’t play ball
Many an otherwise savvy sole practitioner tells me about similar problems with their client base. "They won't pay higher fees, they don't want additional services and they leave everything to the last minute" If you have clients like this, you're not alone. Often it's a direct consequence
What can you do if you want to attract a better type of client?
When I ask accountants what they would like to be different in their practice, one theme is more common than any others. They frequently express the desire to have better quality clients, to increase their average fees and to be doing more interesting work.One sole practitioner accountant I
A quick five point plan to get more referrals
So many accountants tell me that most of their new clients come from word of mouth and client referrals. In most cases however this seems to be a function of luck rather than planned in any way. Have you ever thought about how you could make it
Ten things the most successful accountants do
Over the years I have worked with hundreds of accountants. I have also judged hundreds of entires for multiple accountancy awards. Having completed the judging process for a recent competition I reflected on what it takes to win and to be successful generally. Let me be clear
What can you do about all the competition from other accountants?
Not everyone who calls me for my input becomes a client. I sometimes offer some simple advice to accountants who are not yet in a position to need or afford my mentoring services (even though these are much more affordable than you might expect). One of the
10 commandments of client service for accountants
Ok, maybe not real 'commandments', so I wonder if you agree. And if there are any where you know you could do better. If so, then maybe focus on what you could do to improve your client service in this regard over the next few days, weeks
Why it’s not enough to just be a good accountant
The following observation on Facebook reflects a common perception. ‘It’s a shame that nowadays it isn’t enough to just be good at what you do. You need to be good at all this other stuff (marketing etc.) otherwise you don’t get anywhere.’ My response was as follows:
Why I gave up giving tax advice
This is a very different blog post to usual. I hope it will be of interest to accountants and tax advisers generally even though it does not contain any of my usual insights, guidance and advice. Thirteen years ago, in July 2008, I authored the lead comment
Why you need to build your personal brand – and how to make this work for you
What do people say about you when you’re not in the room? What would you like them to say? Few accountants seem to think this through. If you are clear about what you want people to say though you are likely to find success a lot faster
30 reasons people change their accountants and what this means for you
The following list is a salutary lesson in what NOT to do if you want to keep your clients. You could also use it as a checklist to have counterpoints to raise in each case when talking to prospective new clients. If they are moving from a
Why you’ll find more success if you have an angle
Too many accountants struggle to distinguish themselves from their competition. This is a shame as it is what makes each of us different that makes us memorable and the reason why we are referred and recommended. And then why we are engaged by clients. Challenge this if
Why you need to tell people who you are – beyond being an accountant
No one is 'just an accountant'. And you know that already. But how clear do you make this on your website, your online profiles and when you are networking? Lots of accountants make the mistake of assuming they only need to evidence their credibility as an accountant.
The most common mistake accountants make that loses them key referrals
I wonder if you make an all too common mistake. We all hope that clients will want us to provide a range of services to them. And we hope that clients will recommend and refer us to other prospective clients too… But, as I frequently point out,
