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, 'hope' is not a strategy.
Most established Accountants running their own firms claim to get most of their better new clients via referrals. is this true or relevant to less established practices? Experienced accountants claim that no other activities and no marketing investment ever seems worth the effort. The following sentiment is typical of what I hear: "I get all
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 easier for your contacts to know who would
Most of the accountants I meet claim that most of their best new clients come through referrals. When I dig deeper I find this is typically for one of the following reasons: They remember that their most recent new clients were initially generated by referrals; They don't get many new clients and also don't ask for
I frequently hear networking gurus stress a mantra that originated in the book ‘Endless Referrals, written by Bob Burg: “All things being equal, people do business with, and refer business to people they know, like and trust.” I understand this is also the mantra shared at certain networking groups. The focus then is on encouraging you to make an effort
Many accountants claim that they secure much of their new work through word of mouth referrals. This suggests that clients are making positive comments about their accountants. They may do that if they're particularly happy but in the same way any unhappy clients will be quick to complain about their accountants. I've heard a large
Some professional advisers, such as accountants, claim that they secure much of their new work through word of mouth referrals. This suggests that clients are making positive comments about them. They may do that if they're particularly happy but in the same way any unhappy clients will be quick to share their negative views even if
Not everyone wants to STAND OUT in the traditional sense. Often we assume that you need to be an extrovert to STAND OUT, and that it's necessary to dress in a distinctive way and to be supported by bright and loud branding. I accept that all of those qualities can make you STAND OUT and
In an educational context we refer to the three Rs as being those crucial elements that all children need to master. That is, Reading wRiting and aRithmetic. This is somewhat ironic given that only one of the three topics actually starts with an R. (The phrase is used as each of the three words, when
If you're either a busy accountant and/or a regular at networking events, you probably get asked this question all of the time. You may also be asked by friends and family, ex-colleagues and prospective clients as well as by your bank manager, suppliers and potential advocates. How carefully have you thought about the way that
Thinking about your business relationships, how close do you want to be with clients, prospective clients and advocates? The following list suggests a number of distinctive levels of contact that you could have. It can be a mistake (as in, a waste of time) to expect recommendations and referrals from anyone before your contact level
When I write and speak about accountants and social media I always make the point that Linkedin is different. It's the only online networking site where you can get some benefit simply by having your profile there, even if you're not active. But of course you can also choose to be active on LinkedIn. One
Some years ago I signed up for some personal coaching with John Niland. I have remained on his mailing list - he regularly shares useful tips and advice for independent professionals. Last week I noted he had given another good example of why it is so important to be clear as to who are your
Accountants are often seen as the ideal people to to ask for referrals. After all, accountants in practice will often act for dozens of clients, many of whom are targets for other complementary suppliers. This means that accountants are routinely approached by financial advisers, will writers, software developers, marketing consultants and many other service providers.
I was asked yesterday for my top five marketing tips for accountants and I said I thought these would be clear on this blog. Except that I then realised that 'marketing' is not one of the categories I use on here. [edit: I have since updated the categories here] Thinking back that's because, in
In a recent post I introduced the concept of referral marketing for accountants and set out the main reasons why many accountants don’t explore this low cost marketing technique.In this post I’ll highlight some of the key issues and in part three I’ll address explain ways to overcome any reluctance to adopt this approach to
Many accountants like to think that they secure most of their new clients through ‘word of mouth’ recommendations – often from existing clients. I wonder how much of that is what I might suggest is ‘accidental’ word of mouth marketing. It happens at a sufficient rate to balance out the odd client loss. But it’s
I introduced this topic in parts one and two so will avoid repeating the points I have already made. This time the focus is on one simple way for ambitious professionals to obtain testimonials. I regularly address this point in my talk about ‘How to make more money from your tax work’ (a popular
