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. Time to test. Time to
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 should I do? I never
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 there are plenty of accountants
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 same field. We want our
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 you feel if that happened?
Before setting out those marketing distractions that I believe accountants should avoid I need to offer some context. Over 20 years ago, the start of the century(!) was when I began presenting talks to accountants about practice related matters. I quickly learned to avoid any mention of the M-word as, back then,
Not everyone wants to follow the widely promoted advice that you will benefit more from advertising, marketing, networking and referrals if you focus your attention on trying to reach a specific group of people. The idea being that we can then let everyone else continue trying to be all things to all
Do you assume you know what (new) callers will want from you? Are you able to distinguish real prospective clients without devoting too much time to the others? Do you operate like other professionals or by reference to wishful thinking? These are key challenges for all of us. We want to encourage
I have never ‘swiped’ someone’s profile picture, as online dating didn’t exist when I met my wife in the 1980s. The whole concept of swiping is quite alien to me. I was curious though, so a while back, I asked a single friend to show me how the ‘swipe left’ and ‘swipe
You have probably heard the suggestion that it’s important to help people get to 'know, like and trust' you. Only then will they buy from you. Only then will they even consider becoming your client. This idea originated in the book ‘Endless Referrals’, written by Bob Burg, who said: “All things being
I am frequently surprised when apparently successful accountants tell me that they know they should start being active on social media. And that they want to beef up their marketing activity. Both such aspirations typically reflect a belief in the mystical power of generic marketing and the hype surrounding social media activity.
What do you really need to sell as an accountant? This is a simple enough question, and knowing the right answer could make a profound difference to the success of your practice. Let’s start with what you’re NOT selling. As I explained in a 2018 blog post, You are NOT selling your time.
This week I am sharing with you 15 of the key points I referenced during a recent conversation with an accountant who wanted to know what they should be doing in year 3 of their newish practice. Background The accountant had booked a one-off focused mentoring call, having started their practice just
How do you evidence your value to prospective clients? You need to be able to do this effectively if you want to charge more than the absolute minimum for your services. This is a key part of promoting and pitching your services. Your promotional and marketing messages should be designed to attract
In this blog post I explain five key issues in the context of your competition as an accountant. I have discussed them many times with clients during mentoring sessions. Often I find an accountant's perception as to who is their competition is blinkered and limited. They are often shocked to realise they
Many accountants appear to approach the idea of finding new clients with conflicted emotions. If you do this you are probably making life harder for yourself than it needs to be. On the one hand your website and marketing activities try to promote you and your firm as able to act for
Regular readers will know that I am both very active on social media and highly ranked for my online influence (such as it is!) Equally you will also know that I do not routinely encourage accountants to use social media for promotional and marketing purposes. And I challenge the apparent evidence and
This post follows on from a previous post in which I set out the 12 ways in which you can Keep In Touch with clients and why it is so important to do so. As I explained in that post, this demands personalised 1-2-1 contact. It is very different to simply following
You want your clients, certainly the better ones, to stay with you. By implication therefore you want them to appreciate that you care about them, that you are interested in them and that you want to help them as much as you can. Those are just some of the reasons for Keeping
As a teenager, before I started studying to become an accountant, I was a children's party entertainer - and I continued doing this for about 25 years. When I look back I realise that I quickly learned 3 key lessons that now, many years later, still inform my thinking and advice to
Accountants have a distinct advantage over most other service professionals. Your clients need your help on an ongoing basis, at least once a year and often more frequently than this. This leads some accountants to be a little complacent about client retention - certainly as compared with most solicitors and financial advisers.
It's all to easy to assume that all clients want the same things. But unless you ask, you won't know for sure. It's probably true that most clients want their accountants to help them pay less tax and to keep them straight with the authorities. Probably true. For most. But these may
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 them, puts their fees up
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 work with have a fair
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 was mentoring expressed this quite
