For years I have talked about what accountants can do to stand out from their peers and competitors. How to be remarkable and better remembered, referred and recommended.
Many people see accountants simply as professionals who help clients satisfy their legal obligations to prepare and file accounts and tax returns.
And some accountants are perfectly happy just doing that.
Equally, there are plenty of accountants who would prefer to act for clients who want more than a basic compliance-only annual service.
They want stronger relationships with clients, more meaningful conversations and the opportunity to contribute commercially throughout the year rather than simply completing forms after the year end.
In a profession where many firms promote broadly similar services, often using remarkably similar language, there is obvious commercial value in standing out from the crowd.
I have long encouraged accountants to think carefully about how they present themselves, how they communicate and what makes clients more likely to talk positively about them to others.
The difficulty is not the desire to stand out.
The difficulty is that many accountants end up claiming exactly the same points of difference while believing those things make them unique.
Lots of accountants now describe themselves as proactive, approachable, commercially minded and focused on relationships rather than simple compliance work. Many stress that they offer advice throughout the year rather than only preparing accounts and tax returns annually.
All of which may be true.
But none of it is especially unusual anymore.
The myth of the ‘traditional accountant’
Recently I spoke with two separate accountants, each of proudly proclaimed that they do not wear suits and ties “like all the other accountants”. One did it on their website. The other in a post on Linkedin.
In reality they may be the ones who are out of touch as I genuinely cannot remember the last time I saw or spoke with an accountant wearing a suit and tie in everyday practice life.
What may once have been a genuine point of distinction has become fairly ordinary.
That is the danger with many so-called USPs.
A USP is supposed to be a Unique Selling Proposition. ‘Unique’ meaning unlike anybody else.
Not “something we do that several hundred other accountants also claim to do”.
Saying you are different because you are friendly, modern or relationship-focused also does not automatically distinguish you.
Nor does claiming to “do more than compliance”. There are now countless firms saying exactly the same thing, many of them sincerely.
That does not make those claims false. It simply means they are not unique.
Common assertions
Here are some of the other most common phrases that show up on accountants’ websites in the context of what they claim makes them unique, special and different.
- We provide a partner-led service
- We don’t just prepare your accounts and tax returns
- We aim to be your long-term business partner
- We avoid surprise fees
- We are family run
- We hold your hand
- Big firm service at small firm prices
- We’re much more than just accountants
- We’re not just good with numbers
- We keep in touch with you throughout the year
- We have a special affinity with entrepreneurs who lead their own businesses
- We understand local issues, because they affect us too
- We deliver the highest levels of service
- We focus on servicing SMEs (that’s the acronym used to describe 99.8% of all UK businesses)
- We tailor our services to your exact requirements and budget
- We offer competitive rates and unrivalled customer care
- Your success is our priority
These are all positive attributes and that list could go on and on. But what’s special about you and your firm? And how do your clients benefit from this? Why should a prospective client, who is comparing you and your firm with another accountant, choose you?
Younger accountants are not the first to challenge the profession
I also see plenty of younger accountants setting out to “change the profession”. I admire the ambition but in many cases their experience has been limited to what they have seen only in more traditional firms.
They may genuinely believe they are disrupting something outdated by offering advice throughout the year, speaking in plain English and engaging commercially with clients.
The reality is that many other accountants have been doing precisely that for years.
Again, this is not criticism. It is simply perspective. The profession is far broader and more varied than many people initially realise.
I suggest that the more useful question is not whether you are unique, but whether you are genuinely relevant and valuable to the clients you want to serve.
That shifts the conversation considerably.
A better alternative to the traditional USP
Instead of making an unrealistic claim to have a genuine USP, it may be more productive to think in slightly different terms.
If you want to stick with the ‘unique’ idea then one alternative I have long advocated is to think instead of evidencing a UPB — a Unique Perceived Benefit.
The emphasis here moves away from what you want to say about yourself and towards what clients genuinely feel they gain from working with you.
Even then, true uniqueness is difficult. However, understanding the specific benefits clients associate with your firm can be revealing.
Particularly useful are conversations with clients who moved to you from another accountant. What do they believe improved? What frustrations disappeared? What feels different to them now? Their answers are often far more commercially valuable than any branding exercise conducted internally.
Focus on compelling advantages instead
Another alternative approach is to identity an RCA — a Real Compelling Advantage.
This removes the unrealistic pressure of trying to prove uniqueness and instead asks a simpler question. What genuinely compels clients to stay with you?
Ideally, the answer is not your low fees.
If clients remain purely because you are cheaper, you are permanently vulnerable to somebody else undercutting you.
That is not a stable commercial position.
A compelling advantage tends to be rooted in trust, responsiveness, clarity, confidence, strategic thinking or simply making clients feel better supported and understood.
Although none of them expressed it as such, dozens of the accountants I have interviewed on my podcast have essentially referenced their RCAs
The emotional reasons clients choose accountants
Another alternative approach is to focus on your ESP — your Emotional Selling Proposition.
Professional services are rarely chosen on logic alone.
Clients make emotional decisions and then justify them rationally afterwards.
Accountants who create confidence, reassurance, momentum and clarity often win over the technically capable accountant who communicates none of those things particularly well.
This is why some accountants with fairly ordinary service offerings still attract loyal clients and strong referrals. The emotional experience of dealing with them is positive and memorable.
Again this comes across time after time through the interviews on my podcast.
Do accountants really need to be unique?
The obsession with uniqueness and USPs has been encouraged by some marketing consultants.
As will be apparent, I’m not a fan as it leads to accountants becoming so focused on claiming to be different that they stop paying proper attention to the changing needs of the marketplace itself. (And their USP is rarely unique anyway!)
Clients are generally less interested in what you think makes you unique than whether you understand their problems, can reduce their uncertainty and help them make better decisions.
That is where meaningful differentiation usually emerges anyway.
The practices that stand out naturally
When accountants become genuinely absorbed in solving client problems, exploring alternative approaches and improving outcomes, they naturally begin to stand apart.
And they spend less time announcing how unique they are and more time quietly demonstrating usefulness in ways clients actually notice.
