3 Proven Things That You Can Leverage Now; and an Action Tip Each
When a firm grows from $ 300,000 a year to over $ 3 million a year, you want to know what’s the secret.
When a startup firm starts hiring people, you want to know how they managed to get new clients quickly.
When a firm gets so many new leads that it has to give it away to its affiliates and partners, you definitely want to know what’s the magic sauce.
Here are the three proven things you can use to grow your accounting practice:
But before we go onto those three things, there is one thing that is most important for you to achieve similar accounting practice growth.
And that is:
If you are not totally, really, absolutely deeply unhappy about the current growth rate at your practice, none of these three things will work for your accounting practice growth.
Accounting Practice Growth: Top 3 Proven Strategies
1. What do you do THE best?
By that we mean do THE best out there, not just YOUR best.
When you become so highly skilled and competent, not just in your own knowledge but in the competence of your firm’s capabilities that are hard for competitors to match, you gain reputation as the “go to” solutions provider for your chosen customer profiles.
The trick for ensuring accounting practice growth? Pick a few services that you can deliver the best. Don’t pick all that you can just do alright.
Many CPA firm websites show a long list of services, so much so that it becomes difficult for the prospects to quickly find what they want. In our experience so far, we have seen that the fastest growing firms have purposefully decided to do only a handful things, for specific types of customers, in the best possible way. And it has paid rich dividends, much faster than other firms who seem to want to do everything for everybody.
Strategy 1: More successful firms have honed their skills in chosen specific processes, so much so that they dig out intelligent insights from data and information that helps their clients grow faster.
Implemented by a firm in Boston area who grew from $ 300,000 a year to over $ 3 million a year
Action Tip: Do you like to read accounting industry survey results? We all want to know what our peers are doing and check if we are lagging behind. In the same way, can you provide insights to your clients, specific to their businesses and industry?
2. WHO (really) needs your best?
That brings us to the next step. Find out how many people will need what you do the best. Let’s take an example. Let’s say your family has dental practitioners. You grew up knowing the ins and outs of what makes dental practices tick. So, if you are in “dental accounting”, you are more likely to succeed. But in your geographic area, how many dental practices are there? Is your “market size” too small? You do not need to have a specialized, niche-industry practice. You can be “niche-segment” practice e.g. private jet owners; small businesses between 0.5 to 2 mn. in annual revenues; product based companies; professional services businesses and so on. These are just some examples to get you started. The key is to do something better than most others and sell that to those who need it the most.
Strategy 2: More successful firms have focused on and implemented processes that find the precise customer personas they want and offer them highly specific solutions that solve key problems for such clients.
Implemented by a boutique firm from Massachusetts focused only on few specific segments in a specific industry.
Action Tip: Take a look at your LinkedIn profile or your website headline. Will your prospective clients want to read any further (when they read the headline, will they instantly feel you are the right person who can help them?)
3. Can they find you?
According to AICPA PCPS 2015 survey, “Getting New Clients” is one of the top 5 challenges for firms of all sizes. Accounting practice growth requires significant time, efforts and costs to find new customers. But, are you “getting found” by your prospective customers? Is your “location” saturated with service providers like you? Is your area’s total “business pie” not growing? When your ideal clients search for an accounting service provider on the web, do they find you first or do they find your competitors? Is your website delivering leads to you consistently to ensure your accounting practice growth? Are your social media profiles attracting the right kind of connections?
There is one thing that makes your growth more difficult than anything else – the boundaries you have drawn. Why you don’t get clients from larger geographic area – or for that matter more from your own area? It is most likely because they cannot find you.
Strategy 3: More successful firms have implemented effective “inbound marketing” systems and processes. “Inbound = Get Found”. Wouldn’t it be awesome if your prospects chase you, rather than you chasing them?
Implemented by a firm from New York, in a highly competitive location, who gets so many new leads from its website that it has to give it away to its affiliates and partners.
Action Tip: Do a quick Google search using “Your City Accounting Firm” e.g. “Nashville Accounting Firm” or “Schiller Park Accounting Firm”. Where do you find your firm in the search results?. Now Google by your firm name and in the search result, just below the url of the firm website, read the description that shows up. Would your ideal client think you are the right firm to know more about?
If you are an ambitious accounting professional and unhappy about the growth rate of your accounting practice, contact us now to explore if we are a fit for your growth plans (even if you don’t have defined the plan yet!).
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