So many marketing plans are sometimes hard to measure the results in the short term. This is especially true for accounting practices as bringing on new business clients is usually a several step process. There is the initial warm up introduction, fee structure discussions, obtaining the necessary data from the new client and then the work begins.I have focused my efforts on basically 2 lines of marketing for accountants for 30 years and will chronicle here some of the successes and the pitfalls I have encountered.
It is my hope that others wishing to discuss different avenues that are open to accountants to grow their practices will take a few minutes here and add to the discussion or glean some useful information to bring in more clients and of course increase their bottom line
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First a brief history of my background. My father had an accounting practice in Kansas that was thriving in 1974. He had been practicing since the 1950's in fact he was certificate issue #8 when accountants first were required to be certified. My oldest brother had recently become a CPA and had opened a practice back east. I was sure, at that time, that I would also study accounting and become a CPA and someday take over my father's practice as i was the only son still living in Kansas. Having been around my dad's accounting firm since before I could remember it seemed my future was already decided.
The second semester of college I spent a few hours per day working at the firm mainly doing simple tasks,and completing simple tax returns. I think I did about 40 returns that tax season in the days before the computer changed the profession forever.It was on a fishing outing with dad (of course sometime after April 15th) that I bluntly told him I absolutely hated doing tax returns and accounting tasks and was sure it was not the business for me. Of course he was shocked and even saddened by this news and it caused some tension.
I was probably more upset than dad as I needed to decide in what direction my education would go and that is a decision that all students have to find an answer.to. I had an uncle that gave me some very logical advice.
Here is what he said: Write down the things you are good at and the things you enjoy the most and find an occupation that will make you a good living and make you happy at the same time. The first thing I wrote down was 1.You enjoy interaction with people and seem to get along well with most everybody. 2. You are comfortable conversing about sports,recent movies,family gossip, and generally any subject that wasn't too technical in nature. Sitting at a desk was not for me but rather one on one interaction with people came easy to me.
Most accountants at that time did very little marketing and what little effort they put forth was usually confined to a targeted mailing,making sure personal contacts had your business card, and of course word of mouth. Recent changes in the law allowed
CPA's, Lawyers, and others, for the first time, to directly advertise their services.Lawyers jumped on the bandwagon.and. their ads were all over radio and TV.Radio,TV, and print advertising produce good results for them to this day but most of this advertising is ineffective to produce new accounting clients for obvious reasons. Number one being that a person's accountant is a lot closer to the client than most other professions. Accountants are intimately involved in the one commodity we all pay close attention to our MONEY.Because of this very personal relationship business owners are reluctant to change accountants and when they do are very cautious.
What if we just picked up some new clients the way it had been done since communications first began?
I did just that for my Dad's accounting practice and in the course of 18 months tripled his annual billings!!
Check back here for the exact methods and strategies used if you are interested in growing your practice.
That is direct one on one presentations to potential new clients offering our accounting,tax, and audit services.
Some accountants to this day think this direct approach demeans the profession but I can tell you after using this aggressive direct marketing approach for 3 decades no other method I know of can produce such dramatic results and the opportunities to up sell valuable add on services has benefited the client's bottom line.
In the 80's the big firms jumped on this new advertising that had become legal for accountants and greatly expanded their market share.Today the big firms have active direct marketing departments.
The two methods I have been talking about to grow an accounting practice fall into 2 categories that I will focus on in my posts. One is individual client acquisition and number 2 is practice purchase opportunities(what you might not know when buying a practice can cost you a lot of money).I will chronicle my experiences in these areas describe the methods and strategies that work well to this day.There are a lot of marketing schemes out there,some only theorized,some that have been productive, and some that are a waste of time and money. I will only present details and methods that have worked for me as a contract marketer. I welcome any new ideas or strategies that have worked for others and am anxious to have this dialogue.
Check back here for the exact methods and strategies used if you are interested in rapidly growing a accounting practice.If you would like some more information on the methods I used you can email me at
Jayfurnas@inbox.com for my
Direct Marketing Manual for Accountants: How to build a Million Dollar Accounting Practice. Free of charge with a valid email!.What marketing methods have worked for you? Will referrals alone provide enough new business for you?Interested in out sourcing your marketing efforts? I can help you build your practice with 0$ up front. Pay for services as they are provided.Enter you contact information
HERE Agree? Disagree? ,
Frenemies, All opinions welcome!!Want to talk in person 8-6pm central standard time. Jay
Furnas (316)806-9521
