plus four tips for content creation.
by hitendra patil
client accounting services: the definitive success guide
your firm’s value proposition is not what you say. it is what your clients and prospects perceive. perception is reality. here are some proven ways to identify your firm’s real marketable value.
more: seven ways to market your cas offering | 12 cas profitability killers | cas involves true communication | how weekly cas reports help businesses | cas: much more than bookkeeping | matching your tech to your cas clients | six steps to spreading cas awareness
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- ask your clients: it is not so easy to “be in the customers’ shoes.” you will be surprised how you can gain immense insights from your clients – about how they perceive and experience your service and how they feel; what they find of value and what they feel frustrated about. don’t guess, don’t assume, just ask them. it is easy to conduct customer surveys online (e.g., surveymonkey has a free version that allows you to collect 100 responses; google forms are also free to use). identify the most common positives and negatives that emerge from survey data to be able to improve your marketing and customer experience.
- meticulously note down the exact words your clients/prospects use: in the accounting profession, especially for professional accountants, it is easy to fall prey to using accounting jargon. but those are not the words your clients and prospects typically use. identify the words that your clients and prospects use. in every personal (or phone) interaction with them, meticulously note down the exact words they use. once you start seeing the most common “lingo” used by them, include that lingo in your future interactions, your marketing, your content and so on.
- what your clients are repetitively/regularly asking: the questions your clients ask repetitively/regularly are indicators of their perceptions of the value they do not get or they want to obtain from your services. those also represent what they do not know, or they do not have expertise in. such questions are also representative of what is important to your clients. figure out what they do once they get the answers to their questions. more often than not, your clients use the answers you give to make some business decisions. keep writing down the questions and answers. once you have 15-20 unique questions and their answers written down, you will find some trends/patterns in them. take those insights and leverage them in your marketing/sales pitches.
- research competitor reviews: one of the best places to learn what clients of other accountants find useful and what makes clients unhappy is their online reviews. identify what makes their clients happy and unhappy. find out what problems were solved by those accountants who made their clients happy, i.e., what made clients feel the “value.” find out what problems were not addressed by those accountants who made their clients unhappy, i.e., what made clients feel there is no value. analyze if your services deliver such value or help solve the problems that others couldn’t. it could be as simple as an empathetic customer service factor. it could be technically challenging issues where your knowledge, experience and expertise can make a difference. utilize such insights in your marketing, content, sales and client interactions.
- keep testing your marketing pitches: economy changes. technology changes. competition changes. client expectations change. when you identify unique marketing pitches, do not rest. keep testing what works and what does not. make adjustments. try new versions. state the same thing in different words. nothing is “once done and works forever.”
how to express the marketable value of cas
it is the numbers from which you will find valuable insights to deliver to your clients. but it is the words that convey the insights from those numbers. it is great to be able to convey the insights from the numbers to your clients. it makes your clients see and experience the value you deliver.
but what about leads and prospects? how do you convey your value to your market? you need content to do so. and if you have never/hardly created marketable content, it can feel extremely overwhelming. here is how you can create some powerful content for your marketing:
- survey your clients: ask them questions like what they find the most valuable in your service, what creates anxiety and stress for them, when they hired you what was it that they were looking for, why do they use your service, what would make them go away from your firm, what are their real business goals and so on. carefully note down/compile everything your customers say. this raw content will give you two key insights – the problems your customers are looking to solve and what value you deliver. you will use these insights to create your marketing pitches.
- read competitor reviews: read the good reviews but also read the bad reviews. what do competitors’ clients like, and dislike? which words do they use to express their delight, and frustrations? write down those words. which problems do they mention more frequently in the reviews? which service experiences do they praise?
- create questions and answers document: which questions do your clients frequently ask? which questions do your prospects generally ask? what are their answers? write down the answers to such questions in as much detail as possible.
- find trends and patterns: once you have collected a reasonable volume of raw content by using the methods mentioned above, find the common trends and patterns in that content and the questions and answers. then create content pieces – like articles, email templates, etc. using the words that your clients and prospect use. lead some content pieces with the problems they mention. lead other content pieces with the value of accountants the clients express. use this content to update your website. use this content when talking to your prospects. if you can articulate their problems and the benefits they are looking for, in their own words or even better than what they themselves can express, your value will be much clearer to them.
how to know if you are marketing your value correctly: after reading your emails, website, content, etc. if your prospects/clients express, “exactly,” “that is what i need”, “that’s what i was looking for,” “how do you do that?”, etc., you know your content is effective.