your existing clients can help with closing new ones.
by hitendra patil
client accounting services: the definitive success guide
as you hone your sales discovery process, you will see that asking and telling is not enough. you need to “show” as well.
more: three keys to developing your cas sales process | happy clients will blow your horn for you | attract clients through facebook groups | want higher profitability? turn to cas | structure insights as what-why-what | set your processes apart in nine steps | five ways to overcome cas staffing challenges | think cas isn’t for your firm? | convince your firm of cas value
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what you show during the discovery discussion are your client accounting services sales collaterals. they are the “proofs” that you actually do what you say. these collaterals answer the often-unexpressed question in the prospect’s mind “what will i get?” for your cas sales process, the following are some examples of the sales collaterals:
- what will the prospect see when he/she logs on to the collaborative software?
- the samples of daily/weekly/monthly/ad-hoc reports
- the exact samples of the alerts/notifications your cas clients receive for instances that need immediate attention of the clients
- the samples of analysis/advisory emails/letters your cas clients receive
- some of the key but common questions your cas clients ask (during the discovery discussion, don’t provide the answers, just list the questions)
- the before-and-after measurable impact of the outcomes (e.g., the average dollar amount of receivable before cas and after cas)
- the before-and-after comparison of “tasks” that prospect currently performs and which ones your firm will manage as cas responsibilities (must demonstrate a considerable reduction in accounting tasks to be performed by the prospect; most business owners view those as not just “tasks” but as “accounting headaches”)
- relevant reviews from your cas clients
- references of existing cas clients whom your prospects can speak with, if need be
- your cas engagement letter with all relevant annexures
- your pricing sheet (as much as possible, don’t show till you are reasonably sure that the prospect has recognized the value of your cas offering)
your existing clients as your cas salespersons
“can i speak with a couple of your clients?”
don’t be nervous when a prospect asks you this question. instead, be thrilled that the prospect asked you this question because it indicates that the prospect is more or less convinced he/she should work with you and wants to remove that last lingering piece of concern by using the social proof.
at the same time, it is not prudent to just give away the contact details of your cas clients. you want to make a very relevant introduction so that your existing clients are able to provide pertinent insights based on the types of questions the prospect may ask. it is, therefore, important to tell the prospect:
“i’d be delighted to introduce you to a couple of my existing cas clients. to make it worth your and their precious time, and to make sure i connect you with only those who can relate to your business challenges/motivations, can you please tell me what exactly do you plan to ask? is it about the overall experience of working with our firm or about some specific processes?”
asking this or something similar will help you narrow down who exactly you should introduce to the prospect. many times, it can also provide you additional opportunities to address the concerns that the prospect may not have expressed. most of the time, even when the prospect is convinced about the value of your cas offering, the prospect may still have the dilemma, “am i making the right purchase decision? i don’t want to regret it later.” you want to make sure you remove this last piece of resistance by making a relevant introduction.
how to provide client references
- never provide your existing client’s reference without seeking explicit consent from the client. some of your clients may be so happy with your services that they will give you blanket permission to give out their reference. but everyone is busy. to respect their time, always give them a “heads-up” that someone will reach out to them. when you do not have such green light from any given client, reach out on a case-to-case basis, and ask permission. don’t be alarmed if the client declines. it is their rightful choice.
- once you have existing clients’ go-ahead, make the introduction, preferably by email. call up both, the client and the prospect, that you are sending such an introduction email. here is a draft template of introduction email:
subject: <prospect’s first name>, meet <client’s first name>; <client’s first name>, meet <prospect’s first name> (e.g. steve, meet bob; bob, meet steve)
hi <prospect’s first name>,
i am pleased to introduce <client’s first and last name>, who is one of our top clients, the ceo/owner of <name of the client’s company>. like you, <client’s first name> came to our firm when he was faced with <a couple of relevant issues that the prospect is facing>. he is, therefore, the perfect person to share his perspectives about how working with our firm helped him achieve his objectives. <client’s first name>’s contact number is (_ _ _) – _ _ _ -_ _ _ _.
hi <client’s first name>,
i am pleased to introduce <prospect’s first and last name>, ceo/owner of <name of the prospect’s company>. <prospect’s first name> is in discussion with us and believes our services can be beneficial for his company. he is looking forward to taking a few minutes of your time to learn from your experience of how our cas offering helped you achieve some of your goals. < prospect’s first name>’s contact number is (_ _ _) – _ _ _ -_ _ _ _. thank you in advance for taking the time to help a fellow entrepreneur discover the outcomes that you have been enjoying with our firm.
you have each other’s email addresses and phone numbers. please feel free to connect directly.
thanks!
regards,
<your name here>
the cas sales process performance measurement
cas sales process performance measurement should be minimized to track and measure only the key metrics. just like how cas is about the “outcomes,” cas sales process outcomes are what you need to track and measure.
to keep the sales administration costs under control, you can broadly categorize the measurement into three buckets:
sales process productivity performance
- sales outreach: number of emails sent, calls made, referrals sought
- sales conversations: number of conversations with prospects, number of online/email/phone interactions. number of conversations is one of the, if not the most important metric you need to focus on in your sales process.
- the ratio of referrals to new leads: number of referrals that turned into conversations, number of conversations generated without referrals
key conversion performance
- outreach effectiveness: the number of conversations divided by total outreach count (percentage)
- conversations per sales won: total number of discussions from the first interaction to cas engagement signoff
- conversations per sales lost: total number of conversations from the first interaction to prospect declining to work with you
cas sales performance
- total new cas revenue signed off
- total new revenue per cas component/level signed off
- cost of selling as a percentage of new revenue
- gross profit per engagement (without overhead and management cost)
if your firm has more sophisticated sales management technologies and resources, you can do more detailed tracking and measurements, e.g., performance per lead source, percentage of qualified leads, content performance metrics, average sales cycle, customer acquisition cost and so on.
the aim of your sales process measurement is to identify factors that can help you minimize:
- your lead generation time and cost
- your conversion time and cost
- your per new client acquisition time and cost
without measurements, you can quickly feel disillusioned and desperate to get new sales. experimenting with your sales messaging, content and lead magnets is essential to keep fine-tuning your sales effectiveness.
a cpa from salem, indiana, created a niche-specific facebook group (free, no paid ads) and kept posting periodic (about once weekly) insights that are relevant to businesses in that niche industry. in about an 18-month time period, the group has grown to over 1,200 business owners (only from that specific industry) as members from several states. from this activity, this cpa firm got new cas clients from 20 different states. the sales performance metrics for this particular lead source look great for this firm. the firm also uses other marketing/lead generation methods. the key to success was that the firm did not give up on the “social media content magnet” performance but also did not spend too much time on creating content. all that the firm did was to share what existing customers were asking and what happens when they overcome the common challenges in their industry.