eleven questions to help clients explain what they need.
by august j. aquila
price it right: how to value accounting services
there are two keys to developing new business. first, find out what your clients and prospects want and need. second, be able to get in front of them.
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most accountants and consultants are quite good when they can get in front of them. the problem is creating opportunities to get face to face with clients and prospects. let’s talk about two methods of solving that problem: training and workshops.
because every system engagement consists of training, installation and ongoing support, it seems natural that training would become an effective marketing tool. you can isolate your training activities and make them not only an effective marketing tool, but also a profitable one. in addition to the training you provide with any system engagement, consider setting up a separate training institute. such an institute services two purposes:
- it can help you promote your consulting services by keeping your name in front of prospects, and
- it provides potential for becoming a standalone profit center.
online and in-person training have become big businesses. yet many businesses have and continue to skimp when it comes to spending training dollars. we know firms that have spent excessive amounts on hardware, software and cloud computing and then failed to adequately train their people. you can make your clients and prospects aware of the danger of doing this with a few real-life war stories. fear is always a good motivator for people to change the way they do things. putting together a training institute and writing about the horrors of not providing sufficient training in your client newsletter, blog or on your website is an effective way to get this message across.
here are some topics, depending on the type of client you want to attract, for your workshops and training:
- online access to (and storage of) working and final documents. clients want their accounting to place their documents in a secure, easily accessible digital location. these clients want to see current work products, drafts and history.
- dashboards with budget status, timelines and kpis; helping clients create dashboards
- remote access to work product through apps and cloud-based systems
- centralizing the flow of documents and information
- improving continuity and security by automatically saving and storing work product
- cloud technology is one of the most important technologies to be utilized by cpa firms as it provides consistent and secure access to all the firms’ applications and data.
- process and workflow management strategies
- artificial/augmented intelligence tools
here are 11 questions from forbes technology council to help clients explain what they need in a tech solution:
- what problem do you need to solve, and how will you know that it is solved?
- what would be your cost savings from solving your biggest challenge?
- what would be the simplest solution to your problem?
- how do you define overwhelming success, regardless of technology?
- what are you hoping to achieve?
- why is solving this problem important to your organization?
- what’s holding back your customers?
- what is this problem preventing you from doing?
- what works with what you are doing now?
- how essential is this service to your business?
- what’s something you’ve seen that you’d like to have?
remember, your clients and prospects don’t work in the accounting or technology industries. they may have difficulty explaining what they are looking for in a tech solution. don’t speak jargon to them – you can be sure that they don’t speak it.