bonus: 32 methods you can use to get a response.
by rob nixon
the overall (and desired) objective of marketing functions in an accounting firm is to generate leads. lots of leads. the more marketing you do, the more leads you get, the more choices you have!
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there are two types of marketing people – brand-oriented or direct response.
the brand-oriented people are vital to your “look and feel” of your corporate identity. they are vital in helping to build credibility. they will make you look great and you’ll feel really good about the work they do. however, they may not get you in front of your target market nor will they enable you to make much money – but you’ll look good! my view is that you can outsource a lot of your brand development to contractors or offshore labor. you don’t need to have branding types on your payroll. they are important, expensive and do not help you make much money.
the type of marketing people (and thus activity) you’re looking for is a direct response-oriented person. these people are trained differently and your objective with them is to engage your target market and create inquiries for you to follow up.
this is not the primary role of a partner. the primary role of a progressive partner is a sales and nurturing role. direct response marketing needs to be done by professionals who know what they are doing. it’s all about generating leads. the volume of leads you need is determined by your sales conversion rate and your new client (or new services per client) objectives. you can outsource your lead generation; however, if you want rapid growth it is far more effective to have the resource(s) in-house.
your leads are going to come from two sources – existing clients or new clients. both of them are a rich source of new business. the objective is to engage with your client or prospective client and have them respond to you. this is now a lead or an inquiry – someone who is interested to talk with you further.
if you want someone to respond then you have to give them reasons to respond. and you need to give them a taste of what you have to offer. just like you when you buy something you like to experience it first. it’s no different with professional services. how can your current or prospective client experience your smarts before they buy your smarts? can they download a report, watch a video, listen to a podcast, read an article, attend a seminar or all of the above?
the diagram below is an example of 32 methods you could employ to get a response from someone. all of them work. some of them cost more money, some more time. some are a more effective use of your money and time, some are more leveraged. all of them work in varying degrees.
there is not one way to get an inquiry anymore. people respond in different ways to different mediums and methods.
remember the objective is to generate leads (interested people who want to speak with you) and unless you have some decent marketing resources you are not going to be able to employ all 32 strategies. so here are the top six.
the six best ways (time, money and effectiveness) that get a great response are:
no. 10 – referrals. every accountant on the planet knows that a referral from an existing client is the gold standard of new business. an existing client who is happy with you and your firm is putting their neck out to refer someone they know. so you know all this – but are you using it? how many clients do you ask to refer new clients to you? how often do you ask? the key is to start asking! many firms put out the wrong vibe when it comes to referrals. clients may ask you “how’s business?” and the typical response is “busy.” what have you just told your client? we’re too busy for any more business so don’t refer! sometimes your clients can see that you’re so busy by the amount of time it takes to get work done. why would they jeopardize service standards by referring a new client? when you ask for referrals only ask your a and b class clients. don’t ask your d class clients – their friends are idiots as well.
no. 14 – the internet. the internet is a rich source of new leads if your site is interactive and interesting enough. it is common habit to google everything before we buy it. what does your web presence say about you and your firm? how can i interact with your website? can i download your position papers? can i view a video? does it look modern or is it stuck in the last decade? is there an inquiry form? can i fill in a calculator? can i fill in an online questionnaire and get reports on how my business is going? can i buy a small product from the site so i can try you out? is there an up-to-date blog on the site? these are all methods of engagement with your website. if you get engagement you’ll get leads.
no. 18 – workflow. if you have the mindset that in this current job there is a potential another job then you’ll never be short of leads. a lead can come from an existing or potential client. within the current piece of business (let’s say compliance) if you have your “leads radar” on, then there is a good chance you’ll find another opportunity that you need to explore. if you are on the lookout for trends or anomalies in the finances then you have a perfect conversation starter (lead) with the client. what most firms who are really good at this are doing is they are spending 20 minutes on every client (when the financials are finished) and brainstorming what else they could do for this client. of course, do not make the mistake that some do and just do this work for the client. it is a separate engagement.
no. 19 – alliance development. if you know what your ideal client looks like (your best buyer) then you can easily find other non-competing businesses/organizations that have your best client as their client or member. once you know who your potential alliance is, now it’s time to nurture them and ask them for referrals. you will need to pitch your business and your offering to them and give them reason to refer their clients to you. many firms i know will run joint seminars with their referral sources and offer free reports and white papers to their client/member base. if you come from the position of adding value first and helping your alliance out with new value for their market, then they will refer. if you try to first sell to them or their clients you’ll put them on the back foot and they may not refer.
no. 27 – webinars. if you have a large database and they are educated to web-based events (you can educate them) then you can run your own webinar. a webinar is simply a seminar over the web. you might schedule a webinar for 60 minutes at an appropriate time that suits your target market. you could prepare a powerpoint presentation and talk to the presentation. you could interview two or three of your successful clients about your topic. you could offer a free consultation or report at the end. the reason i like webinars is because they are quick, cheap and effective in generating leads. you get amazing leverage by sitting in your office talking to (possibly) hundreds of people at a time.
no. 31 – seminars. without a doubt the best way to introduce new services to your clients is by running seminars of some sort. however, they are expensive to run. the event could be a large-scale business seminar, a private boardroom briefing, a small workshop or similar. you can certainly meet with your clients one on one but that is quite slow. when running seminars you need to offer some value – not just selling. the best attended seminars are where the business owner can take away ideas they can apply right away. that might include cash flow management, kpi reporting, profit improvement or revenue growth. start with a short two-hour event that includes a demo of the new system (let’s say a cloud accounting program) and q&a.
no matter what methods you employ, you need to measure the effectiveness. remember this is direct response marketing so everything should be measured. if you do not measure the effectiveness of your marketing then pretty quickly you will get despondent with the time and expense that goes into it.
an example of measuring is below:
you can see that the campaigns are measured down to the decimal point. everything should be based on a return on investment and any marketing and sales activity that you do should be treated as an investment.
let’s say you’re looking to acquire new clients. if you were buying a fee base from another firm, then in most parts around the world you would gladly spend 75 cents to $1 for every dollar of new clients. you know that you will keep the client for 10-plus years so you get your money back from year two onward.
the same applies to marketing and sales. if you do a marketing campaign and it costs you $10,000 and you generate three hot leads and that results in two new clients worth $7,500 each, then provided your cash flow can sustain it you would keep doing the campaign.
i think every firm needs to have what’s called an “allowable acquisition cost” and an “allowable lead cost” for new clients. it means you are prepared to spend up to $x to get the client for the first time. the way you work it out is based on your gross profit of your target client and when you want to get a return on your investment.
a simple example is this. let’s say your target client has an annual fee of $10,000 and the gross profit on every new client is $6,000 per annum. if you had an allowable acquisition cost of $3,000 then you make your money back in six months.
now unless you are a sales superstar you are not going to convert every lead. let’s say you meet with all leads and convert one in three. that means your allowable lead cost could be $1,000. so now you give a budget to your marketing team of no more than $1,000 spent per quality lead. based on your current sales skills it will take you three leads to get a sale and therefore the cost of acquisition is $3,000. rinse and repeat.
do not think of marketing and sales costs as a percentage of revenue or a fixed amount per year. you’ll limit your potential. when you think of marketing and sales as an investment that is measured then you have an almost endless budget – effectiveness, monitoring and cash flow dependent.
to remain relevant you must make lots of and lots of targeted noise!