not a great writer? you can outsource that part.
by sandi leyva
the complete guide to marketing for tax & accounting firms
a great way to build trust among prospects is to demonstrate your expertise and experience in writing.
more small firm growth strategies: awards can boost your reputation | are you newsworthy? | why cpas need video | make google adwords work for you | make the most of trade shows | track your online reputation
exclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.
three options to do that include developing case studies, writing white papers and publishing articles.
for marketing purposes, a case study is a short document, usually one to three pages, that describes a project you completed for a client. if you’re familiar with the college definition of a case study, it’s not exactly the same as the business definition. business case studies are not nearly as long, and you don’t have to worry about your grade. examples of topics for a good business case study could be:
- a systems installation for a client, either an add-on such as bill.com or a conversion, such as from quickbooks enterprise to intacct
- a transformation, such as helping a client recover from a fire or flood
- any other substantial success that your client is willing to discuss in public
a white paper is typically an educational or position paper that can be five to 20 pages in length. it describes an aspect of accounting or tax that needs clarifying or some educational assistance. examples include:
- what is cloud accounting?
- the case for going paperless
- understanding your privacy
- are you at risk of fraud?
- key numbers in your small business financial statements
if you’re not a writer, don’t skip this yet. you can always hire a ghostwriter or contract writer to complete these pieces for you. if you’re a great teacher or speaker or talker but don’t feel comfortable writing, a great shortcut is to record your teaching or speaking session, get it transcribed, and easily turn it into an article. there’s always a way to use your gifts in spite of your weaknesses.
let’s dive into each one.
case studies
case studies offer a chance for the web visitor to find out more about the scope of what you can do for someone who hires you. they will read the case study and see how to use your services based on what you’ve done in the past.
tip: write a case study to help people understand more of what you do for clients.
to write up a case study, describe an engagement and how you solved the client’s accounting problem. you don’t have to use real names, but it’s better if you do. and of course, if you do, you will need to get the client’s permission in writing.
the idea is to let people know how you are to work with and what types of accounting and business problems you can solve. write at least a couple of paragraphs for each engagement. case studies can be on separate pages or all on one page separated by descriptive titles. put these on your website or in a new prospect kit.
here are some samples i’ve written up for my company: http://accountantsaccelerator.com/testimonials/case-studies/
i’ve also written a few up for the sponsors we had during the ultimate accounting vcon. the one we did for bill.com, “three steps to a/p nirvana,” is here: http://vconfiles.com/downloads/vconcasestudy_threestepap.pdf
steps to write up a case study
- identify a client who has a great story about your service or product.
- approach them and ask their permission. here’s a sample email you can send:
subject: i need a favor re: accountant’s accelerator
hi,
i am looking for selected clients who are willing to have me write a case study about their experience and results in accountant’s accelerator (and i thought of you). this will help me uplevel our marketing materials for future prospects.
if you are interested in this please email me back. i expect it to take less than an hour of your time. i will need to interview you for about ½ hour, then i will write it up. then i will need another 15 minutes of your time to review what i have written and make corrections for accuracy. it will be posted on my site and we can make it anonymous or use your name.
for those of you who have benefited in multiple ways, we will likely just focus on one core idea and develop the case study from there rather than cover everything.
please reply yes to this message if you are willing, and then we’ll set up a mutually convenient time to talk.
i appreciate your support.
thanks,
sandi
- do your homework and decide what questions you will ask them. here are some questions to consider asking.
- what made you decide to select the product or service?
- describe what it was like before the change.
- what was that costing you in money? time? stress?
- what happened during the transformation or project?
- were there any memorable moments?
- were there any pitfalls along the way?
- describe what it was like after the change.
- how much money or time or stress did you save?
- how was the company to work with?
- were there any particular team members who went out of their way?
- what did you learn?
- what will you tell friends about?
- what made a difference, if anything?
- how do you see that part of your company now?
- hire a writer if you need to.
- set up the interview. writer should attend. if you want to record it, ask permission first.
- conduct the interview and take a ton of notes even if you’ve hired a writer.
- if it was recorded, get it transcribed.
- write it up or get it written up.
- send the client a copy for their approval.
- put it in a nice graphical format.
- publish it on your website and in your prospect kit. also tweet it out, and consider a mailing to select prospects.
white papers
most professional services firms must educate a prospect and sell to a prospect at the same time. white papers are a great way to build an educational component into your selling process. they are leveraged, too, in that you write it once, and hundreds, if not thousands, of people can read it. that beats having to explain the same thing to every single prospect, one at a time, during each sales call.
if you are trying to sell an accounting service that’s relatively cutting-edge, such as cloud accounting or even paperless accounting, it’s a good idea to have a white paper on it that your prospects can read.
a typical outline of a white paper can be:
- define the idea or concept.
- list the benefits.
- list the constraints or weaknesses.
- list the next steps your prospect should follow to take action.
- list your contact information.
your white paper should not include so much information that your prospect can end up doing the solution themselves. your white paper should also not list too much how-to information so that your competitors benefit and either get your prospect or steal your process. sticking with the above formula should avoid those pitfalls.
you want to discuss the “what” but not the “how.”
you may also want to refrain from using brand names of solutions. for example, it’s better to describe that you have a technology platform and maybe include a diagram, but not list your specific solutions, such as quickbooks enterprise with advanced inventory and bill.com. let them pay you to get that part. (too many of you give the proposal away! you can be paid for a proposal, but your sales skills need to increase before you can pull it off.)
the big 4 firms use white papers like crazy, so the best place to see samples is on any of their sites. however, theirs contain convoluted, big-company speak, which you want to avoid. for small business, keeping it basic and simple is the best. we had a polling question in accountant’s accelerator that asked how many of your clients can read a balance sheet, and less than 25 percent could. so keep it simple, and that might make a good white paper right there!
once you get your white paper done, you can use it as a lead generation device. that means you can get people to give you their email address in exchange for the white paper. you can also use it as a “touch” step in your sales process or client communication plan as well as an item in your ever-growing prospect kit.
published articles
if you feel comfortable writing or hiring a writer, you can create educational articles related to the services you offer. there is a specific formula to follow that will increase your success.
start with a problem that you know your clients have. think about the sentence they say when you first answer the phone or read the email. it might be something like “i have a quickbooks problem.” of course, you have to narrow that one down. perhaps they can’t get their invoices out or their file is locked up.
you can also start with a problem that could potentially cost them money, such as a penalty they need to take action to avoid.
from there, you can come up with a catchy title, such as “4 ways to avoid a quickbooks file catastrophe in your small business.” think of four ways. (we’re reverse-engineering this article.)
- don’t install software updates without consulting your local proadvisor.
- have a ready backup to restore to in case of a catastrophe.
- get training on what to do in case of file emergencies or how to spot the signs of a going-bad quickbooks file (which would be a good article in and of itself).
- call you instead of waiting on the intuit help line because you have a gold or diamond account.
start the article by describing a scenario: “it’s billing day, and it’s time to get the bills out so you can start getting some cash in to make payroll on friday. you have just a few days’ cash left, so those bills need to get out pronto. you open your quickbooks file, and you get an error you have never seen before. the file won’t open. you have no idea what to do.
“could this happen at your company? if you think it could, we have some tips for you on how you can get those bills out on time, make payroll and save your company. here are four ideas:”
then you can elaborate on the four ideas above (or hopefully some better ones). the really important part of the article is the #4 tip, because most small business owners don’t even know you can save them time and money and stress from calling the intuit help line themselves. the small business owner never knows what to say to explain the problem well, and often, the small business owner does not get the right advice to fix the problem. for cpas, there is a similar analogy with the irs.
so the article formula is to start with a client problem, create a catchy title, describe a scenario and provide a bullet list of somewhat vague tips. don’t give it all away in your article. give enough away to demonstrate your expertise but not enough to solve the problem. when they have a problem, they are likely to call you. they are likely to pin the article up next to their computer.
here are some other title/topic ideas that you will need to develop and write:
- three steps to a higher tax refund
- five cost-cutting ideas to increase profits in your small business
- the abcs of iras
- where gandolfini’s estate planning went wrong
- seven ways to save money on bookkeeping
once you have your article written, you can post it or pitch it to the editor in a number of places:
- your blog
- an article site such as ezinearticles.com
- a blog with a large following in your ideal clients’ industry
- a news site
- a local or national newspaper or magazine
if you choose to pitch it to an editor, please look for instructions on editorial submissions first. many publications have strict rules. the top publications will want you to “query” an editor first. this means you will need to sell your idea in a short email. include 2-4 sentences on your idea and 1-2 sentences about who you are and where you have been published. you may need to follow up, and you will have the best luck on a slow news day. between christmas and new year’s day, for example, is perfect for them as well as it’s perfect for you because it’s right before busy season.
once the article has run, update your “news clippings” list on your web page and consider including it in your prospect kit. obtain copies and include them on your information kit for prospective clients. when a prospect reads your articles, they will gain insight into your way of seeing things. this will give them an idea about how you are to work with. they will be able to get to know you through your articles, which is what you want to have happen.
finally, if you are extremely driven and have had some success with your articles, it’s time to consider the idea of a book. the absolute best way to build your reputation is to publish a book. there’s usually not too much revenue in it, but used as a “business card,” it’s really hard to beat.