including one to implement right now.
by sandi leyva
you need materials with the right messaging to fuel your marketing plan. there is a certain core of materials you need across all marketing channels.
more small firm growth strategies: make direct mail work for you | how to use ‘warmed-up’ telemarketing | technical aspects of video and youtube | how to maximize online profile sites | build your community reputation | 5 ways to get more referrals | use feedback for service innovation | create your marketing plan
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crafting a really tight message will get your prospects’ attention and more easily convert them into accounting clients. when you have a bad message, you work much harder and have to meet many more prospects to convert into clients. when you have a great message, you work less, convert more and keep your costs down.
the list
all of these items provide important clues to interested buyers about what you have to offer. i’ve listed them in the order you should work on them. when you first start your business, you don’t really even need a company name (you can just use your name); instead you just need clients!
- business cards
- your biography
- a professional headshot
- your elevator speech
- a nice signature file in your email software
- an email response when you meet a prospect
- company name
- testimonials
- a leave-behind for the prospect
- a website or online presence
later you can work on:
- logo
- a tag line
- a complimentary report
- a newsletter shell
- product or service name
- a flyer
- a mediator prospect kit
let’s review each of them.
business cards
here are a couple of tips about your business card:
- keep it really clean and clutter-free. your service is all about getting people organized, deadline-free and balanced, so your card should look somewhat minimalist with style.
- if you don’t have a logo, use the logo of a certification you’ve earned as your graphical element.
- if you don’t have a logo, put your name or your business name in text with color. it will do until you can get a logo done.
- include:
- name, title
- company name. if it’s not clear what you do, you’ll need a tagline or service description.
- your phone number
- your email
- an address. get a box if you are working from home.
- a website address or your linkedin profile if you are just starting out
- a fax number is optional
- certification logos, if any
- if you do two-sided, make an offer on the back: get our free report, etc. you will get more opt-ins that way.
- do not include:
- a photo of you
- clipart of any kind
- any kind of non-professional design. you will look amateurish and like a beginner.
- use the highest quality card stock paper you can afford. do not get those free cards from vistaprint that are shiny. it looks like you cannot invest in your own company.
best tip: get business cards from your friends who work at large companies like intuit, apple or other high-class places. model their card design, and you will look classy.
biography
it’s important to understand the difference between a resume and a bio. a resume will get you hired for an employee position. a bio will mark you as an entrepreneur and a small business owner, which is what you want. in a bio, results and accomplishments are more significant than where you went to college or what your title was in a particular job. when you write your bio, stay results-focused and list the money and time you saved clients, awards you’ve earned and other accomplishments.
your bio should be about four paragraphs long and should focus in on what’s in it for the client. when i write bios, i use the following formula:
paragraph 1: write your elevator speech and include what you are passionate about.
paragraph 2: describe the benefits of how you have helped past clients and continue with any media, awards, credentials or association memberships – or if none, list industries you’ve served.
paragraph 3: describe your experience prior to starting your firm, but keep it brief and summarized.
paragraph 4: list your education, and wrap it up with a personal statement about your hobbies, favorite tv shows or sports teams.
it’s truly best if you have a professional writer create your bio. it’s a lasting investment in your company and will put you in the best light.
biography sample
al bee, ea, of abc taxes helps detroit-based corporations and individuals keep more of what they make through his tax planning, tax representation and tax return preparation services. for 20 years, al has enjoyed digging into complex tax issues for his clients and has developed a reputation for tackling the toughest cases. other tax professionals often give al their complex cases.
recently, al represented a five-physician office on a multiyear, multi-entity irs negotiation, resulting in a favorable result for his clients. he also recently completed an estate settlement, working with a team of attorneys and other accountants to provide the best outcome for his client. al earned his ea, enrolled agent, designation and attends several tax conferences annually. he is a member of the national association of tax professionals and the national association of enrolled agents.
prior to starting his own firm, al worked for five years in the corporate tax department at kpmg, one of the “big four” accounting firms, and another five years for a detroit law firm in the estate area. he currently teaches tax law at wayne state university.
al received his degree in accounting from the university of michigan and earned his master’s in taxation. when he is not working, he is speeding around the great lakes on his motorboat.
headshot
social media has pretty much demanded we put our photo on our profiles and web pages. to not do so these days looks like we are hiding something.
do take the time to go to a professional studio with quality lighting and a good backdrop. make sure your photo is approachable with you smiling and good eye contact. you should also be wearing professional work clothing. what’s important is that you invested in your marketing materials and have not taken shortcuts that look unprofessional.
it’s not as important what you look like, so please do not procrastinate on this step. we had one member (you know who you are) who waited a year to get his photo done (it’s much harder to get the guys to go for the photo!). as soon as we posted it on his website, the phone started ringing more. do not wait! (it will cost you, and please do not shoot the messenger.)
one word of warning for the ladies. one of my elite clients told a story about how she and another woman were ranked high in the intuit proadvisor profile page listings for their city. the other woman used a candid shot from a formal party where she had a low-cut evening dress on. other prospects told my client that they would not consider calling someone who advertises like that. ladies, even if it’s the best smile you’ve ever seen of yourself in a picture, it must not be a glamour shot, and you must be covered up, dressed in business attire. anything that could be construed as sexual will drop the rates you can charge in business, studies show.
elevator speech
you’re sitting in a room with 30 other business entrepreneurs. each of you has one minute to introduce themselves to the group. you are number 25 to speak. will anyone listen? what can you do or say to catch your peers’ attention, be memorable and have them approach you for business?
tip: write and memorize your elevator speech so you don’t have to keep reinventing the wheel.
put yourself in your potential customer’s shoes for a minute. what is it about your business, your products and services, and you that would interest a potential buyer? why should they care? why should they stop what they’re doing from their busy life and listen to you?
almost every accounting website i see lists the services in a long bulleted list. yawn. the problem is that your client doesn’t think like an accountant. they don’t often know what they need. they just know they need a loan for their business, for example.
if you do taxes, what most clients really want is to stay out of trouble with the irs. of course, your tax return services do that, but clients don’t really care about the tax return. they care about how much they have to pay or how much they’re getting back.
they might not necessarily want financial statements. they want to know how much cash they have, whether they can make payroll and how much of a loan they should ask for.
what matters today is solving client problems and selling solutions, not services.
the above questions are the ones you must constantly ask yourself when creating your marketing message, materials, and plans. this step is sometimes called building your unique selling proposition. here’s an example of a result we will come up with:
“we help insurance firms clean up their quickbooks files for their cpas.”
now fill in the blanks using your service description and a short version of your persona:
we help _____(your ideal client with motivation) __________(your service)_____.
we help ___________________________________________________________ .
now make it into a correct english sentence. this is a great start to your elevator speech.
now we want to jazz it up and make it memorable.
here are some messages to get your juices flowing:
“i streamline the accounting books for small businesses by customizing or implementing quickbooks.”
“i save busy, successful small business owners time and money by streamlining their accounting books and training their bookkeeping staff on a fabulous product called quickbooks.”
how would you modify your message from above to add a motivation component?
“i help small businesses implement quickbooks so they can get excellent reports to make better business decisions.”
how would you modify your message from above to speak to your persona more personally?
“i help attorneys discover their most profitable services by implementing quickbooks and teaching them how to use the reports.”
multiple benefits
your service likely has far more than one benefit. for example, an oil change service needs to be convenient, fast, local, reliable and affordable. list all of the benefits of your service that you can think of. ask your trusted clients if you are not sure of all the ways they benefit.
many of these benefits should be worked into your marketing message. how would you modify your message from above to add additional benefits?
“our payroll service frees you from being tied to your desk every friday.”
“we provide an easy business startup checklist …”
“i streamline work-at-home moms’ accounting books so they can have more time with their kids.”
differentiation
some of the reasons your product or service might be different from others include:
- location
- price
- personality
- feeling of comfort, freedom, peace of mind, uncluttered mind
- luxury or status symbol
- safety
- entertainment
- details taken care of
- what can you think of?
tip: be able to answer what makes you different from your competitors.
in your quest to find out what your uniqueness is, here are a few more questions.
- what do current and past clients say they feel is your (product’s or service’s) best trait? in other words, why did they buy from you?
- “accountant helped client run their business better.”
- “client saved expenses.”
- what pain do you feel you ease of the customer’s?
- “we take care of the details.”
- “we worry about deadlines so clients don’t have to.”
- what is the best thing about you, your product or your service?
from these answers, you should be getting an idea of how your product or service will be serving the marketplace and where it fits.
in recent years, it has gotten more complicated to get your message through the clutter of other ads these days. so let’s check your message against three key features that must be taken into account. (source: “the advertised mind”)
- attention
- likability
- emotional impact
first, your message has to grab client’s attention. if the client doesn’t notice it through all the other messages s/he gets through email, internet, radio, tv, phone, billboard, etc., then it will not be effective.
second, the client must like your message. if the client doesn’t like your message, there will be no action to purchase. ad-liking promotes memory of your message.
third, your message must have emotional impact. it must ease pain or solve an emotional problem.
tip: in today’s noise, your message needs to stand out and be likable.
how does your message rate?
here are some ideas to jazz it up:
“are your books a mess? let us save you money by cleaning up your quickbooks files.”
“does the thought of accounting or the irs send you hiding in the closet? we love taking care of your bookkeeping so you don’t have to worry.”
“if the thought of having to know the 27 new irs regulations that just came out makes you want to scream, relax. you can hire us to keep your books compliant.”
list your ideas. what you’ve just written is your new elevator speech. take what you’ve written and practice saying it. test it on a few friends to see how memorable it is.
spend some time on your delivery. most of the accountants i have met tend to be soft-spoken, even introverted. don’t mumble! practice your delivery with voice variety (don’t speak flatly), voice volume and especially, energy. be enthusiastic about who you are and confident about what you do.
if you are petrified of speaking in front of groups, it will show. spend time in toastmasters (http://www.toastmasters.org) to overcome your fears and polish your delivery.
call to action
steve cone in his book “steal these ideas” says that today’s messages need three things:
- excitement
- news
- a call to action
before we leave you with a final elevator speech, let’s add a call to action. what should prospects do if they want to find out more? give them a task. tell them what to do exactly. it’s kind of amazing when you watch them do exactly what you told them to. here’s the last message modified for a call to action:
tip: tell people what you want them to do in your message.
“if the thought of having to know the 27 new irs regulations that just came out makes you want to scream, relax. to find out more about hiring us to keep your books compliant, pass me your business card right now.”
“if the thought of having to know the 27 new irs regulations that just came out makes you want to scream, relax. for a free 15-minute consultation about how these rules might affect your business, pass me your business card right now.”
write your final elevator speech, adding a call to action at the end.
signature file
spend a few minutes crafting a nice signature file that can be appended to every message you send out. of course, you might need to send out the circular messages as well, but don’t pass up using your signature file for marketing purposes.
here’s a start:
sandi smith leyva, president, sandra l. leyva, inc., plano, tx
408-971-1104 | fax 207.512.9309 | http://www.accountantsaccelerator.com
biz growth strategies for accountants, quickbooks consultants and tax experts
you can do a couple of things with the last line:
- use a tag line as i did above.
- make a free offer if you have one. (get our free report or claim your complimentary consult)
sandi smith leyva, president, sandra l. leyva, inc., plano, tx
408-971-1104 | fax 207.512.9309 | http://www.accountantsaccelerator.com
get our free report, “10 biggest tax mistakes” on our website above
- ask for referrals. (we love and thrive on your referrals!)
sandi smith leyva, president, sandra l. leyva, inc., plano, tx
408-971-1104 | fax 207.512.9309 | http://www.accountantsaccelerator.com
we love and thrive on your referrals!
this is a high-payback quickie. don’t just add it to your “to do” list; do it right now and start benefiting immediately.
email response
it will be worth your time to word a “shell” response that you can modify and send after you have met with a prospect.
here is a very informal one for after you’ve met someone at a networking meeting:
subject: following up from abc networking meeting
hi __,
it was great meeting you earlier today and finding out about your business. [say something customized here.]
if it’s right for you, i’d love for you to sign up for my newsletter full of tips on smart marketing. http://www.yourdomain.com [offer them anything you have that’s free.]
would you like to schedule a quick coffee to talk about how we could benefit each other? [or i’m looking forward to seeing you at the next meeting.]
to your success,
sandi
for warmer prospects
here’s a more formal one that will also require a prospect kit or proposal.
subject: your company name accounting services
hi __,
i am pleased to enclose information about our outsourced controller services for manufacturing companies. with over 25 years of experience in the detroit area, we have a keen understanding of your industry’s issues and can help you find solutions fast. here are some testimonials of other manufacturing firms we are working with:
include testimonial of similar industry
i’ll give you a call thursday to see if you have any questions after looking over this material.
i love getting to know new businesses and look forward to speaking with you soon.
regards,
sandi
company name
if you are a cpa, please check your state board of public accountancy laws before you select a name. you are often quite limited in your selection.
if you are not a cpa, you might have some limitations as well. for example, non-cpas in texas cannot use the word “accountant” or something like that.
once you’ve researched your limitations, you can come up with a name, which is a very personal process. some components that can be in your name:
- your own name
- geography
- service words like tax, accounting, cfo, controller, books, bookkeeping, numbers, training or consulting
- descriptive words like solutions, services, performance, professional or results
- team words such as group, associates or partners
it takes time to create a good name, and there are actually people you can hire to help you. it’s also a very personal decision.
if it’s not clear in your name what you offer, you must have a tag line right underneath it at all times to explain it. it’s fun to be cutesy, but if no one gets what you do, it won’t work and it will cost you quite a bit more in marketing to explain it every time.
before you finalize your name, check to see if the domain is available and get it registered at a domain registry. we use namecheap.com.
after you’ve decided on your name, you should file a fictitious name certificate or assumed names certificate at your county office. if you plan to incorporate, you should file your papers to claim your name with the state.
finally, there are times when you might want to trademark a name. do check with a lawyer on this because we cannot give legal advice. i will say we do have a couple of trademarks on our brands: accountant’s accelerator and brainways training & development are trademarked in the u.s.
testimonials
this will be the topic of my next post.
a leave-behind for the prospect
there are lots of things you can create to help you stand out during the sales process or even to leave with current clients as a bonus. here are several ideas:
- educational support, such as
- a diagram of the difference between cloud accounting and desktop accounting
- top shortcut tips for a client’s accounting system
- how to read a balance sheet or income statement
- content such as a relevant case study, an article, white paper or report
- a prospect kit or parts of it