plus a tip for referrals.
by hitendra patil
client accounting services: the definitive success guide
we asked about sales and marketing methods as part of the accounting profession’s largest cas survey. among firms offering client accounting services, the chief means for gaining new cas business is “proactively seeking referrals” and the firm’s “website,” each at 48 percent. networking at local/regional/national events follows at 35 percent.
more: 12 cas profitability killers | how to set your firm’s cas pricing | craft an engagement letter for cas success | six ways that cas processes are different | how the pandemic changed firm mindsets | the tech stack you need for cas | finding profits in cas | cas is an upgrade pitch
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the other marketing methods deployed by cas firms are:
- networking at local / regional / national events: 35%
- search engine optimization: 14%
- influencer or social media marketing: 11%
- content marketing and thought leadership: 10%
- paid advertising in local, regional, national or internet media: 9%
- we’ve assigned it to a specific person or team: 8%
- webinars, events or podcasts: 6%
- outbound telemarketing and emails: 5%
referrals, flipped
referrals have always been the leading source of getting new clients for accounting firms. however, gone are the days when accountants waited for referrals to come in the door.
firms have been proactively seeking referrals. one top 100 firm has a formal process to track how many referrals each client has given over each quarter. if the firm observes that any particular client hasn’t referred any new prospect, the firm reaches out to that client and asks, “we haven’t received any referral from you in a while. we are concerned and want to do everything we can to make sure you are absolutely delighted with our services. tell us what we can do so that you feel confident to refer your friends, industry peers and others to benefit from our services.”
interestingly, some lesser-used marketing methods hold promise
- get google reviews from your clients: if you haven’t already done, get your free business listing on google. then ask your happy clients to post google reviews. it is not necessary to have only 5-star reviews. some recent studies showed that an average of 3.5 to 4.5 is more believable than a perfect 5-star average. when your prospects search for the keyphrases that relate to the services you offer, if you have more reviews, your listing will show up on top of the search results. and because google treats every business listing as a local business, you are competing for localized search result rankings and your listing can more easily reach the top few results shown. i know of many firms that regularly get new clients who find those firms via google search. for many such firms, it is their largest source of getting new clients!
- start a facebook group: pick a niche (industry or profession) that you serve. maybe two or three niches. create a facebook group for each niche. aim to attract businesses that operate in such niches. start regularly – once a week – posting useful content on such facebook groups. the content could be as simple as the answer you give to common questions your existing clients from such industries/professions ask you. a cpa from salem, in, now has clients in 19 states, almost all of them coming through a couple of niche-specific facebook groups. and he spent nothing on ads.
- make your existing clients a hero, to get more referrals: marketing legend jay abraham recommends that you draft a letter for your client to send out to his or her customers and vendors. the letter should state that your client has worked with you and has received exceptional service or received monetarily impactful insights from you. and your client is sponsoring an hour of your time, worth (fill in the blank) xx dollars, for a no-obligation business consulting session that his or her vendors or clients will receive from you. get the letters printed, signed by your clients, and mailed by you at your own cost. this makes your client look like a hero for his or her vendors and customers. at the same time, it exponentially increases the possibility of you getting referrals. this is a very nominal cost but a high roi method. please, do not use email. send out physical letters.
- blog: create a blog on your website. you can also publish your blog as your linkedin articles. write content that is useful for your prospects and clients. from your several interactions, take the questions that prospects/clients ask and provide insights on why such questions arise, what they are about, and the brief answers to such questions. it is not difficult to create content regularly. share that content.
- write an epic post: one of the people well known for creating epic content posts is neil patel. read patel’s posts on his website that are self-explanatory on how anyone can write an epic post.
- partner with those who sell to your clients and prospects: your clients do not buy only from you. they buy from multiple service providers the services/products that you do not offer. create strategic partnerships with such service and product providers to exchange possible referrals.
- competitor keywords ranking research: be aware of what your competitors are saying to pitch their services. when it comes to your website, consider strengthening your search engine optimization strategies with tools such as ubersuggest. it can be powerfully useful for you to know how you can express the impact of your services in ways that strongly resonate with your audience.