six ways to draw people’s interest.
by august j. aquila
price it right: how to value accounting services
a good marketing program never stops marketing the firm. you must always think about acquiring new clients to replace lost ones and to improve the quality of your client base. it’s a fact of life that some clients will move, go out of business, merge or even leave us for another firm.
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let’s look at some basic client acquisition activities that should be part of your marketing plan. you may be asking yourself, “which ones work?” they all do. the secret of business development is to constantly be in the marketplace because you never know when a prospect is ready to buy from you or to move from their existing accounting firm.
research has shown that it takes at least five encounters before a prospect will say yes. so, if you give up too soon or if you are not present in the marketplace, you will not be receiving your fair share of new business.
1. special events. firms are discovering that this type of soft marketing is easy to do and often produces good results. special events include exhibiting at trade shows, sponsoring events with charities or even teaching an adult education class. each of these events requires different skills. for the trade show, don’t send a young associate or a shy partner. trade shows are great opportunities to talk with decision-makers. if you sponsor an event with a charity, you should expect a lot of name recognition but maybe not immediate new business. teaching at a local university or adult education program is a good source for recruiting; depending on the course, this could also provide you with leads.
2. networking with organizations. you need to get involved with business, trade and professional associations. join the ones that your existing clients are in. become active and join the membership committee. it’s a great way to meet potential clients.
3. client referrals and recommendations. before you start doing too many esoteric marketing activities, don’t forget what you have in your own backyard. you don’t have to go far to find new clients, but you must ask. if you are providing “wow” services to existing clients, you should be getting the lion’s share of your referrals from them. there is nothing wrong with asking clients for testimonials to put on your web page. testimonials are powerful tools when speaking with new prospects.
4. email programs. these can include your blogs, newsletters, monthly tax updates, etc. while it is important to get information out there, in today’s environment it is even more important to give your recipients a way to respond. you might want to add a chat feature to your programs or, at the minimum, a dedicated phone number to call to ask questions.
5. professional relationships. you don’t need a ton of referral sources; what you do need is an active referral system where each referral source gives you two to three referrals per year. here’s your referral team: a lawyer, banker, financial planner, insurance agent and real estate agent. a smaller referral system takes more work to cultivate but also produces better results. identify your main referral source and track what they are sending you. then, make sure you connect with them once a month or so.
6. seminars and webinars. these are two of the best ways to attract clients. whether you present them with a referral source or by yourself, webinars and seminars provide you with an opportunity to get in front of your target market. the key is to let clients and prospects know what could happen businesswise or personally if they fail to consider acting on the topic. let them know the risks they are taking if they make a wrong decision. no matter what the topic is (cloud computing, retirement planning, succession planning, etc.), your main task is to let the audience know that these topics are complex, and it would be foolhardy to try to accomplish them by themselves.
don’t be afraid of giving too much information away. i doubt that you could tell someone every nuance they would need to know within an hour webinar about any topic.
the key to successful webinars or seminars is to cause a sense of “pain” in the attendees.