ATTENTION ALL ACCOUNTANCY FIRMS…

You can keep your clients, keep your fees and keep winning new ones by listening to Hula Hoops…It’s blatantly obvious when you know how…

It’s a cold day in December and I’m sat on a train oppposite a 50-something year old lady who’s reading The Daily Mail. She’s also eating a large packet of Hula Hoops and on the back of the packet – top left hand corner – this is what it says, bold as brass:  

 ”Our promise to you is…”

A simple yet profound example of making a blatant promise.

Something accountants, and other professional service firms, seem to want to avoid. They prefer to make their promises subtle, implied or at best gentle.

Why? Because:

- “isn’t it obvious what accountants promise?”

- “being subtle is more suited to who we are and what we do as accountants”

- “why would we make a rod for our own back?”

I have heard these reasons (and many more!) and can appreciate these reasons but these reasons are all POPPYCOCK.

Your opinion does not matter…

Your clients’ opinion matters most…

When a business owner is weighing up whether to stay with her existing accountant or join your firm they don’t want subtle.

They don’t want implied or gentle insuations of what you can do for them.

On the contrary…

They want to make the best decision for themselves and their business.

And to do that they NEED overt, in-yer-face and bloody obvious promises that they can trust.

No ambiguity….

…Just concrete promises, rock-solid benefits and sound reasons to choose you rather than stay where they are or choose the other firm that is courting them.

There’s no room for subtlety. You need to be blatant.

Action required…

Make crystal clear commitments. Make blatant promises and you make it easier for prospects to buy from you and you make it easier for your existing clients to stay with you.

1. Here’s a subtle promise that initially looks concrete:

“We’re chartered accountants with a commitment to high quality work and a proactive approach to your personal and business needs.”

Oh dear!

It sounds good but…

It sounds like so many other firms’ so-called promises.  Therefore it’s rendered bland.

Plus it’s meaningless to a business owner because they typically have a limited idea of what constitutes ‘high-quality work’

And when it comes to the crunch what does proactive mean? Neither the business owner nor the accountant has this one worked out – but they should (that’s another subject for another time)

2. Here’s a blatant promise that works:

“You will receive your draft accounts no later than 21 days after you submit all your relevant books and records. Just one day late and we’ll complete the work but you’ll not be charged for it.”

Here’s another:

“If any other accountant can clearly demonstarte that you can save more tax than we save you, then we’ll pay you the difference.”

However difficult they might be, can’t you see how these two blatant promises make it so much easier for a business owner to choose you or stay with you?

And before you rail against such outlandish commitments be aware that promise one is real – two firms I know use it. And I’m helping two other firms launch the second one on their local market place… watch this space!

Yes but… yes but… yes but…

I know you have to re-organise your firm to fulfill such blatant promises and this is not easy. I accept it is hard and it is time consuming and requires a great effort.

But I like the idea that these are difficult to carry off. I like it for four reasons:

1. It is so far removed from where most firms are at it gives you an immediate and powerful competitive advantage
2. It means that you must become a remarkable firm to carry this off – and you’ll become worthy of notice as a consequence
3. It can provide you with a sustainable competitive advantage - it’s very hard to copy because it requires substantial commitment, effort and energy to make it real
4. You will give your existing clients and your other industry contacts great reasons to talk about you and generate a fabulous flow of referrals that will grow your firm to undreamt-of heights

Hula hoops make a blatant promise. So shouldn’t you do the same?

Please let me know what you think

Paul

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PS Alternatively do what me and my kids do with Hula Hoops round our kitchen table. See how high you can stack ‘em! Joe (14) is winning with 12. Michael (11) and I have got up to 11! My other two kids get frustrated quickly and just eat ‘em!

“Six things to improve when times are tough” is a pithy little article from the Professional Pricing Society in the States. Here’s my slant on four of the six things that can work for your accountancy practice here in the UK:

1. Be inspired by - ’I want to be a millionaire’…

When money gets tight you can imagine your clients saying to themselves “Is that all I get for this price?”. It’s not a big stretch for them to then consider one of the other accountants that are regularly asking them to consider switching!

The classic solution to this is adding things of high-perceived value but that cost you very little. However what’s clear from my recent conversations with accountancy firms in these turbulent times suggests a simple solution…

…PHONE A FRIEND… this has massive appeal and value to business owners… Why?

Because, when times are tough, they need reliable reassurance. And as an accountant you can provide this better than anyone

NB This involves you taking action.

Pick up the phone and call your most valuable clients in the next few days to check on how they are holding up and give them a shoulder to cry on if necessary, support if necessary, help if necessary.

2. McDonalds provides the inspiration…

Chances are you’ve heard a server at McDonalds say “Do you want fries with that?”

What they are doing is offering complimentary services that you may want to buy. If you were selling cameras you’d be offering batteries, a protective camera case and fancy strap.

As an accountant you could be offering board meeting support with your management accounts service and possibly book keeping too. With payroll you’re offering a free Financial Services consult to all your clients’ staff, or perhaps access to an HR service you have sourced.

3. McDonalds provides the inspiration again…

Bet you recognize this phrase – “Would you like to go large?”

McDonalds have increased their average order value on a healthy percentage of their worldwide sales by asking this simple upsell question.

It’s one you can adapt and adopt for your accountancy services. For example:

Because your clients need to get closer to their numbers in these tumultuous times they should perhaps consider moving from quarterly management accounts to a bi-monthly or monthly service? Perhaps they’d value a debrief from you with trend analysis to help them make some important decisions in the coming months?

Why wouldn’t you offer upgrades in service that are relevant and timely. McDoanlds have done for years, so can you and build greater value into your client relationships. Value for them and value for you.

4. The 400m hurdles is torture… but it’s unnecessary…

Sprinting and also jumping the full length of an athletics track always looks so damned tough to me. So why do we ask our customers to do something similar when dealing with us?

If you shorten the race and remove the hurdles your customers (and prospects) will love you for it.

What I mean is…

Make it easy for them to buy from you by:

A. Create guarantees that remove all (or most) of the risk associated with using (buying from) you

B. Create offers that allow your clients/prospects to ‘try b4 they buy’. Why wouldn’t you encourage a long standing client to trial your management accounts service monthly for three months instead of quarterly to see if they like the more immediate insights and results?

Action is always the key…

If you’d like even more insights into how to market your firm in a remarkable way you should look at Bamboo Marketing For Accountants

You can read the original but more general article if you  Click Here

If you were being proactive you could  forward this link to all of your clients – or allow us to do it for you through our BusinessBiteSize service

Wishing you every success

Paul Shrimpling

PS To leave a comment on this article please click the comments link below

This is a ‘stating-the-blatantly-obvious’ sort of juggernaught. 

But it is a juggernaught that so few accounting firms fully embrace.

I think this is such a shame, see what you think… 

What business owner wouldn’t change accountants if she was certain that the new accountant would help her increase profits?  

Contrast this with the message most accountants broadcast to their clients and prospects:

“We do what your existing accountant does but better”

Get on with you.

Does this ever really work? Unless they are desperate to move accountants?! Does anyone really believe you?

A reputation for helping businesses substantially grow their profits every year might work though!

- Such a reputation would make new client acquisition, of the right sort of clients, much easier don’t you think?

- Such a reputation would be great for team moral (what a worthy job you’ll all be doing)

- Such a worthwhile reputation would give existing clients good reason to check out your other services too

- And such a reputation would have you jumping out of bed every morning eager and proud to embrace the day ahead 

What business owner wouldn’t change accountants if he was certain that the new accountant would help them increase profits?

Imagine how easy it would be with a reputation founded on proof, demonstrable, unequivocal proof that you can deliver meaningful and measurable value.

This is so dramatically different I can almost feel the difference it would make. But then all I’m doing is stating the bloody obvious!

So what are you doing to influence your clients’ success? 

Perhaps a better question… 

What are you proactively doing, or unexpectedly doing to regularly help your clients reach new heights in their businesses? 

Worthy of some of your attention, time and resources don’t you think?

PS     What gets measured gets done they say. And they’re right…  So what if there was but one measure that would help you and your team focus on building this sort of reputation, and the results that follow it, a reality?  One to work on don’t you think?