According to a rather large survey* the number 1 biggest source of new clients is…

…REFERRALS

I know! No shocks there!

*From a 2009 survey of 231 American buyers of professional service firms who spent, between them, $1.7billion on professional services (including accountancy) – by Wellesley Hills Group and Raintoday.com. I’d prefer UK research but this was survey too big to ignore.

What are you doing to maximise the number of referrals you get as a firm?

This survey confirms what we knew based on the 400+ 1-on-1 partner meetings we have been involved in over the last 9 years of working with accountants.

Yes it’s as old as the hills – but ask for introductions more often than you do now. Ask your clients and ask your contacts (bankers, solicitors etc) more often and guess what? You’ll eventually get more new clients (assuming you’re good at what you do).

EXAMPLE: One 7-partner firm we work with recently did! And the first time of asking the client ‘gifted’ 5 warm introductions. OK this won’t happen every time but it pays to… ASK! And ask more often.

So what EXACTLY should you do?

1. Create 5 or more mechanisms for asking for referrals from clients – AND MAKE THEM HAPPEN
2. Create 5 or more mechanisms for asking for referrals from introducers – AND MAKE THEM HAPPEN
3. Make it easy for people to refer your firm

To help you with this third point…

…And linking with the ‘BRUTAL TRUTH’ element from our last blog about the great business book – Good To Great by Jim Collins

To be successful at building greater referrals you must face three BRUTAL TRUTHS of marketing your accountancy firm:

1. Asking for referrals is not a short term project. Clients may have said ‘NO’ or not responded to your last request but keep asking.

EXAMPLE: One firm we work with systematically told a client at every quarterly management accounts review meeting that “he wanted to grow his firm and did they know anyone he should be contacting?”. At the fifth quarterly meeting the client stopped him saying it! He then handed him two names and contact numbers on an A4 sheet of letterhead.

Keep on keeping on. Ask with a smile and in good humour – it will eventually pay off.

2. Accountancy is viewed more and more as a Commodity – so demonstrating value and proving real ROI becomes a vital part of your efforts.

What evidence can you share to prove your firm’s value? Low-priced competitors increase the doubts in clients minds – so demonstrating value, proving your value is critical. And when you do, you are more likely to get referrals because clients are CERTAIN you deliver for them and can be confident about referring you.

3. Your Competition Is Working Hard too – so standing out from the crowd matters. If your firm’s offer is indistinguishable from other firms’ offers you’ll be lost in the crowd.

You Must Be Different. Being different is ‘worthy of attention’ (the oxford English dictionary definition of ‘remarkable’). You make it easier for people to talk about you if you are different. If they talk about you you’ll get recommended.

The more you tackle these three elements the more you’ll get referred because your clients will recognise the value you deliver.

This blog is my attempt to prove to you I’m thinking hard about how you can better market your firm and get more leads more often for your firm.

I hope you get some value from it? Let me know your thoughts by leaving your comments below…

Every success

Paul Shrimpling

Author of ‘Bamboo Marketing For Accountants’ – the route map to marketing success for accountants in practice

Creator of ‘WHAT’S POSSIBLE in your business’ – cultivating a greater flow of new clients for your accountancy firm through profitable word-of-mouth…

Want to get LinkedIn  http://www.linkedin.com/in/paulshrimpling

…then look at raising the eyebrows of your clients!

It’s not surprising to discover the three most effective ways of getting new clients (based on the successes I’ve seen across 19 firms in 2009) are:

1. Referrals from existing clients

2. Referrals from influencers (bankers, solicitors, IFA’s etc)

3. Events

The number one source being referrals from existing clients. And if it’s not the number one source in your firm it should be!

Why?

Because only when you get referrals from your clients do you know they are truly happy – and a very well researched article at wikipedia agrees. The article suggests the willingness of your clients to refer is the only true judge of client loyalty!

Also…

When you do everything possible to encourage client loyalty they are more likely to stay – and I’m guessing the last thing you want is to be finding new clients whilst watching old established clients leave your firm?

So how do you raise the eyebrows of your clients (in a good way)?

Simply exceed your clients’ expectations!

The better you get at managing client expectations and exceeding their expectations the more likely you’ll see them raise their eyebrows. And the more likely you are to keep all your clients and all your existing fees. Plus your clients are more likely to refer you to others they know.

No rocket science here I’m afraid – BUT WHY IS IT RARELY APPLIED BY ACCOUNTANCY FIRMS?

Mainly because their definition of accountancy does not clearly focus on the expectations of clients. Instead firms focus on getting the technical work done.

And yes the technical work must get done, and get done well.

However the stuff your A-class clients value the most is the interaction they have with you, their accountant. The quality of the relationship you have with your clients makes a massive difference! Have you ever asked them what their expectations are around speed of response, speed of delivery, interpretation and guidance, how often they’d like to hear from you?

Interpretation, explanation, guidance and support is what matters most to your clients – not the technical detail of a set of accounts.

OK, I know!…

                  …you’ve heard it all before…

                                                           …It’s just that I’m stunned by the lack of commitment towards processes that manage, improve and stimulate the relationship between most accountancy firms and their clients.

Whenever the firms I work with apply some science to staying in touch with their most valuable clients they amazingly hang on to clients they would otherwise have lost. PLUS they start a flow of referrals that previously seemed unlikely (if not impossible)! A conversation yesterday included this comment from a managing partner we’ve been working with:

“One of my clients now realises I am serious about getting new business through recommendations from him (because I’ve asked him several times in the last 6 months). He has recently introduced me to two valuable and very warm prospects.”

You don’t say!

What am I advocating?

Create processes to manage, improve and stimulate a better relationship between you and your clients (including one linked to client expectations). Coupled with processes asking for referrals and recommendations. Simple stuff.

Vive la revolution!!!

1. The starting point I suggest is improve the relationship – improve your conversations:

Work out what matters most to your clients and then deliver on it.

1. Ask them what matters most. And I suggest you work on discussing three aspects of their experience of working with your firm – timing expectations – and technical work expectations – and relationship expectations

2. Capture client expectaions. Yes write them down! And then share them with your team and work out how you at least deliver on their expectations – although you might be wise to do what you can to exceed their expectations slightly (start by only focussing on your top 20% clients to make this project more achievable)

3. Do the work necessary to exceed their expectations

No rocket science. Just simple, solid process improvement aimed at raising your clients’ eyebrows (in a good way).

2. Next. Work out several (at least five) processes to capture recommendations from your clients and put them to work systematically  

Customer feedback processes should be a source of recommendations. Events too can generate leads (we got 17 from a recent event in Lancashire). LinkedIn can be tool that generates referrals too. Your client contact programme can and should also generate referrals. What about a wow process for new clients with a focus on getting referrals early. And what about joint lunches with clients and bank managers? More on referrals processes in a future article.

How else can accountants ‘raise the eybrows’ of their clients? Feel free to comment on this article and ask any questions that bug you or you want to resolve.

Happy hunting!

Paul Shrimpling

PS You can see this article on AccountingWeb http://www.accountingweb.co.uk/topic/practice/how-grow-your-fees-2010/399281

“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