The number one source of converted leads for accountancy firms, according to the 109 firms contributing to our recent Marketing Audit Report, is referrals from clients. 

In fact the survey suggests client referrals are 100% more effective at generating converted leads than any other form of marketing. 

So the biggest question you can ask all the managers and partners in your firm is: 

“Are we doing enough to maximise the number of client referrals we get?” 

12 years of helping accountancy firms grow their fees and profits proves that not one firm is doing everything they could to maximise the client referrals they receive. Which, if it is the number one source of converted leads for accountants, is bonkers! 

In our experience all the strategies you can adopt to increase referrals fall into three categories: 

1. Deliver a remarkable customer experience – do stuff for clients that is ‘worthy of notice’ – deliver magical moments – for a 4-page report on this subject go here:http://www.businessbitesize.com/FileManager/DownloadReview?ClientID=1&BookID=36 

2. Deliver and demonstrate the value your firm provides 

3. Ask for referrals more often 

I’m firmly of the opinion that your customer experience is profoundly influenced by the number of meetings you have with each client. And what’s really cool about this is meetings give you more opportunities to deliver value, deliver remarkable customer experiences AND opportunities to ask for a referral more often. 

In short, the best marketing strategy for your accountancy firm is, have more meetings and work out how to make those meetings really valuable and work out how to ask for referral. 

What has your firm done in the last 12 months to improve your firm’s abilities in these three areas? 

What’s worked best for your firm to generate referrals from clients? 

What challenges do you face when it comes to delivering value, delivering a remarkable service or asking for referrals? 

IMPORTANT: If you want to be able to deliver high-value reports to your clients that also make your client meetings more valuable so you can also get more referrals please check out the regionally exclusive Business Bitesize service here: http://businessbitesizeforaccountants.com/ 

Paul Shrimpling 

Creator of ‘Business Bitesize’ – cultivating a greater flow of new clients for your accountancy firm through profitable word-of-mouth –http://www.businessbitesize.com/ 
Author of ‘Bamboo Marketing For Accountants’ – the route map to marketing success for accountants in practice – http://www.bamboomarketingforaccountants.com/