How to grow your Accounting Business – IT Strategy and Consultation
Accountants are among the first resources sought after by business owners upon opening. Once a business gets its wind, the first on-boarded help is that of bookkeeper.
If you’re in the business of accounting, payroll or tax preparation, you well know your value and do your best to bring your customers that value.
A trusted adviser is a precious thing. An honest person, looking out for you and your interests. Someone with the background of experience and the drive to keep up with the pace of change. How do you, the Accounting wizard, double down on your value and scale your business?
- Client Engagement — Much like the Doctor’s of modern times, your customers are going to have questions. The days of FAQ are gone. They may be frequently asked, but the opportunity to engage and answer with context is going to separate your business from those of old tactics. I call it the Lazy Answers, Questioned. Do you have a website that supports client login? Why? Do you publish your email address for direct engagement? Is your social media set up in a way for you to engage quickly?
- Communication — When you’re not available, what do you customers do? How do you watch T.V. today? Do you sit through a single commercial? Do you sing along to the ad jingle? I’m doubtful. My point is, you go to another medium. Your phone, your kids, the bathroom, the magazine you’ve been meaning to read. Your attention is at a premium. If your communication is predicated on your availability, your customers are going to wander. Does your phone number find you anywhere in the world? Does your customer have to try your home, office and cell to get a hold of you? How many times do you think they’ll do that before giving up?
- “Insider Info” — When I get subject matter sent to me that has nothing to do with me, I’m not even surprised anymore. I get 4,400 spam emails a day asking me to participate in an info-gathering survey that doesn’t benefit me directly at all. Of the 4,400 emails that arrive, .001 percent make it to my eyes. They are 1) Personal 2)Interesting and 3) directly related to something I have going on. Are you marketing like it’s 1998? Sending the same Tax and Payroll info to every business you’ve ever serviced? When a CPA has my vertical in mind, something that could save me money, help me decide on a direction or benefit our employees in some form, I will go out of my way to share that content. It’s a “Give” not an “Ask” Is your organization set up with the means to target a customer list? What system would you use to do that? Would it measure the results?
- Security Services — Your skill set involves handling sensitive data and keeping that data on archive for several years. The elite accounting firm will be clear and confident in how they manage my data. Where the data “lives” how that data is preserved and who has access to it. Where can I, your customer, view that data? If something happens to that data, what can you do to help recover it? What precautions are you taking to ensure security is up to tomorrow’s standards?
- Unique Perspective— It is common in client acquisition to assume you know what your customers want from you. You hope they align with your skills and that leads your pitch. Today’s buyer wants an experience and they want to lead that experience with you there at their side. This may include theoretical situations about their growth, their assets and the market. This is called road-mapping and the customer will use this in their business plan. Your position is that of counselor. Knowing your craft, guide these plans with current pitfalls, benefits and talk through the potential outcomes. No one wants to hear your line card of services. What I want and what you’ve done may not be perfectly in-line but they should be close.
As you can see, Time is your most precious asset. Giving that time to prospective customers, active customers or the general population as the Wizard of Accouting is in itself, your value.
This means the systems that serve your product, must be in place and reliable at all times. Employing a phone system that can find and follow you, wherever your find yourself in the world, investing in cloud-hosted storage to protect your clients data and archive-able Email are just some of the highest ROI-Intense methods of improvement.
Our staff of Solution Advocates are grateful to guide anyone through this decision and sourcing process. Please contact us today at 804–521–7660 or sales@codebluetechnology.com
This Blog is written by Michael Bergamo — Senior Technologist and Brand Advocate at CodeBlue Technology