3 Free Methods To Increase Your Accounting Clients
Home > 3 Methods To Increase Your Accounting Clients (Without Spending Any Money)
In our experience with working with multiple different accounting firms in multiple different countries we have discovered one common problem all these firms are facing…… The ability to attract New Clients.
Accountants across the world have a tendency to rely solely on word of mouth referrals as a method of attracting new clients. This is simply not sustainable for 2 reasons, 1. You cannot increase your prices as the client referring the new prospect will inform them of your prices and 2. this is just not common enough to dramatically scale your practice.
For that reason we have written this article to give you guys a couple of suggestions and ideas to look into in order to grow your accounting practice and have a constant stream of clients requesting your services. If you use this advice YOU will be in control of your prospecting and not just leaving it to chance or in the hands of your existing clients.
Method 1 : Linkedin
LinkedIn is one of the most powerful forms of client acquisition in 2020. LinkedIn has a lot of different features and functions that, if used properly, is EXTREMELY effective. The problem is most people just don't know how to use it properly. There are 2 tools which we would highly recommend you look into within LinkedIn that will boost your prospecting. If you don't understand the explanation below please setup a free 30 minute call with an expert by clicking the "Schedule a call" button below.
Sales Navigator
This is an extremely powerful tool. This enables you to filter a search for any industry you are looking for in any cities as well as filter for the type of person you are looking to reach. An example of a filter would be to filter for plumbers in London, this will now give you a “leads result” of a few thousand plumbers in London. So whichever niche you service you can now reach out to a massive number of them using this tool. Just please be aware not to connect with more than 75 people a day or you may land up in “LinkedIn Jail” where they freeze your account for up to a month.
When reaching out to a potential prospect, ensure your message is short and concise with a very obvious “call to action”. An example of a “call to action” would be : “If you are interested please send me your contact number “ or “if you are interested in hearing about my services please book a call with me on the calendar link below”.
Skylead
This is also an extremely powerful automation tool to use within LinkedIn. We have an accountant in our business when we started looking into these tools he was extremely intimidated by words like “automation” however after working with it for a day or 2 it made him realize it's a 100 times more simple then Microsoft excel and extremely easy to use and manage.
This tool will automate your messaging and connections for you. As an example you will set it up to automatically connect with 60-75 people a day and send them automated messages on your behalf. You should consult a marketing agent to assist with the message as you don't want it to appear as SPAM or as though a bot has sent the message, to speak to a professional book a free call on the link below. By using this you will literally be prospecting while you sleep as the bot does the prospecting for you.
Method 2 : Cold Email
This is definitely the most understated method of prospecting. Although communication is evolving rapidly through Facebook, twitter, LinkedIn, WhatsApp and messenger, the one form of communication that has stood the test of time and that does not appear to be disappearing any time soon is Email.
What you want to do here first and foremost is build a solid email list. There are multiple ways of doing this but the fastest and easiest way of doing this is by using what's called a “Scraping tool”. This tool will scrape thousands of emails in any area and in any niche. As an example you search engineers in Dublin, this will then scrape thousands of email addresses of engineers in Dublin with whom you can try to connect with. There are multiple scraping tools to use which aren’t expensive (approx. 35 USD a month which you can cancel after a month), simply reach out to one of our consultants to find out which scraping tools to use.
For cold email, the message is key! If you get the message wrong your response rate will be very low so it's important to get assistance with the message and to have a very clear concise call to action so the prospect knows exactly what to do to get in touch with you. There is a great tool you can use called Yesware which effectively gives you details around how many people have opened your email compared to the number of emails sent and the number of responses. This allows you to determine the quality of your message and if the subject line is getting people to open it.
Method 3 : Facebook Marketing (Organic)
Many accountants think Facebook “doesn't work” or “isn’t the platform for finding accounting work”. While this is partially true and Facebook most likely isn't the best platform to market B2B services (Business to Business), if used correctly can be a pretty effective way to build a brand around your business and acquire clients without spending anything.
In order to use Facebook effectively you would need to establish yourself as an authority figure on the subject and to do this you need to post valuable articles on your page which enlightens people on certain accounting topics. As an example if there's a change in tax legislation you should share this on your page and give your thoughts and opinions on this as well as give advice to people on this subject and what to do and how it will affect them. This way people will begin to see you as an expert in this field and would begin to consult you on matters related to accounting. This way you can build relationships as well as a brand and establish yourself as an expert in the field.
As scary as it is to post work related stuff to your personal Facebook it is a great way to get the word out there and you will be surprised how many of your connections begin sharing your articles which reaches other people and soon you have people on Facebook reaching out to you for help and advice on tax and accounting related issues.
Conclusion
Marketing is changing dramatically. With the number of businesses moving online and the amount of time people are spending on social media it's becoming a crucial platform for marketing. This space is becoming more and more competitive every year and more expensive to market on every year. I strongly encourage all of you to embrace the changes in technology and make use of these incredible platforms
DON’T GET LEFT BEHIND !!!
If you have any questions on the above or would like to set up a free 30 minute consultation with one of our experts please book a time in the calendar below.
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