Where to Find Accounting Clients Diagram

Diagram:

Notes:

Although every accounting business is different, the methods of generating new business often change with the age of a firm.

Often, the best clients come from referrals. This is for several reasons:

• Potential clients are more likely to trust the unbiased reviews of their friends and colleagues over the self-serving words of a profit-seeking service provider.
• Current clients are likely to associate with people like them. This inherent similarity will help filter out people outside of your niche and preferences.
• Referrals are based upon hard work (and, potentially, gentle reminders to clients that you like referrals). This allows accountants to focus on providing high quality work rather than splitting their attention between accounting and marketing (the latter is likely outside of their core skill group).

This suggests that, when starting there are three key criteria that should be applied to new clients:

• They should be in the desired niche
• They should be able to pay the desired fees
• They should be likely to refer others like them

Focusing on the raw acquisition of customer numbers may lead to a death spiral in which undesirable clients continue to refer even more undesirable clients.

As a new firm owner, the key focus should be to gather a small group of excellent clients and to use them as a catalyst for further growth. Wow them with expertise and responsiveness in order to generate new referrals. With a bit of luck, this process should feed upon itself and generate a significant inflow of desirable customers.

One of the ways to get increased mindshare with existing clients is to increase the number of contacts. It may be worthwhile, for instance, to visit them or take them out to lunch during non-busy seasons.

Remember: the best time to start building relationships is before you need clients.

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