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This particular time of year presents a marvelous marketing opportunity that shouldn't be missed because:
You have so much contact with clients!
25% of your new business, as a benchmark, needs to come from clients buying additional, non compliance services such as retirement planning, succession planning, estate planning, strategic planning, budgeting, inventory control, internal controls, etc.
Busy season is the best time of year to spot and discuss these opportunities, which do not have to be performed during this period, but afterwards, thus filling in slower times of the year.
The idea is to keep one's eyes open, talk to the client about what they are trying to accomplish in their business, spot opportunities, and sell additional work now and do the work later.
Now's the best time to get client referrals
25% of your new business, as a benchmark, needs to come from your clients' referrals, because they are familiar with your fine work and know so many other people like them.
Rainmakers generate lots of new business from client referrals that must be actively requested this time of year.
Everybody who comes in contact with you and the firm must receive a simple request such as "Joe, in case you run into someone who might be looking to hire a CPA this time of year, we would certainly appreciate the referral."
It's a proven fact that fifty percent of clients typically don't refer business to their CPAs simply because they don't know their CPA wants the referral.
The days of fearing that you will appear unprofessional for asking for business have long past. Never forget that many of your clients have built their businesses through word of mouth advertising and understand the power of referrals.
By asking for the referral you are planting a seed that otherwise can't germinate into additional business.
Now's the best time to get referrals from referral sources
25% of your new business, as a benchmark, needs to come from your clients' referrals, because they are coming into more contact with people looking to hire CPAs this time of year, too.
Bankers, attorneys, insurance people, securities brokers, financial planners, real estate salespeople, business brokers, family and friends, non CPA accountants, CPAs in other firms who bump into work that they can't or don't want to do all are in a position to help build your business, particularly this time of year. They can't, or won't, unless they know what you want!
Prospective clients are in the market
25% of your new business should come from people who don't know you.
Many future clients are waiting anxiously for their own return to be prepared, or doing business with accountants who don't appreciate nor service them properly. Some people have been doing their own return or just moved into town.
Busy season is a time of difficulty for the prospective client who is in the process of the audit, compilation or review. This process is often painful for them, and they are in a mode of thinking whether they have the right CPA or not.
One CPA who attended a Pennsylvania MAP conference that I keynoted, mentioned to the group that he was called by a neurosurgeon client on March first and asked if he wanted to attend a conference that weekend in Phoenix with hundreds of other doctors.
His immediate mental response was that he was swamped with work, but then he remembered what I had mentioned at the MAP conference about marketing during busy season.
Instead of declining this opportunity, he jumped on a plane and went with his client to the conference.
Obviously, he was the only CPA at the conference, and as soon as the attendees found out about his background, he was fielding every possible tax and business related question he could in every seminar he went to and every place he went.
This fellow returned with seven more neurosurgeon clients not a bad return for a weekend's worth of networking.
There's a lot of publicity about taxes & compliance
Uncle Sam is doing our marketing for us this time of year! It's almost impossible to ignore the free publicity and articles, radio interviews and TV spots devoted to taxes. By marketing during this period, you can take advantage of it.
And there is more concern than ever about the quality of compliance and non-compliance work that causes clients to think about their existing relationships and enhance the likelihood of change.
Nobody else is even thinking about marketing
Public accounting is the easiest business in the world. Most or our competitors (and fellow partners) stop whatever little marketing they might be doing to knock the work out.
Therefore, you will be marketing into a virtual vacuum.
Take advantage of your total lack of competition in the marketplace by going to a selected number of events where your presence will have the highest impact. You will totally distinguish yourself from the competition who is invisible for these months:
1. Go to morning breakfast meetings before working hours
2. Go to luncheon events
3. Fit in a few "after hours" gatherings as well. They make a great break from the daily grind.
4. Pass out as many business cards as you possibly can.
5. Send a dozen to referral sources with a letter asking for referrals.
6. When meeting people, give out two cards at a time instead of one they are the cheapest form of advertising.
Since busy season is the best time of year to do marketing, having more cards out in the marketplace enhances your chances for more new clients and referrals.
Everybody must be involved in the practice development effort
The more people who are out in the community, the more word of mouth advertising will be going on, and the more market penetration there will be. Your people should be out infecting the marketplace, as well.
How to find time do it
If you are really serious about marketing into a vacuum this time of year, here is how to open up some otherwise underutilized time:
- Develop the habit of saying to yourself: "What's the best use of my time, right now?"
- Re think your attitude about delegating work to others. Are you ready to invest your time more wisely this busy season? Then go ahead and transfer those items that you absolutely don't have to do, opening up time for more important personal marketing and face to face client contact.
- Hire additional part or full time temporary help to free you and others up.
By investing your time appropriately during this hectic period you can positively impact your practice the rest of the year, increase your market share, and bring more money to the bottom line.
© Allan Boress, author of The I-Hate-Selling Book. www.allanboress.com
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