Finding a Better Client: A Guide to Getting the Clients You Really Want In partnership with
Contents INTRODUCTION... 3 The Client Selection Advantage...3 DISTINGUISHING GOOD REVENUE FROM BAD... 4 The Personality/Profitability Matrix... 4 FINDING NEW CLIENTS... 8 Your Marketing Portal... 8 ONBOARDING NEW CLIENTS...12 Your Strategic Front Door... 12 ENHANCING YOUR CLIENT BASE TODAY...15 Changing Habits Takes Time... 15 REFERENCES...16 ABOUT...17 2 CPA Site Solutions
Introduction How to get the clients you really want Do you ever feel like your firm is beyond your control? Are client demands ruling your life? Does it seem like there simply are not enough hours in the day to get everything done? Good news: it doesn t have to be that way. Defining, finding, and attracting the right clientele is critical to regaining control of your firm. When it comes to clients, many firms operate under a have to have mentality, which leaves little room for discernment. The key to successful firm management is to move toward client selection. THE CLIENT SELECTION ADVANTAGE Unfortunately, the reality for most firms is that finding new clients is happenstance or an afterthought. Maybe your firm is young and due to limited cash flow you feel that you have to take any client you can get. Or perhaps you re in an established firm with a largely inherited client base, and you aren t sure where to start making changes. Attracting and maintaining the ultimate clientele requires a revamp in your thinking about how and why new clients come to your firm. This guide shows you that it is possible to bring on new clients of your choice, to become more successful and profitable in the future. By shifting your mindset and changing a few critical components in your business model, you can define the right clients for your firm and determine the best way to bring them on board. Let s get started. 3 CPA Site Solutions
Distinguishing Good Revenue from Bad How to determine which clients are helping your firm and which ones aren t Start by looking at your current client base and determining and allow more room for clients who generate good revenue. which clients should stay and which need to be weeded out This is done using the Personality/Profitability Matrix. (or not brought on in the first place). Although the matrix isn t complex, it does take time and effort Good revenue is defined as profitable income that also involves to sort your clients into their appropriate quadrants and conduct an enjoyable and healthy relationship with the client. Bad the appropriate next steps. Taking time to complete this strategy revenue is the opposite, involving a poor working relationship. annually gives you guidance on how to keep building the right The ultimate goal is to eliminate the bad revenue from your firm client base and how to move the wrong clients out of your firm. 4 CPA Site Solutions
THE PERSONALITY/PROFITABILITY MATRIX PERSONALITY This Client Does Not Pay Well This Client Pays Well PROFITABILITY Do Not Enjoy Working with This Client Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 The Personality/Profitability Matrix helps you identify all-star clients and not-so-great clients by assigning each to one of four quadrants. To begin, sort your clients into the four quadrants of the matrix. Your firm s owners and team should all do this, and then compare 5 CPA Site Solutions Enjoy Working with This Client everyone s matrices to see overlapping trends in client rankings. Once you finalize your client groupings, specific actions should be taken for each.
QUADRANT 1: Client does not pay well, and you do not enjoy working with them. This quadrant is the bad revenue. Firms should strive to have no clients in quadrant 1. They are problem clients who don t pay well and who essentially drain your firm. What to do with clients in quadrant 1. Firing clients can be difficult, but it s one of the most important milestones in your business. Remember that firing bad-revenue clients frees up more time for good-revenue ones. When letting go of a client, there are four main goals: 1 1. Politely explain the situation. 2. Focus on the client s interests. 3. Be professional. 4. Set expectations of what comes next. For example, your conversation could look something like this: After doing a strategic analysis of our firm s long-term goals, we ve decided to shift our focus to serve only [fill in the blank]. That said, we regret to inform you that we will be unable to work on your account, effective [date]. I do know of other firms that may be able to help you. [Provide competitor s information.] Thank you for understanding. It may seem backward to recommend a competitor, but it actually sets up your competition to handle the time-wasters while you open up your schedule for more ideal clients. It s best to have these conversations over the phone to ensure that you part ways on a positive note, but email is an alternative that could potentially work in certain situations. 6 CPA Site Solutions Q1
QUADRANT 1: Client does not pay well, but you enjoy working with them. These clients are so-so revenue. The good news is that it s possible to move quadrant 2 clients into quadrant 4 (good-revenue clients). This is done by raising your fees commensurate with the valuable service you are providing. What to do with clients in quadrant 2. Consider meeting with quadrant 2 clients to see how you can expand the services that you provide for them. Because you already have a good rapport, it s likely that the clients will take advantage of more services and/ or pay more for their existing services. Q2 7 CPA Site Solutions
QUADRANT 3: Client pays well, but you don t enjoy working with them. These clients are also bad revenue. If clients are exhausting you or your firm, it may be that your personalities just aren t compatible. Enjoying your work with clients is a bigger consideration in client choice than most firms realize. A client s personality fit with your team will pay benefits for many years to come, increasing your revenue. To some, personality may be viewed as even more important than profitability. Why? Because while you can t change someone s personality, you can change a client s perception of how much they should be paying you. What to do with clients in quadrant 3. Consider removing quadrant 3 clients from your client list over the next year as you bring on new clients. Given that they provide revenue, you should keep them until you recruit replacements. But a bad personality fit is not worth maintaining in the long run. Refer to quadrant 1 for steps on how to fire a problem client. As mentioned, although quadrant 3 clients may not be a good fit for your firm, they may be a great referral to another local accountant. Consider sending them to the accountant down the street as you replace them with good-revenue clients. Q3 8 CPA Site Solutions
QUADRANT 4: Client pays well, and you enjoy working with them. Clients in quadrant 4 are worth their weight in gold! Ultimately, every firm should strive to have all of its clients land here. These are your all-stars and the ones you want to stick around for the lifetime of your firm. What to do with clients in quadrant 4. Once you ve done all the hard work to get your clients to this level, it takes the same level of work to keep them. They need to continue benefiting from a great relationship with your firm. You can do this by continually checking in with them and ensuring that all of their needs are met. You should also go the extra mile in the customer service department. For example, write these clients thank-you notes; send them a card or small gift around the holidays. If they provide referrals, be sure to thank them with a letter, an email, or a small thank-you gift. Q4 9 CPA Site Solutions
Finding New Clients How to bring in more of the right clients to your firm In parallel with removing problem clients from your roster, you need to put effort into effectively marketing your firm to ensure that you are continually attracting potential new clients. YOUR MARKETING PORTAL The following are four key ways to market and position your firm above the competition. 1. Update your website. First impressions are everything. Today more than 70 percent of consumers use the Internet to conduct research before they choose a service provider.2 It is therefore critical that your services are well represented on your firm s website. If your site is outdated, people may think your firm s overall knowledge of accounting and tax laws are, too. 10 CPA Site Solutions Best practices state that your website should: Be up-to-date and easy to navigate: make it easy for visitors to find the information they want Contain content that is professional and person. Bonus if it s optimized for search engines Be mobile responsive with enlarged text, quick load times, and thumb-friendly buttons to ensure that smartphone users have an ideal experience Have a clear call to action on each page to help visitors know what to do next
2. Improve your search marketing efforts. For people to even find your website, they must know how to 2. Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising features ads that show up get there. Most of your web traffic likely comes from people in response to specific search terms. By targeting your ads using a search engine like Google or Yahoo! and typing to people who are looking for accountants in your area, you Accountant in my area. The list of results is shown, and the user can position your firm as the solution to their problem. The clicks a couple of options to learn more. term pay-per-click comes from the pricing model: your ad When potential clients do a Google search for an accountant in their area, you want your firm to top the list. Most people don t go past the first page of results, so it s important that you implement an appropriate search marketing strategy to maximize your visibility among prospective clients. There are two ways to improve your visibility on search engine results pages. will appear for targeted groups in the appropriate context, but you don t have to pay for that space until a person actually clicks on it. Plus, PPC ads can go live quickly, so you can see immediate results. Both forms of search marketing position your firm as a solution to someone s need a rather than an interruption (unlike a pop-up ad or a commercial). And while you can do both on your own, if you re not well-versed in this arena, it s best to hire a 1. Search engine optimization (SEO) involves on-site and professional rather than try to handle it yourself. Similar to tax off-site methods to boost your website s ranking in results preparation, there are many rules, as well as room for costly returned by a search engine. SEO helps improve your error if you aren t an expert on these strategies. website s organic ranking, which is the list of sites that appear below paid ads. Typically, it takes about three to six weeks to begin seeing SEO results, but the return on this type of investment is worth the wait. 11 CPA Site Solutions
3. Network, network, network. Make it a point to reach out and connect with new people every When making new contacts, ask if they know anyone else whom week. You should set a goal to reach out and meet a specific you could meet. It's wise to always seek the next lead which number of people each week to hold yourself accountable. could generate three additional leads. By pursuing this one-to- Although the Internet provides numerous ways to reach new people, you should also attend conferences and local events in your town to meet new people face to face. 12 CPA Site Solutions three relationship in networking, your network can grow exponentially over time, leading to a substantial number of potential clients.
4. Get social with blogging and social media. Being in the financial industry, you want to ensure that people profile pages should be branded to match the look and feel of see you as an educated, credible, trustworthy professional. How your website, and you should aim to post relevant, educational can make the right impression this if people are doing most of content that is helpful to your audience. their research online before even contacting your firm? Social media gives your firm the opportunity to show its First, establish a blog for your firm. Make it a point to blog at personality a bit more, and it s a great way to increase referrals least once a week on a topic that s relevant to your industry or and drive traffic to your website. If it sounds like too much clients. Perhaps you write a Q&A with common tax questions or of a commitment, consider working with an make the right an article about a new law that was passed. The key is writing impression that will manage your entire social media presence and posting consistently and providing content that is easy for you. to understand and valuable to your readers (prospective and current clients). Blog posts need not be long one to two pages are sufficient and they shouldn t be overly technical. It s important that your firm be where your potential clients are and that s on social media. Internet users worldwide spend an average of 106 minutes per day on social media networks such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.3 Use this to your advantage by ensuring that your firm has a social media presence. Your 13 CPA Site Solutions
Onboarding New Clients How to build up momentum to attract the clients you want The process of bringing on new clients is called client onboarding. It requires time, dedication, and practice, and this guide gives you the keys to getting started. First, you must learn to think differently about how you re attracting clients and develop new strategies that target the clients you want. YOUR STRATEGIC FRONT DOOR The virtual front door by which prospective clients find your firm is the most strategic door you have. Understanding why, how, and when prospects come to your firm is the key to devising a strategy that attracts the most beneficial clients for your firm and ensures that they get the most out of your services. walked through that door, most accountants treat them all the same regardless of the amount of revenue they generate. At the same time, the firm s back door is closed, and bad-revenue clients are rarely asked to leave. What most accountants don t realize is that by removing the wrong clients, they are creating space for the right ones. Remember: failing to establish purposes around why, how, and when clients come to your firm can make it feel like your firm controls you instead of the other way around. Firms that have successfully moved from being controlled by clients to practicing client selection employ the strategy known as client onboarding, which follows four steps. Unfortunately, the front door is often figuratively left open to admit any and all prospective clients. And once prospects have 14 CPA Site Solutions
1. Build your brand. You want your brand to resonate with your target clients. This For example, ask prospective clients to check a list of statements is done by establishing trust and transparency through your that apply to them. Such as, I consent to receiving virtual firm s marketing: your website, printed materials, and social services and accessing all records via a secure portal. By media presence. agreeing to this statement, potential clients acknowledge For example, if your firm serves land developers, use landscape imagery on your website s home page to communicate that your how you will serve them, and they agree to abide by your requirements. firm specializes in the industry. Add an About the Team page to give visitors deeper insight into your passions and specialties. 3. Share your policies and expectations. Doing so helps build a rapport and shows clients that you It s important to set expectations upfront so that there are no understand them and their industry. surprises down the road if you choose to work with them. 2. Establish criteria for new clients. Create a branded PDF or web page that explains your policies and procedures. Your billing or payment structure, including late How do you know if a prospective client is the right fit for your fees, should be included. Perhaps you want to enter into firm? To properly vet prospects, you need to establish a set of 12-month drafting agreements with all clients. Be sure to express criteria that they must meet before being considered. Once your requirements in this document or web page. If you have a established, use the criteria to develop prequalifying questions mission statement or value proposition, this is also a great place that can be part of a New Client Form. to share that information. 15 CPA Site Solutions
The best time to share such information with prospective clients Use strategic questions to understand what the client values so is after they complete the New Client Form. You can explain your you can identify how your firm can better serve them. policies and procedures either in person or via email, with a PDF attachment or web link. The key is that you approach this exchange in a way that is professional and conversational yet firm enough to set boundaries. Here are some questions to consider asking: What prompted you to look for a new financial partner right now? What will your company look like in two years? Clearly communicating your policies before you provide service What are your goals in the next year? The next five years? gives potential clients the opportunity to buy in and agree with What is the best way to contact you? Do you prefer phone your business model, rather than your firm s conforming to clients' wants later in the relationship. 4. Learn more about the potential client. or email? What expectations do you have for a financial partner? The goal of these value conversations is to gain a thorough understanding of the potential client and the services that best Have an initial meeting with the potential client. If you cannot fit their needs. This will allow you to create an accurate proposal meet in person, Google Hangouts and Skype are great ways to and quote for your services. have personal interaction online. This meeting should help you uncover the potential client s concerns or tax-related problems and what they hope to achieve by working with your firm. 16 CPA Site Solutions
Enhancing Your Client Base Today How to use these strategies to your firm s advantage Many firms have inadvertently developed bad habits when it comes to accepting new clients. Bad habits form when we have to scramble to find cash to make payroll or when we are fearful about the future. CHANGING HABITS TAKES TIME And building new habits take practice. Give yourself a year to develop and adopt new habits that move bad revenue out of your firm and bring in good revenue. You might not always get it right the first time, and new processes require tweaking, but overall you are accomplishing a huge milestone for your firm. your firm online. With more than a decade of experience, CPA Site Solutions is trusted by 7,500 accounting and tax professionals nationwide. To learn more or to start an immediate free trial, visit www.cpasitesolutions.com or call (800) 896-4500. Start a Free 60 Day Trial Having read this guide, the next step is to prioritize one or two things that you can do to become strategic about finding better clients. Give yourself a few months to practice, and then add another step. After a while you ll see your client mix changing, and you ll slowly take back control of your firm and maintain ongoing relationships with the all-star clients you really want. One of the scariest steps is getting started. If you need help building the funnel of new leads coming to your firm, there are professionals with expertise that you can tap. CPA Site Solutions can help you become familiar and successful with marketing 17 CPA Site Solutions
About CPA Site Solutions CPA Site Solutions helps accounting and tax professionals accelerate their firm s growth and acquire new clients through innovative online marketing solutions. Discover why CPA Site Solutions is trusted by over 7,000 accountants for their We take a consultative approach and create tailored marketing strategies that support your firm s goals through our comprehensive suite of online marketing solutions. Website design. We communicate your expertise through professional custom and pre-designed styles, industry expert written content, and interactive features. Every website also includes a secure firm portal that allows you to quickly and securely share files with your clients. Search engine optimization. Our fully integrated approach, combined with 16+ years of industry experience help you climb to the top of search engine results pages and get noticed by prospective clients. Pay-per-click. Pay-per-click. As verified Google partners, our team knows exactly how to create successful, cost-effective pay-per-click campaigns that deliver measurable results. Social media management. We will manage your entire social media presence with engaging posts and branded profiles that encourage followers to like, share, and connect with your firm. 18 CPA Site Solutions online marketing needs. (800) 896-4500 www.cpasitesolutions.com
About AccountingWEB AccountingWEB is a community of accountants across the United States who come together for professionally written articles on all technical subjects as well as advice on advancing their careers and running their firms more effectively and profitably. AccountingWEB Forums provide our members with an important sense of inclusion, a connection with a bigger club through which they feel affinity with fellow users. For more information, visit www.accountingweb.com. 19 CPA Site Solutions
References 1. Nick Reese, 3 Painless Scripts to Free Yourself of Problem Clients (blog), JOIN A TRUSTED TEAM accessed September 26, 2016, http://www.nicholasreese.com/problem-client-scripts. 2. Seven in 10 Americans Seek Out Opinions before Making Purchases, Mintel, June 3, 2015, http://www.mintel.com/press-centre/social-and-lifestyle/seven-in-10americans-seek-out-opinions-before-making-purchases. 3. Daily Time Spent on Social Networking by Internet Users Worldwide from 2012 to 2015 (in Minutes), Statista, accessed September 26, 2016, CPA Site Solutions is trusted by over 7,000 accounting and tax professionals for their online marketing needs. The firm is also endorsed by the Montana https://www.statista.com/statistics/433871/daily-social-media-us- Society of CPAs and Kentucky age-worldwide. Society of CPAs for their online marketing solutions. 20 CPA Site Solutions