Test your own
Expansion State of Mind and get new ideas on how to expand your
Accounting firm!
Here's a tongue-in-cheek
"test" to get a feeling of the degree to which you
favour expansion. The test measures existing preparedness for
expansion as well as your attitude toward increasing your clientele.
You won't be
scored for result in this test — not by us anyhow. But the
alternative replies to each question should give you an idea
of how well prepared your firm is in that specific subject. This
is explained further after the test. Choose the answer that is
closest to the present reality as you see it.
And don't take
it too seriously!
Part 1: Accounting services
|
1.1 |
What's your
policy on giving advice — the most valuable part of your
service — to your clients? |
|
A) |
I've included
a monthly consulting session into my basic service and the client
pays for it whether he uses it or not. Additionally, I've included
a small fee for the availability of telephone advice so clients
can call at any time to get immediate help. |
|
B) |
I try to charge
for my advice when clients ask for it but I'm not very successful
in getting them to pay for it. |
|
C) |
I charge them
an hourly rate automatically after they've asked me for advice. |
|
D) |
I give advice
to clients free of charge when they ask for it. |
|
1.2 |
How have you
packaged* the BASIC service
with which you try to tempt business owners to change from their
current Accountant over to you? |
|
A) |
I've acquired
a full packaged service system along with proven prospecting
& marketing tools to get it sold successfully. |
|
B) |
I've created some
special services but I'm not having much luck selling them. |
|
C) |
I'm delivering
the basic compliance services as they are. |
*Packaging services: Forming a unique service
concept based on the wishes of the majority of business owners
and a marketing method using the points that are known and understood
by your target audience. CLICK HERE to read a special article on
packaging your services.
|
1.3 |
Outside tax
filing, do you ask what clients want and then deliver it to them
on monthly basis? |
|
A) |
I always deliver
what the client wants and then discreetly ensure it also contains
what he needs and that all regulations are complied with. |
|
B) |
Actually, I've
never thought of asking my clients if they want something on
top of basic compliance services... but I like the idea. |
|
C) |
I refuse to deliver
what they want because they don't know. I always tell them what
they need and then deliver it. |
Part 2: Marketing
|
2.1 |
To which degree
have you established a weekly-occurring marketing function within
your firm? |
|
A) |
Bigger firm: I have a fully trained
person handling the marketing of our firm and services on full-time
basis. |
|
A) |
Smaller firm: I have set aside at
least one day every week (or couple of hours on most weekdays)
of my own time to do marketing. |
|
B) |
I haven't set
any schedules or times but I do something for marketing every
month here and there. |
|
C) |
I don't really
have time to do any marketing to speak of. |
|
2.2 |
What type of
a system do you have for marketing? |
|
A) |
I have a fully
tested and proven system with lots of ready direct mailing letters,
interviews and other systems to brief my target audience about
my services and these give continuos responses in form of interested
contacts from business owners. |
|
B) |
I have some tools
but I get little or no response from my marketing efforts. |
|
C) |
I don't have anything
prepared for marketing. |
|
2.3 |
What type of
a message do you send out about your firm and services? |
|
A) |
I have surveyed
the target audience and my message concentrates on communicating
to business owners from THEIR viewpoint, starting the message
from their realities and offering them solutions to problems
they are aware of and want to solve. |
|
B) |
I'm trying to
find a way to ask my target audience about their views, needs
and wishes but haven't found anything as yet. |
|
C) |
I haven't really
thought of needing any type of planned message. I just talk with
people. |
|
D) |
I don't need
any surveys as I know fully well what business owners think about
accounting services and I know much better what they need.
I've created
an impressive message presenting my firm in a formidable light,
using the best traditional marketing techniques to show my target
group that I'm the best in this area. |
Part 3: Acquisition of new clients
|
3.1 |
How do you
obtain new clients? |
|
A) |
I have a weekly
system of prospecting and presenting my services to interested
contacts and we basically get a steady flow of new clients. |
|
B) |
I don't have any
continuous client acquisition programme but I get a few referrals
and an occasional contact through Yellow Pages or other listings
during the year. |
|
C) |
I have not found
any effective way to interest business owners to change Accountants
and I have no certainty of receiving new clients in a given month
or quarter. It's just all dependent on chance, really. |
|
3.2 |
Could you successfully
turn over the task of client acquisition to a staff member if
you wanted to (due to expansion or for wanting more time off,
etc.)? |
|
A) |
Yes, I have the
full client-acquisition system documented into a full instructional
manual along with ready tools which can be used by another person
within days. I also have full troubleshooting tools to locate
and correct any mistake causing him to get no results. |
|
B) |
Well, it's all
in my head but, I suppose I could teach someone to do it, given
that I had a few months to train the person and show him or her
how to do each part of the work |
|
C) |
It would be totally
impossible to get someone else to succeed in acquiring new clients
for the firm. I will have to do it on my own from here to eternity |
Part 4: Structure of basic service
delivered, client satisfaction, referral programmes
|
4.1 |
Does your service
include an element of continuous consultation & education
so that the client learns to handle his finances better month
by month? |
|
A) |
Yes, every
month I go through the past month's figures with each client,
showing the positive and negative developments and helping him
to correct these.
This brings
me new assignments all the time and more fees as clients want
more key figures monitored once they understand how it all works...
and it automatically heightens client-satisfaction and gets me
more referrals. |
|
B) |
Well, I offer
some form of monitoring & consultation service but haven't
had much success in getting my clients to buy this service. |
|
C) |
No, I only help
clients when they inform me that they need it. I know clients
wouldn't want any continuous consultation or monitoring of the
financial figures. |
|
4.2 |
Do you have
programmes to heighten client-satisfaction and to activate clients
to bring referrals? |
|
A) |
Yes we regularly
do either a client-satisfaction action or a referral activation
every month. We have series of letters and tools for both areas
and help our clients to find, approach and successfully refer
new potential clients to our firm. |
|
B) |
Yes, sort of —
I occasionally ask clients for referrals and if they dissatisfied,
I do my best to handle the situation to their satisfaction. |
|
C) |
No, we are too
small to need any form of programmes for either client-satisfaction
or referrals. |
Evaluating your
replies
We don't score
this test but if we did, here's how it would give points:
The basic principle
of this test is that the first reply to every question (A)
is the one that would score very high points (10 points, for
instance), the second (B) would give some points (something
like three points)... and answers below that — C
and D, if applicable — give no points at all.
That doesn't
mean that those alternatives are bad. It simply means that EXPANSION
is achieved by the type of structure and thinking shown in every
answer marked "A" — the first answer to
each question, while not having the right tools but WANTING to
expand is what "B" usually stands for.
But these questions
are here only to bring ideas, not to test anyone's abilities
or intentions. It's a very much tongue-in-cheek thing, more of
an idea-awakening mental exercise than a test.
The questions
about your services and policy on giving advice are there because
expansion does not only require a positive attitude and tools
of marketing but also a product which is packaged to sell.
Offering just
the same service as everyone else (seen to an identical service
by business owners) isn't going to give a strong-enough reason
for someone to change Accountants.
We actually
offer an
introductory telephone consultation if you want to find out more... and
then there are the unique theme seminars for accounting firms,
click
here to read the intro of our most popular theme days.
There are also
couple of articles on our site about this. The first concerns
PACKAGING and the other a packaged basic Accounting service called
Monthly Financial Consulting Service.
CLICK
here to read about packaging your Accounting services.
CLICK
HERE to read about Monthly Financial Consulting Service, a ready-packaged
basic service built on the wishes of business owners and proven
in practice
Marketing &
sales questions basically search to find out whether you have
a multi-step, preplanned and proven SYSTEM in place or
simply go at it by the ear.
A systematised
method with clearly defined smaller steps and actions gives a
standard by which things can be adjusted and improved...
and without such a system, it's impossible to develop valuable
tools for marketing.
If you want
to read more on how remarkably ready-to-use tools can affect
your success ratio, CLICK HERE for the article "Ready-to-use
tools: Prospecting, presentation, sales and resales" elsewhere on our site.
The same applies
to the ability of handing over the tasks of marketing and
client acquisition to someone else.
A good system
should include a plausible way to get chosen members of personnel
to take over the responsibilities of obtaining new clients for
the firm successfully and continuously. There comes a point in
every firm's expansion where you just cannot handle everything
on your own.
If it's all
in your head and you're the only one who can do it... well, it's
going to be your responsibility forever and sooner
or later expansion is stalled.
If you don't
want to be the only one who can get new clients (or if you don't
like having to be the marketing & sales person), CLICK
HERE to read the article "Handing over the Accounting
service sales functions" to see how you can get someone else
to sell your services successfully (while still retaining the
control over the system so no-one can steal your tools or clients).
There's also
an article called "Vital necessity of troubleshooting
in marketing systems" that pertains to this subject. You
need the ability to manage your marketing & sales people
and the only way to do that is through having troubleshooting
tools for the whole system.
If you want
to prepare for long-term expansion, you need to empower your
(present and future) personnel as well as get clients active
in finding new referrals.
Part 4 measures
how well you keep the clients you've acquired and how active
these are in bringing you referrals. CLICK HERE to read a special article about
increasing the flow of referrals.
The simple way
to utilising your full expansion potential
The clearest
and most organised road to increasing your expansion potential
continuously is through a tested and proven route that others
have taken before you.
While great
ideas have their place in marketing, expansion comes from doing
the things that bring results directly.
Thus, the main
part of your system should be one that's PROVEN to produce the
kind of results you want... new clients staying longer, cooperating
more (and at a higher profit) and bringing you more referrals.
It should be
a practical system, geared towards attainment of tangible results...
something you can start USING and obtain the results without
having to start creating the "how-to-do" of it.
It should be
based on practical tools that can be used by any Accounting professional
without any preparations or need for prior sales experience.
The effective
ingredients (marketing messages, sales technology) should be
incorporated into these easily usable tools so that you don't
have to into a lot of preparations, study and such before you
can start using it and obtain results. CLICK HERE to read
an article on how to evaluate the practicality and usability
aspects of an Accountancy marketing system.
Basically,
you should not just wish for a few new clients but DEMAND to
get the skill and the system to open up a CONTINUOUS FLOW
of new clients.
One of the
most influential future-forming factors for an Accounting firm
is to have the power to obtain new clients at an affordable (and
sustainable) cost whenever you want.
Don't settle
for anything less.
CLICK
HERE to read an introduction to Modern Accountancy Marketing
& Sales Course that will give you that power.
And keep on
thinking expansion!
Best wishes
Harry Kafka
HDK
Consultants Ltd
32 Manning Close
Richmond Square
East Grinstead
West Sussex RH19 2DR
United Kingdom
Tel. (01342) 328 116
CONTACT
FORM
E-mail: info@accountancymarketing.co.uk |