How to maintain
and expand your Accounting firm market share in times of recession
In a recession,
the services and knowhow of an Accounting Professional are needed
more than ever.
Yet, in terms
of marketing, the demand for Accounting services is very low.
Business owners don't easily respond to advertising and marketing.
Thus, it appears
that marketing has little or no effect. In reality, it is only
the response lag that gets lengthened when money is tight.
It's a psychological
thing, really.
When the general
confidence in economic growth diminishes, the risk-factor in
decision-making increases. With receding income, any mistake
can be fatal.
This added
risk SLOWS DOWN decision-making markedly.
Whatever the
decision, it takes much longer to make.
This leads
to a situation where there's a "backlog" of kinds and
only the most important decisions are made. With the initial
shock of bad news, everything is stopped - including paying bills!
- until the situation has been reevaluated.
With the future
uncertain, everything is thrown into confusion. The constant
flow of news about impeding recession makes us all just WAIT
so we could see where it all leads.
Anything that
isn't within that top priority classification gets postponed.
The only decisions that get made are those that cannot be put
aside any longer. Anything that doesn't directly threaten the
survival of the company is left pending.
Everyone tries
to get receivables in while delaying the payment of bills owed.
It's a worldwide phenomenon leading to an apparent full stop
of cash flow.
Among other
things, marketing becomes a seemingly useless activity, of course.
And so it might be - but only for a very short while.
It's a fatal
mistake to assume that marketing should be stopped for the duration
of recession.
For if you
do, you will predispose your firm to the full effects of recession
and leave it exposed to one of the most destructive "natural
phenomena" of economy...
First Phase
of Recession
Unlike commonly
realised, recession is not just "one thing" but has
distinguishable separate PARTS to it, during which the
behaviour of the market is quite different.
For instance,
before the economic downturn even starts, there's a longer period
of time when more and more people (and institutions, media) PREDICT
the recession.
Warning signs
such as household debt ratio and overheating of economy make
for great headlines. This coverage starts to gnaw at the confidence
people feel for the continuous improvement of their buying power.
When the recession
finally BEGINS, its first phase is a very depressing time
for most business owners. Relinquishing all those dreams about
success and expansion and, in their stead, having to take steps
to ensure the SURVIVAL of one's company... it's no easy task
mentally for any business owner.
Very typically,
the first few months of recession are also characterised by this
confusing "waiting game" wherein we hold off all payments
where possible and await to hear what the future brings.
Is it just
a momentary hiccup in the economy... or a full-blooded recession
for years to come?
Attention is
drawn away from creating the future into surviving the day. Instead
of putting more energy into selling, we shift our concentration
into collecting monies due.
All decisions
& investments get postponed.
For a short
while, marketing brings no immediate results.
Also, it takes
some very special skill to deliver the RIGHT message when the
economy swings downwards.
The priorities
of the target audience have changed drastically and, to
get results, your marketing must also be altered to conform with
those new priorities.
The mood has
changed from one extreme to another.
Where our decisions
were previously governed by a strong confidence in future success,
an increasing certainty of impeding doom now regulates our judgment.
If you continue
your marketing as before, it won't work.
Luckily, this
first phase of recession is relatively short.
After a while,
people accept the reality - recession is here and we're in for
the long haul. Economy stabilises on a lower level of
basic consumption and life settles in on its normal routines.
Once the first
phase has ended - people don't doubt the recession but accept
it's here - is the time when clever marketing can again get
results.
In fact, recession
is the time where the correct approach can bring much more results...
Only... very
few people KNOW this. And that ignorance is the primary reason
why recession offers such an opportunity!
Most practising
Accounting Professionals will CONTINUE with their no-marketing
policy, mistakenly assuming marketing remains ineffective until
the economy swings up again and recession ends.
Thus, they
won't even bother trying to compete.
Instead, they
dig their heels in to weather out the storm and outlast the next
months or years... however long the recession will last this
time.
The first phase
of recession has taught them - but they've learned the wrong
lesson.
Why most Accounting
Professionals will lose market shares during recession
The fact is
that when a recession starts, most Accounting Professionals more
or less stop marketing altogether.
And who can
blame them? With so many insufficient, untested, untried or wrongly
targeted marketing systems around, speaking of marketing as an
"investment" becomes mainly lip service.
Marketing isn't
REALLY seen as an investment in the true sense of the word. Marketing
cannot safeguard the invested capital and yield a guaranteed
profit - more clients that bring more income and profit.
Yet, a small
minority of practices do get results far beyond what they
invest into marketing in form of money and time.
Unfortunately,
when times get hard, obtaining results from marketing gets even
more difficult.
The approach
has to be exactly right. You need to know the mood of your target
audience and you need to know WHY they would change Accountants
- and what they're looking for in the new Accountant.
But for the
average Accounting Professional, these possibilities vanish
with the first phase of recession simply because he will be convinced
there's nothing he could do about it.
Not knowing
the anatomy of the psychological phases of recession, he believes
marketing could perhaps be worthwhile only during good times.
After all,
to most it's questionable whether marketing is worthwhile AT
ALL.
So, if it's
that difficult when confidence is the economy is GROWING... what's
it going to be like during RECESSION?
The unavoidable
conclusion becomes that it's no good wasting money in marketing
BEFORE the economy turns into an upswing.
But is it really
the TIME that governs the efficiency of marketing?
The killing
fields of recession
Has the need
for Accounting services and financial knowhow ended now?
Do companies
NOT need Accounting services, tax consulting and financial advice
during a recession?
Will shortness
of money make business owners automatically MORE satisfied
with their current service providers and result in longer client-relationships?
Of course not.
It takes a
very special system to actually GET clients, no matter what the
state of the economy.
And when the
going gets tough, business owners will need MORE financial consulting...
and, once the initial shock of the downturn is over (with the
first phase of recession), they will definitely give very
close attention to what they really get for their money.
With the frightening
blow the starting of recession has dealt to their confidence,
business owners will be VERY critical of anything THEY
pay for. After all, that's what THEY are getting when they try
to collect monies owed to them, isn't it?
What goes around,
comes around.
And that's
what the survival game of recession is all about.
It a game of
musical chairs just like the Weakest Link on television. Only
there'll be a lot of chairs left and a lot of strongest links.
There'll be
those who won't make it.
But as those
will be a minority, that's not where the real danger of downward
economic development actually lies.
See, apart
from that short first phase, recession has very little effect
for an ACTIVE marketing system. If anything, there'll be
MORE results and a higher success ratio, believe it or not!
But only
if you have an ACTIVE marketing system.
That's not
the same as "being active while marketing," though.
An active marketing system means that instead of sending out
messages and then waiting for results, you do something to actively
INDUCE results.
Instead of
relying on the growing demand brought on by a booming economy,
you CREATE the demand for your services.
If you do that
now or start it soon, recession cannot touch you.
Once you have
sufficiently workable tools and a tested system to ACTIVATE the
demand, you get results regardless of which direction the economic
barometer is swinging at the time.
In fact, during
recession, you can get TEN TIMES THE RESULTS simply because
99% of competitors aren't marketing at all... all while the target
audience grows increasingly discriminating in their reevaluation
on what they GET in exchange for their money from their Accounting
firm.
There'll be
a lot of businesses searching for an Accounting firm that can
offer a better service more according to what CLIENTS want.
To anyone using
the PASSIVE marketing approach recession very bad news indeed.
Passive marketing
means that one relies mostly on the "forces of the marketplace"
for expansion. In other words, one rides to high wave of confidence
and gets one's share of the added business.
In good times
it was fine. All of us received our share of the positive gain
- growth, more clients, more services bought, and so on.
But to be on
this bandwagon when it's RECESSION dealing the cards... it's
a no-win situation.
All you get
is bad news. Keeping the existing clientele becomes a major
challenge and getting new clients is a distant possibility
indeed. Clients get more and more critical of what they get in
exchange for their money... and all the forces of recession work
AGAINST you.
The killing
field of recession is, in reality, that area in between those
two alternatives.
The majority
of Accounting firms will remain inactive all through the recession.
Thus, they'll be vulnerable to the destructive forces of recession.
They're the
ones losing clients.
And then there
are those Accounting firms that will be ACTIVE during recession.
They will change
their operating basis, utilising the void created by absence
of competing alternatives (colleagues refraining from marketing)
and adjust their service concept to meet the new needs
of the target audience.
They're the
ones keeping their clients and taking over clients
leaving other firms.
The difference
in results between the two alternatives is quite huge when continued
all through recession.
It becomes
even bigger when economy swings upward.
The active
firms are ready to make the most out of the expansion while passive
firms will take quite some time to wake up from their hibernation.
Similarly,
those that can keep their clients and get new ones during recession
will have the financial resources to ride the growth in many
ways... while the passive ones won't.
What it takes
to succeed during recession
During recession,
you need very accurate systems that take your firm CLEARLY above
competitors, as viewed by the majority of business owners. Being
"just as good as anyone else" just isn't good enough.
In fact, it
doesn't even come close.
Now, you need
a way to absolutely convince the business owner that what YOU
deliver, is by far better than what he currently receives.
Now, you need
to show how you can HELP to keep his company on the track and
survive the recession.
Now you need
exact and correct information on what factors govern the thinking
of clients - yours and those of competitors.
And above all,
you need to DISAGREE with the majority of Accounting Professionals
if you ever hope to differentiate your future development from
the inevitable downward curve that the industry will take!
The industry,
as whole, WILL lose income. Lots.
But it will
do so in light of statistics. Average figures calculated
from tens of thousands of firms - of which MOST go down... but
some UP.
Those statistics
totally hide the fact that some firms INCREASE their turnover
and profits. And the huge DEGREE to which they do this is definitely
not shown by any averages!
To analyse
the situation very accurately you need to be LOOKING for the
solution that allows you to utilise this extraordinary opportunity.
The general
opinion within Accounting industry is that one cannot DO anything
to avoid the consequences of recession. If you believe that,
if you join the majority, then you won't be able to do anything
about it.
See, Accounting
Professionals are human too. They are also affected by the hopelessness
of the moment. They feel disheartened and, as a result, tend
to do nothing but wait and hope that it will all go away.
Only, it won't.
Not for quite a while.
Once the "collective
mind" of a whole nation - the world - has been convinced
to accept that recession now EXISTS, it takes some time (and
lots of positive news) before that conviction can be changed
around again.
There are two
elements at play here. At one side, there are the actual economic
facts. Those hard figures of economy will NOT allow the world
of commerce to collapse.
That horrifying
possibility of total disaster only exists in our
MINDS.
The basic consumption
and its production are there, just like the basic needs of businesses
will continue. Logically and by figures, we can only go so far
down until the economy stabilises. After that has continued long
enough, the inevitable upswing start once more.
But I'm not
talking about the real situation here. I'm talking about the
OTHER element of recession - that which takes place in the minds
of people. Hundreds of millions of people.
It took months
and months to convince those people that recession is here. And
it'll take at least as much time to again convince them it's
over.
There'll be
a considerable LAG between the FIGURES turning and the GENERAL
OPINION following suit.
Recession is
here for a while. It will work its ways regardless of what we
THINK or BELIEVE.
That's the
real-life scene of it.
Most firms
will recede and lose clients. But not all.
Some will GAIN
- and gain a lot.
And whether
you'll be among those fortunate ones, depends wholly on what
you do now.
For, during
this period, you have an opportunity that's greater than any
booming economic trend could ever offer.
Your competitors
will not even TRY to get new clients.
And, while
their clients will be reevaluating the exchange they get for
their monies, the majority of Accounting Professionals will be
prone to NOT CHANGE ANYTHING.
And therein
is your opportunity.
Do the math
and you'll see how this time provides a few practitioners with
a truly overwhelming competitive advantage in their area.
Why not be
that practitioner in your area?
Accounting firm
recession strategy - keeping your existing clients and offering
an appealing alternative to disappointed clients of others
During recession,
an Accounting Professional in public practice obviously cannot
spend lavishly for marketing or take any sort of financial risk
when countermanding the effects of recession.
Anything you do in marketing must be inexpensive.
Not just "compared
to the results" - as you don't KNOW whether or not it will
produce results - but actually CHEAP in terms of money. It should
cost very little.
The second
vital thing is that you take inventory of your potentials and
resources. Any resource that you have should now be utilised
to the fullest.
Now is the
time to concentrate on increasing the clients' awareness of what
they really get from your services.
Now is the
time to add small touches here and there to ensure the service
is exactly according to the clients' wishes.
And now is
the time to make use of all that hard work that you've already
put in with your existing clients - and don't think you've utilised
it even half way yet!
To help you
to create the best practice management strategy for these changing
times, we are publishing a special manual called the Accounting
Professional's Recession Survival Strategy Guide.
In this guide,
you get a full briefing on all the factors governing client-relationships,
marketing, practice management, and the vital safeguarding actions
in times of recession - all tailored for practising Accounting
Professionals.
It will help
you to map out your resources and utilise every single potential
that you have without any expenses. You'll get several tools
to use in helping your clients to improve their survival. You'll
get tools and interviews to use to unlock any problem your clients
have - and to get them to want to solve their problems.
The Accounting
Professional's Recession Survival Strategy Guide will later become
available for purchase separately.
But for right
now, you can only get it as an extra bonus with the Modern
Accountancy Marketing & Sales Course - the perfect low-cost,
highly effective marketing method that countless practitioners
already use to actively create demand for their Accounting services
regardless of economic trends.
The Modern
Accountancy Marketing & Sales Course gives you a marketing
system ideal for economic downturns when there's no money to
gamble on any marketing system that won't be CERTAIN to produce
more than it costs.
In fact, it's
the perfect system for right now.
That's the
way to get more services sold to each client during recession.
That's how you create a heightened awareness of your unique service
when others gloomily await what the future will bring.
And, if you
buy it now, you will get the Accounting Professional's Recession
Survival Strategy Guide totally free of charge as a bonus!
I have seen
my clients DOUBLE their turnover (and I'm talking up to £500,000
here) during the worst times of last recession.
And all because
THEY were in that small minority that didn't succumb to the hopelessness
that the daily "gloom-portion" of newscasts distributed
to all of us... AND because they had specific tools to utilise
that STRONG shifting of clienteles brought on by necessity
of tighter budgets.
It can be done
- it is being done as we speak - and it can be done rather easily
(and almost without cost) once the hard part is over.
The hard part
is the DECISION to do something about it.
The "doing
something effective" -part of it is actually much easier!
The worst thing
to do in this situation is NOTHING. That will leave you exposed
to the most terrible of Murphy's Laws:
"If
there is a possibility of several things going wrong, the one
that will cause the most damage will be the one to go wrong!"
CLICK
HERE to read about the Modern Accountancy Marketing & Sales
Course to see how it could help you to utilise the existing resources
and make the most out of recession!
Best wishes
Harry Kafka
HDK
Consultants Ltd
32 Manning Close
Richmond Square
East Grinstead
West Sussex RH19 2DR
United Kingdom
Tel. (01342) 328 116
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