LACK OF RESEARCH:
The single most costly mistake in marketing Accounting services
 The
most vital of all aspects in achieving functional and effective
marketing for Accounting services is the VIEWPOINT from which
it is planned.
Let me start
off by asking something:
Whose
wishes should the marketing of your services fulfill?
It sounds like
a silly question, really. You PAY for your marketing,
you BUY marketing services or products - so, obviously,
they should fulfill YOUR wishes and requirements.
But is it really
that obvious?
Isn't the purpose
of marketing is to achieve new clients? Shouldn't it be the means
to an end, the tool to effect a desired end result?
Shouldn't it
be wholly composed to reflect the wishes of your TARGET AUDIENCE?
In purchasing
things, the buyer naturally looks at the item of sale from his
OWN viewpoint. While that is the only correct viewpoint when
acquiring products and services that will "serve" you
DIRECTLY, it isn't necessarily the best viewpoint to take when
considering a service or set of tools for marketing your Accounting
services.
To create
a message that appeals to the intended BUYER, one needs to create
it from a REVERSED viewpoint - that of the target audience.
Answering the
question "Do I like this?" won't tell you if your TARGET
AUDIENCE will like it.
"This
is a great idea" does not guarantee the average business
owner in your region will see it as something spectacular.
"This
makes so much sense to me" will not necessarily mean that
it will compute to entrepreneur Joe Blow in your area.
"This
is explained very clearly" won't insure the majority of
those business owners even understands it!
Opposite ends
of knowledge in matters of Accounting & Finance - the difference
in how things are viewed
An Accounting
Professional and his client often view things from almost opposite
viewpoints. Any open exchange of views with clients soon
shows how differently the necessity or logic of some action is
viewed by the two persons.
And, if you've
ever had a disagreement of any kind with a client, you'll know
how opposite the view really can be.
Society works
this way and we can find many examples of similar (seemingly)
totally opposite positions in viewpoints.
A teenager's
view of things is often very dissimilar to that of his or her
parents.
The "battle
of the sexes" derives its persistence from CERTAINTY on
opposite facts, depending on whose viewpoint you take.
Employers and
employees, service providers and their clients, buyer and seller,
political parties, religions... the list is almost endless.
In search for
support for his beliefs, Man is prone to join GROUPS that hold
common ideas. The most visible of these are the groups with established
structure and administration (unions, associations, political
parties, etc.) and lots of registered members.
Apart from
organised societies, we belong to a HUGE number of groups based
on our views.
We have similar
interest, existence, location, beliefs, experiences, and whatnot
with other people. And, while there's no organisation or establishment
for these groups, they nevertheless exist and ACT as groups.
In the course
of daily life, we meet a ‘kindred spirit' and recognise
the similarity of views.
For example,
if you were to meet another Accounting Professional in public
practice, you'd have much more similar interest and experiences
than you might share with an in-house Accountant or one employed
within the government.
And while there
might well be several associations or formal groups for practising
Accounting Professionals, the common viewpoints between two
practitioners would derive from their mutual EXPERIENCE in the
SAME SUBJECT... viewed from the SAME VIEWPOINT.
One could say
that you belong to a group of "Accounting Professionals
with experience in servicing businesses in the field of compliance
services," if you like.
It wouldn't
be a FORMAL group. But it would, most definitely, be a TARGET
GROUP.
The similarity
of viewpoint within an Accounting firm's target audience
Any target
group will be found to share the same opinions and views in any
subject that touches their daily lives.
If one interviewed
a hundred practising Accounting Professionals in UK, asking each
the same questions on subjects within their field of experience
as practitioners, one would get amazingly SIMILAR responses.
For instance,
most practitioners consider that it is very difficult (or impossible)
to obtain new potential clients ACTIVELY (whenever you want)
at an AFFORDABLE cost. Or, that there isn't any COMFORTABLE way
to directly get prospects.
Whether
or not this actually IS so, is not relevant because the majority
of practitioners BELIEVE it is so.
It will act
as a truth for them and bring the expected consequences regardless
of its degree of truthfulness.
With this I
mean that even if someone HAD found a comfortable and affordable
way of prospecting, it wouldn't in any way change the BELIEF
of the majority of practitioners.
The views that
we hold sit usually quite tight simply because they are very
TRUE to us. It's simply the way human thinking works. And to
publish any such successful experiment of prospecting and CONVINCE
a huge number of practitioners that it IS true and it HAS happened
would, of course, be an educational task of gargantuan proportion.
(And who
would want to do so? Obviously, those that had found the
successful way wouldn't have any interest to disseminate their
success or teach competitors how it is done...)
But let's get
back to YOUR target group.
Just like YOU
can be seen to belong to a target group, the businesses in your
area belong to a target group. It could be called "those
business owners with experience in using Accounting firms' services."
Upon research,
these business owners and executives will be found to have very
SIMILAR viewpoints on Accounting services, Accountants, and Accounting
firms.
They will have
formed several identical "truths" about the usefulness
of Accounting services, the price of service, and so on.
One can also
determine the average level of satisfaction toward Accounting
services and find whether or not business owners feel the service
fulfills the expectations they had (and have) for the service.
They will also
have very similar ideas on how RISKY changing Accountants feels
and what would minimise that risk. Similarly, they'd be found
to have definite views on how easy or hard the business owners
find EVALUATING and COMPARING various firms... and so on.
Additionally,
one could also find out what the majority of business owners
MOST WANT from their Accounting service. This would include knowledge
of which information and / or services they consider EXTREMELY
VALUABLE and what they DON'T UNDERSTAND... and so on.
Further, one
can also determine the most prevalent (and the second, third,
fourth -etc. most prevailing) NEGATIVE generalisations on Accounting
services that this target group holds in common.
Things like
that. An amazingly LONG list of factors have to be known just
to reach certainty on how to find POTENTIAL clients with prediction.
To reach a high success ration in signing these prospect on as
new clients requires even MORE.
Researching
these things is, of course, quite an undertaking.
But once it's
done, we would then KNOW without any doubt what the MAJORITY
of business owners considers true, what their VIEWPOINT on Accounting
services (and firms) is and what they like and dislike, believe
and disbelieve.
In fact, we
would even know the words, concepts and wordings the majority
of them use for VALUABLE and WORTHLESS parts of service - viewed
solely from THEIR viewpoint, of course.
Knowing these,
we could then devise a service that would include exactly
the services and parts that the majority of business owners consider
VERY valuable - and not even mention (let alone OFFER) any
parts of service or services that they DON'T consider valuable
(or believe to be of no use at all).
We could formulate
an approach that would use the exact "code words" -
the wording THEY use for what's truly valuable in Accounting
- and position these as OUR views. We could use their wordings
on NEGATIVE things and position ourselves AWAY from those.
Using this
type of researched approach, we could create a whole SET of communication
tools, one following the other, and be CERTAIN that the MAJORITY
of the target audience would find our communication "intriguing,
different, make-sense and highly truthful" (from THEIR viewpoint,
that is) and, thus, maximise the chances of obtaining PROSPECTS
and getting these signed onto our services.
Which message
will have the highest appeal for the target audience of your
Accounting firm?
I've personally
research target groups in more than one hundred industries. And
with this experience, I can tell you one thing for certain:
There are
practically MILLIONS of different possible COMBINATIONS of various
views, opinions, key words and valuables to be found in any ONE target group.
What I mean
is that, in marketing, you don't only need ONE viewpoint but
DOZENS of CONSECUTIVE viewpoints that all represent the MAJORITY
OPINION of the target group.
For instance,
there aren't just one or two opinions about Accounting out there.
There is LOTS of reservation in LOTS of areas of the service,
its marketing, the communication to and from Accountants, the
delivery of service, billing, and whatnot.
And there are
LOTS of absolute certainties on HOW you should offer your services,
WHAT kind of services are valuable, what shows that an Accountant
is honest, how they determine the level of your technical knowhow...
things like that.
You don't "ONLY"
need to find out these things - and know which ones are the views
that the MAJORITY of the target group believes to be true - but
also the ORDER in which they should be taken up and the WAY you
should use the information.
Successful
marketing is really a CHAIN of actions - a staircase, if you
wish - leading from first contact to final sign-on. The start
of this chain is where a business owner doesn't even know your
firm EXISTS. It ends when he signs onto your services.
|
FINDING &
JOINING THE POINTS |
|
 There could be hundreds
of different alternatives to EACH of the needed parts of your
message that, when combined into correct sequence, will result
in a sale.
And
there are about 80 of these PARTS you need to take the prospect
through correctly and in the right sequence to ensure you have
a high probability of signing him onto your services.
(Most
of those 80 parts are done by simply asking a carefully planned
QUESTION. Once you HAVE those questions, it only takes one telephone
interview and one meeting to close the sale.) |
|
The probability of reaching the
correct messages in correct sequence without research is actually
smaller than guessing the next week's lottery numbers... |
It's a chain
of actions and communication.
Each step needs
to be MORE right than wrong, viewed from HIS viewpoint.
The chain needs
to progress in a correct sequence, each step just right so that
it leads to the next and isn't too steep.
Now,
what are the chances of GUESSING these things?
When you create
a message for your target audience, I know you firmly believe
it is a very good message.
And I'm sure
it IS. But will the message convey THEIR viewpoint... or YOURS?
How easy will
it be to GUESS the right majority viewpoints?
Well, as there
are about 80 subjects to know, you might get lucky and guess
a few of them.
But ALL of
them? And what about the CORRECT SEQUENCE?
You're the
professional. You do the math. My calculator goes beserk every
time I try the equation...
But it is really
academic. Whether the probability is millions or billions (or
trillions or quadrillions) to one, I'm sure we can safely agree
that you'll have a MUCH better chance winning the national lottery
than guessing the correct 80 points and ending up with the correct
sequence.
But....
why, then, do we still believe that WE can "know" which
message works and which doesn't?
Well, the confusing
issue in purchasing marketing systems and services is that what
appeals to YOU won't necessarily appeal to your TARGET AUDIENCE.
In fact,
it is almost certain NOT to.
See - an Accounting
Professional and his client are lightyears apart when
it comes to how they think and feel about Accounting.
These viewpoints
could be said to be more or less OPPOSITES in knowledge, understanding,
attitudes and opinions in THIS specific subject!
Let me put
this in no uncertain terms:
For a maarketing
expert, it is extremely difficult to create a marketing campaign
that would WORK WELL with YOUR target audience. It's very hard
to know WHAT YOUR CLIENTS WANT.
It is much
easier to know what YOU want. For a pro, it's child-play to create
something that'll tickle YOU PINK because it portrays you in
such formidably impressive light.
Selling
to you
involves only ONE target group - Accounting Professionals in
public practice - while selling your services to your target
audience requires experience / research / testing / piloting
for TWO groups, see?
It takes YEARS
of work to do it this way. It's a lot of work - I know, I've
done it. Took us three years to get 50 practices and test it
all with them for a minimum of 12 months!
It is much
easier to take a short-cut and avoid all those years of hard
work.
So, here's
how they do it the easy way:
They create
a marketing message that makes sense to YOU.
In other words,
they don't even try to appeal to whom they SHOULD — your
target group.
Instead, they
use YOUR viewpoint, explain the benefits of Accounting as YOU
would explain them, depict the problems YOU see to be most pertinent,
and cleverly prove cleverly how your views on the matter are
correct.
These top marketing
professionals simply take YOUR wishes, opinions, likes and dislikes,
hopes... all that YOU hope your target audience would believe
and do... and put this into the message to them so that it appeals
to YOU.
And it will
impress you.
It creates
realisations in YOUR mind. It gives a way to explain things in
an intelligent way - all those things you've tried SO hard to
get people to understand.
You will get
excited. You will be absolutely convinced this is the message
that works.
Only it
won't. You can be 100% certain that it won't bring you a single
new client but only waste thousands and lay your high hopes to
ruin.
See, it cannot
work, since it is created using YOUR viewpoint exclusively. It
will appeal ONLY to you - and not at all to your target audience.
To you, it
would be very logical. It would appear very intelligent and extremely
effective.
But will it
spark similar enthusiasm in the TARGET GROUP? Will the message
arouse the same excitement in the minds of average business owners?
Right - it
certainly won't.
And here's
the thing:
A message that
WOULD best appeal to your target audience would definitely NOT
appeal all that much to YOU - unless you had SEEN the survey
results and received the ‘professional secrets' of how that
knowledge is used correctly.
So, we have
a mirror effect of kinds at work here. What appeals to YOU would
work best in selling something to YOU. Your target group won't
share the viewpoint and thus, it won't appeal to them.
Reversely,
what appeals to your target audience wouldn't impress you all
that much. You'd definitely like that message LESS and, given
a choice, would probably choose the one that "feels better."
The message
that works for the target group wouldn't be CREATED for you,
see?
The communication
wouldn't trigger those "finally someone who understands
this" - type of realisations in YOU. It COULDN'T. It's not
"in your language!"
Researched,
targeted marketing communication developed for one specific audience
works much like a unique language. It's like a secret
code of kinds - the wordings used, the emphasis, the sequence...
these will ONLY communicate to the intended target audience.
To others,
it means little or nothing.
All those words,
concepts and meanings that are so carefully planned to trigger
a certain train of thought in its target group, mean nothing
to someone else who doesn't have that EXACT viewpoint.
The message
doesn't "trigger" the intended train of thought at
all.
Certainty is
a subjective truth
We all seek
certainty. Indecisiveness and uncertainty feel terrible - and
it is wonderful to reach certainty on any issue.
All in all,
it's definitely better to be CERTAIN of something than to remain
uncertain about it.
But being certain
about something doesn't mean it is the ultimate OBJECTIVE truth
about the issue.
It is the SUBJECTIVE
truth. It is true for that person.
A person will
then interact with other people with similar experiences and
make his views known. This is soon picked up by the communication
channels - media - and reflected upon publicly within that group
of people that share these experiences and interests.
Such groups
are called target groups in marketing and advertising.
Once this has
gone on long enough, this becomes a generally accepted certainty.
Most people within that target group have agreed to it and adopted
it as the truth in the matter.
Of course,
it STILL isn't an OBJECTIVE truth.
If history
has taught us anything, we know that a lot of people have been
absolutely certain about a lot of WRONG things.
Yet, a person
is prone to hold on to his subjective viewpoint even when it
actually causes him to LOSE OUT on his own goals.
For the
certainty that the person holds will most definitely govern how
successful he'll be in that subject.
For instance,
if YOU would agree with the common belief among practising
Accounting Professionals that it isn't POSSIBLE to get a constant
flow of potential clients, you wouldn't GET prospects
constantly.
You would "know"
it is useless to even TRY. So, you wouldn't waste money
trying to achieve the impossible!
Not attempting
to get prospects at all, of course, brings no prospects.
The result
- very few new clients - would appear to substantiate
the truthfulness of the belief. But of course it does so only
for the person himself.
To anyone who
DIDN'T have that belief, the subjectiveness and "self-proving"
nature of this belief would be quite obvious.
There are COUNTLESS
Accounting Professionals in public practice who KNOW it isn't
true - simply because they GET a constant flow of potential
clients and consistently succeed in getting businesses to change
their Accountants.
For these practitioners
it suits very well that most firms believe it isn't possible
to obtain a constant flow of prospects.
Why would
they want to publicise the truth and expend resources to convince
their competitors by giving away their secrets of success?
Of course they
won't do that. They'd much rather let the belief live on - even
strengthen it - as it gives them a mighty advantage over the
competitors!
Witness the
pessimistic and critical remarks ANY marketing idea receives
in public forums of Accounting. Why do you think the few marketing
advices we get are so sickeningly general? Things like "Send
Christmas cards to your clients..."
Consider the
huge VOID that surrounds the subject. No one even discusses
it on the Accounting Industry communication channels on the Internet!
There's a
reason for all this. And it certainly isn't because practitioners
wouldn't want to be able to directly influence their own financial
success, is it now?
It's really
left up to each and every one of us to find out these things
and CHANGE our mind about things that are directly STOPPING the
achievement of our goals.
The thing with
personal beliefs and certainties - be they negative or positive
- is that only the person himself can change his viewpoint.
Nobody else
can do it for that person. Any attempt to do so is doomed
to fail.
Anything that goes AGAINST
those beliefs, opinions and certainties will be resisted,
disbelieved and considered untrue.
Taking this
into the realm of marketing Accounting services, we see how vital
it is to KNOW the viewpoints and opinions of your target group.
If you go AGAINST
their viewpoint, if you contradict any of their firmly held beliefs
and certainties, your success ratio will be minimal.
Unfortunately,
with today's traditional marketing strategy providers, the marketing
systems are created to SELL TO ACCOUNTING PROFESSIONALS, not
to their target audience!
Assumptions
- the downfall of marketing Accounting services
Lack of research
is the MAJOR stumbling block of Accountancy marketing. Man
is prone to assume that others think alike and hold the same
opinions, view things from the same angle, value the same things,
and generally have the same preferences.
"Normal,"
to each person, is what HE considers to be natural and rational.
Yet, each person (and each target audience) has their own set
of values that they consider "normal."
This is a mechanism
that keeps us going and there's nothing wrong with believing
in what you believe.
But in marketing,
the most important rule could be said to be "KNOW thy enemy."
The enemy is
not your target audience or any business owner therein.
The enemy is
formed from all those viewpoints, opinions, considerations and
"truths" that THEY hold true - the ones that keep
them from being interested in changing Accountants, keep
them ignorant of the true benefits and usage of Accounting services,
and keep the deadlock in continuance.
For you to
sell to yourself, you need NO research.
You KNOW what
you like and want once you see it.
But if you
want to sell to your TARGET AUDIENCE, you can safely assume they
WON'T think the same way. While as "business owners"
you both hold many similar values, their views on Accounting
will be very much different.
If they'd think
the same way as you do, they'd be your competitors, not potential
clients.
Yet, because
of the "this makes sense to me" -phenomenon in our
thinking, we are prone to utilise any idea that WE think is
great and invest money into communicating it to our target
audience.
Thus, we get
the strange present reality of Accountancy marketing: It appeals
to OTHER Accounting Professionals in public practice... but gets
little or no results from the intended target audience.
And all because
of the omission of one step in the creation of marketing messages.
Surveys - the
difference between a sound investment and a high-risk speculation
Marketing is
really the task of activating the willingness of people
to cooperate with YOU in the attainment of their own
goals.
Each business
owner has to WANT to get in contact with you. He then has to
DO several things before he "graduates" from a mere
contact into your newest client.
To do that,
HE needs to WANT to take each of those steps.
The task of
your marketing activity is to create those steps and,
above all, that WILLINGNESS for him to follow the path
you've laid out.
Stating the
obvious, what HE wants is quite different from what YOU want.
Therefore,
the communication you use has to be tailored exactly to HIS opinions,
views, level of knowledge, interests, and values.
It's really
a bit like communicating in an encrypted code. You have to FIRST
find out from your target group how THEY see these things, THEN
form your message - and then flow it BACK to the target audience.
And NOW it
will have effect.
|
WRONG FLOW |
RIGHT FLOW |
|
?
|
|
|
A message based on personal viewpoint
of ONE person has very little chance of hitting what's most important
for the target audience receiving the message. |
A message based on prior research
on what the target group wants and values will always
hit the most important and desirable issues for that target
group. |
If your marketing
doesn't bring direct results, then too many bits of the communication
are not aligned to the viewpoint of the majority of your target
audience.
Reversely,
if you KNOW what your target audience wants, if you have certainty
on what they value, like and dislike, need and require, then
your marketing WILL produce new clients with a much higher
success ratio.
But, you say,
I DO know what my clients want, like and think!
Well, yes and
no.
I've yet to
meet an Accounting Professional totally unaware of the views
of his target audience.
But I've only
come across a handful that knows these views with sufficient
CERTAINTY to ensure that their marketing is geared up to
get a high success ratio in marketing.
Confusion comes
from having TOO many pieces of data and not knowing WHICH ONES
are of senior importance and pertinent to the task at hand -
and which aren't.
What
do business owners think about Accounting services and firms?
How
should you approach businesses to create instant interest - and
what should you avoid so as not to turn them off immediately?
What
do THEY consider true, what do they doubt - what to say and what
to avoid when speaking to business owners?
What
kind of help, service and assistance do the business owners VALUE
so highly that simply by offering these exclusively you could
increase your marketing pull?
And
which services mean little or nothing to them, leaving a hazy
picture that cannot but lead to failure for your marketing?
As these few
questions show, there are many vital things to know about your
target audience.
Their views
govern their decisions and the better you know those factors
the more you can influence their decision on which Accountant
to choose.
And that -
knowing these factors - is really what decides whether or not
your marketing turns into a sound investment yielding ample results
with high certainty... or a high-risk speculation offering worse
odds than a one-line entry in the national lottery.
Now... if you've
DONE this, don't feel embarrassed.
Everyone
does it.
Marketing is
a learning process and not all experts out there know what works.
The wrong lesson
to learn is to stop marketing altogether.
Inevitably,
that's the choice that will cost you most although the
bottom line won't show "the income I could have made
but didn't."
All you
need is to GET that information and ensure you have a prospecting
& presentation system that USES the viewpoints of the majority
of your target audience.
There are no
magical shortcuts that could replace precisely KNOWING the viewpoints
of your target audience.
If you don't
KNOW their viewpoints on the main issues concerning Accounting
services, there isn't much hope to keep up their interest and
willingness to continue.
Sooner or later,
that lack of knowledge and certainty will fail you.
In fact, it's
sooner than you might think.
The huge difficulty
most Accounting firms have with the FIRST step of marketing -
obtaining a constant flow of potential clients - is simply caused
by NOT KNOWING what really INTERESTS business owners.
Given
a choice, wouldn't you prefer KNOWING what works before you invest
your time and efforts into marketing Accounting services?
The funny thing
is that KNOWLEDGE can replace most of the FINANCIAL investment
you'd need for effective marketing.
That's because
KNOWLEDGE almost totally eliminates the element of chance.
The Accounting
Professional who knows these factors and has a workable system
to use the information correctly, doesn't need luck.
And, while
others may THINK he is "lucky," he will know that
luck has nothing to do with his success!
The good news
is that we have this information for you.
We offer a
special one-day seminar (or consultation) on what business owners
want from accounting firms and how they think about accounting
services. Click
here to read more about our theme seminars for accounting firms.
Alternately,
in Part 1 of the Modern
Accountancy Marketing & Sales Course, you receive a complete survey report
on the business owners' viewpoint and also how you can USE this
knowledge to impress the business owners you get in contact with.
Part 1 also
presents a basic Accounting service BUILT on those wishes —
a service easy to deliver but one that will practically sell
it self... It
will make you lucky way beyond the law of averages!
Click
here to read more about Monthly Financial Consulting Service!
Click
here to read the general presentation of Modern Accountancy Marketing
Course!
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 |