Generating Clients

It's a sales pitch. No meaningful content on generating clients at all. (4/29/08 - 09:22 PDT)

Dante,

This is not a sales pitch. If you click the link, http://www.nacpb.org/bookkeepe..., it will take you to the article.

Melissa Smith, CPB
Certified Public Bookkeeper
Member: National Association of Certified Public Bookkeepers

The article reads

How to Generate Two to Three Clients a Month, Week, or Day

Question:

When a business owner contacts a public bookkeeper in your area; will she contact you?

Question:

When an accountant refers a public bookkeeper in your area; will he refer you?

Fact:

Small business owners and accountants contact and refer public bookkeepers they know and trust.

Conclusion:

Your marketing strategy should focus on becoming known and trusted in your community.

How to Become Known and Trusted in Your Community

Marketing is synonymous with communicating. Therefore, to become known and trusted in your community, you need to:

1. Communicate to as many business owners and accountants (network partners) as possible, and


2. Communicate you are a trusted and competent public bookkeeper.

That way, when owners or network partners think of contacting or referring a public bookkeeper; they think of you.

To consistently generate clients, you not only have to be a trusted
and competent public bookkeeper, but you also have to make it known
that you are.

Before anyone can known you are a trusted and competent public
bookkeeper, they have to know who you are and that you are a public
bookkeeper. For example, if I don?t know you, but received some form of
communication from you, such as a business card, would the business
card stand alone or would it need further explanation? In other words,
the business card should communicate exactly who you are and what you
do. The easiest way to do this is to integrate your business name with
what you do such as Daniel J. Smith, Certified Public Bookkeeper or
Smith Bookkeeping Services.

Therefore, your marketing or communicating methods should communicate:

1. Who you are,


2. What you do,


3. You can be trusted,


4. You are competent, and


5. How to contact you.

Communicating you can be trusted and are competent is evidenced by:

1. Your credentials (Certified Public Bookkeeper),


2. Your expertise (industry, service, or software),


3. Your experience,


4. Your education,


5. Your affiliations and associations (National Association of Certified Public Bookkeepers),


6. Your appearance  (picture),


7. Client testimonials,


8. Your level of professionalism,


9. How well you communicate, and


10. The quality of your marketing materials.

Dante,

You obviously didn't read the entire article. What you posted is half the article.

Melissa Smith, CPB
Certified Public Bookkeeper
Member: National Association of Certified Public Bookkeepers

I thought this was an interesting article with some good ideas and tips. As I read it, I thought of some common frustrations that bookkeepers and accountants often run into when marketing their services, so I thought I would add a few comments here that some may find helpful.

I think the most important thing you can do in terms of marketing your service is to determine how you are going to be different from all of the other bookkeepers or accountants in the marketplace. This core message is what you want to communicate in all of your marketing materials.

Things like "quality", "customer service", and "competence" are not differentiators, they are expectations - table stakes for being in the game. You can differentiate yourself in many ways - by the industry you specialize in, by the way you deliver your service, the way you price your services, etc.

It is also important to have a narrowly defined target market. The more you can move away from being a "general bookkeeper" towards be an expert in a certain field, the easier your marketing will be. You will also find that you will command higher fees as a specialist.

The combination of a narrowly defined target market and your core message comprises your marketing strategy. The 17 "effective marketing methods" listed in the article are marketing tactics. I see many people skip the strategy piece and jump right into tactics. These people end up frustrated because they spend a lot of money and see little, if any return. Focus on strategy first, and then select tactics that support your strategy.

The article states that you should "Communicate to as many business owners and accountants (network partners) as possible". I would amend that to say you should communicate with as many members of your narrowly defined target market as possible.

You need a system to communicate on a consistent basis. Chances are they will not need your services at this very moment but will sometime down the road.  Communicating on a regular basis increases your chances of being on their mind when they (or someone they know) need your service.

Demonstrating competence is important, but I believe your marketing efforts will be more successful when your materials spend less time talking about you and more time talking about the problem that you solve for your particular target audience.

Hope that helps someone in growing their practice.

Bill

Bill,

Excellent additions! For your information, NACPB had an earlier article on target marketing and specialization (niche marketing) that covered the very ideas you addressed.

Melissa Smith, CPB
Certified Public Bookkeeper
Member: National Association of Certified Public Bookkeepers