Accountants struggle to explain their services in a way that non-accountants understand so they often see prospective clients glaze over.
Have you ever had a time when you were telling people what you do only to realise they weren’t getting it? That they weren’t understanding why you are different and how you could help them?
If you are trying to stand out and get new clients you can’t afford to have people switch off and think, “Just another accountant”.
The problem:
Stop thinking about selling a service. Stop telling people what you do.
People don’t care what you do. They care about what it does for them.
Let me explain – as an accountant Compliance work is core to what you do. So accountants lead with a list of compliance focused services. But clients often don’t understand what half of it means. And what they do understand they often don’t care about.
What your clients care about is running their business, making more money, having accounting data that is not 3 – 6months out of date and getting advice that helps them plan and grow their business. They care about outcomes!
Your list baffles people and doesn’t help you stand out.
What to focus on:
- Simplicity – how you simplify things with your processes
- Time – how you save them time and effort
- Ease – how you make things easier
- Access – how they have an expert on their team
- Money – how you help them make more money or save more money (or both!)
A better way:
Shift your thinking to the client’s perspective. Empathise with them. Step out of accountant mode and business owner mode and think about what a client actually wants.
- They want things to be straightforward. Accounts are important but not their main thing. That’s your job. They don’t know what they don’t know and aren’t sure what they should know. Help them understand but keep it simple.
- They want to save time and effort so help them put in place the processes they need.
- They want it to be easy to do their bookkeeping and accounts. It is a chore to most people so explain how you make it easier.
- They want to be able to get advice when they need it. And they need proactive planning and guidance.
- They want to know how much money they have and what they can spend or take out. And they want to maximise profit and save on tax and expenses.
The way forward:
If you are looking for more of the right clients then become an expert in what they want. Develop the skills to explain what you can do for them in the context of what they want. It’s not about you, it’s about them so focus on that. Give people what they want so you can give them what they need.
Once you have absolute clarity then develop a marketing strategy based on getting your message in front of the right people, at the right time, in the right way and in the right place. And then implement consistently because you can’t get new clients if they don’t know you exist!
Have a great day.
Angus
We help the owners scale up, build a more profitable and sustainable businesses and get more free time. We provide Business Coaching, Advice and Training to help you get clear on the route forward, create the plan and develop the systems to take your business to the next level now. With Clarity, Certainty and Confidence.
Get in touch if you have any questions or suggestions – Contact