Why the right sales strategy is so imperative for today’s CPA firms.

Let’s begin by addressing the obvious…most accountants are not natural salespeople. I doubt many of you got your CPA license, found a position at a firm (or started your own), learned the trade and then chose to go into sales. But like it or not, the profession is going through massive changes – changes that can no longer go be ignored. As more taxpayers choose to prepare their own taxes using one of the many “do it yourself” services that are so cleverly marketed to them, we must start to shift our sales strategy from compliance to advisory services.  

So how do we successfully navigate this shift in our focus, train our staff on this new perspective, increase our sales and still get the work done? As professionals who are trained to analyze financial data rather than proactively seek, cultivate, and close new business opportunities, where do we start? The answer is actually quite simple – start with your existing book of business. This post identifies three simple things you can do NOW – in the heat of tax season – to capitalize on the opportunity that’s literally right in front of you.

1. Identify client opportunities, set a revenue goal, and empower your team

Get into a room with your management staff and/or partner group and evaluate your entire book of existing business.

Given the time of year, this may be something you choose to do in May or June- if not now. Either way, commit and at least get it on the calendar now. Go through your client list and put each into one of four groups: A, B, C, and D. From “A” representing your clients with the greatest opportunity for additional services to “D” being the clients you could see yourself letting go (these are the ones you said “yes” to many years ago, but have been a pain ever since). The “D” clients represent the lowest profit and lowest opportunity for additional services, but as “the lowest hanging fruit,” it goes without saying that charging them a premium is an easy way to make up for the hassles of servicing them.

Set a goal.

Once you’ve completed the exercise of identifying where your key opportunities lie within your existing client base, set an incremental revenue growth goal for the year. Break it down by month and give your firm a “quota” or monthly goal. Measure and report it monthly and keep it somewhere front and center for the whole team. Maybe it’s on a whiteboard, a vision board in the lunchroom or my personal favorite, a Google spreadsheet shared among the entire staff to update live, real-time.

The key here is giving your staff the visibility to see how the collective firm is doing. People are motivated by success, so be sure to recognize success along the way and make it visible to others. 

Empower your staff. 

Make sure they understand what is expected and that they are empowered to achieve the growth you’ve set as a goal. In my firm, I gave each staff member who is responsible for clients a $500 budget at the beginning of the year. This accomplishes two things:

First, it gives my team members the opportunity to identify clients that may just need help or some additional attention – like picking up a grocery bill if it’s apparent someone is struggling. This is a simple act of kindness that shows we truly care.

Secondly, it’s an opportunity to take an ‘A’ or ‘B’ client to lunch or happy hour and get to know them better. This will lead to a better understanding of how we can serve and advise that person and demonstrate why we are worth the added cost every year (versus them preparing their own taxes).

Accountability is critical. If no one is accountable to achieving sales or growth goals, it won’t happen. Keep it visible. Keep it positive. And most of all, commit to keeping it consistent. Building your business is a journey. It didn’t happen overnight, and growth won’t either. If you commit to a regular cadence of reporting back to your team on successes and gaps, and making tweaks along the way where needed, you’ll hit your goal and have the opportunity to celebrate together. Like the Blue Angels, in our firm we have a weekly team huddle that, no matter what time of year it is, we keep on the calendar. This time is used to share successes and discuss things that we could have done better.

2. Improve the overall client experience

Start by leveraging technology to provide added value. 

Look at your business from the outside. How much time are you and your staff spending shuffling client documents or looking for documents on a hard drive or in someone’s office? How much time are you spending on manual data entry that could be done with automation or by scanning in client documents and auto-populating a large portion of the tax return?

Technology is now available to radically reduce administrative tasks and it’s evolving every day. By carving administrative time out of your process, it will allow you to repurpose that time to focus on the story inside each tax return. Doing so will allow you to offer proactive advice that your clients deserve, but oftentimes don’t expect.

Technology also does something else – it allows you to deliver service faster, more accurately, and above all, in a manner clients of the largest generation in the workforce (the Millennials) expect. Meet them where they are- on their phones! Allow them to schedule appointments with you and upload documents to you via their phones or computers.

Your delivery of information to them should be similar- leveraging text messaging when appropriate, delivering the return electronically, capturing signatures electronically, and allowing clients to pay online. The easier you are to do business with for the market you want to serve and the more you can give clients in terms of proactive advice to maximize their financial situation, the better your chances of growing your business.

Let’s talk about proactive advice for a moment.

What if you had the time to uncover a situation for a client where, if they opened a SEP IRA, and extended their return, they could have upwards of $40,000? Do you think they would ever leave your firm? Highly unlikely. Do you think they would be open to regular quarterly or semi-annual consultative or planning meetings? Absolutely. Who do you think they might refer? How do you approach this so that you have an organized and consistent approach with each client? 

Productize your services. 

Consider the types of services you offer and what is most profitable. Where do you want to grow and who is that market? More and more firms are building packages, “productizing” sets of services for their clients.

For example, think of the value you could offer to a new business by packaging group of services (business formation and structure, bookkeeping, tax planning and return, quarterly meetings, financial statements, etc) and selling the package (or variations of it) for a single price.

Remember that a new business owner is not opening the business because they love managing the financial operations, so show them how you can allow them to focus on their business- what they are passionate about- and be their financial partner!

3. When to sell cannot be overlooked

Take advantage of your captive audience this time of year.

Making sure the client experience is stellar from the moment they walk in the door, upload their documents, or hear a voice on the phone is crucial. Their experience could be the one reason they come to you every year! Additionally, don’t let you or your staff underestimate your influence with them while you have their attention. 

Right now, we are all working on tax returns so keep in mind that “the greatest point of value is received at the point of delivery.” Give them a beautiful, bound copy of their tax return. Set up the next appointment. Give them a “Thank you” card! 

Whatever you do, make that a memorable moment for them. That way, when you determine additional opportunities for them (and for you to sell to them) they’ll be more receptive to your guidance and further, pay you for it! Even if you don’t have the solutions for them at that point, book another appointment with them while they are in front of you! That is my challenge to you! 

Stay visible and add value throughout the year.

Additionally, find ways to stay visible to clients and offer them value throughout the year. As laws continue to change that impact them, pick up the phone and use the opportunity to connect and give them new information that could lead to a billable service.

Set up a cadence of providing information that is valuable to their personal financial situation. Show them you are a partner looking out for their financial best interests, and be sure your ‘A’ and ‘B’ level clients are aware of the services you offer that could benefit them.

We’ve talked about developing new business from your existing client base. But what about bringing in new ones? Stay tuned, because I’ll be addressing that in the next post!

At the end of the day, ask yourself…

How effective is the sales strategy in your firm? What can you do to plan now for changes that will drive incremental growth for the firm?  And, most importantly, given the time of year we are in, is your firm positioned to take advantage of each opportunity to sell at the point of the delivery? 

To your success,

Pat