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What happens when your start-up gets stuck?

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13th Jan 2014
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Most of the articles in the start-up in practice section of AccountingWEB focus on the lead-up to starting up your practice and how to get going. This time I am considering what happens down the line, when you have a fair number of clients but are not yet as successful as you hoped to be, explains Mark Lee.

It's evident from many of the requests for help posted in the Any Answers section of the site that this is a common situation. Perhaps you too feel stuck and that your start-up practice has kind of plateaued a little too early. 

Usually what’s happened is that your first few clients came in relatively easily in the early days. Perhaps ex-colleagues and ex-clients from wherever you trained or worked previously heard you were now on your own and sent work your way. Or maybe you bought a small client bank from a retiring sole- practitioner.

Anyway, you did a good job and got a few referrals. Your early networking efforts also paid off but you have struggled to keep up with your new found business contacts. 

You are working hard but you are feeling a little despondent. It's all turning out to be harder than you anticipated. Not only do you have to do the work, but also all of the related administration, bookkeeping and marketing and networking.

Sometimes the steam runs out after six months. Sometimes after 12-18 months. Sometimes it can be as long as two or three years. But eventually it will run out, unless you make time to continue actively marketing yourself and widening your network. And you might also reach the stage that you decide to engage someone to help undertake the administrative or other tasks that you find less fulfilling.

Your initial clients chose to come to you for many reasons. At least one commentator on my articles seems to think that all you need to do now is a good job and plenty of work will continue to flow in. But in real life not everyone is that fortunate.

You see, the potential clients are people who don’t know you. They don’t have any history with you. They do not have any experience that tells them you’re a safe pair of hands. As well as you they have also been recommended to other accountants or find others when they look online.

These strangers who are also potential clients look for external indicators that you’d be a good choice to work with them. And for reasons why they should choose you over the other accountants they come across.

Can anyone they know vouch for you? Does your website present a compelling picture? Is there any evidence that you have relevant experience beyond the fact that you call yourself an accountant? Have you been around a while? Do you seem as confident and capable as the other accountants they encounter when out networking?

You may be a very talented accountant but you have probably not had to showcase that talent to the world before. The clients who engaged you initially already had some inside knowledge or experience that you were good.

And it takes time to build your reputation. This is partly why, last year, I distinguished alternative forms of marketing in a series of three articles here:

  1. 14 marketing ideas for start ups
  2. Timewasting marketing ideas for start ups
  3. More marketing ideas for start ups

In that third piece I intimated that there are many things you can do far better in this regard once you have been trading for a while.

I have amplified some of these points below and welcome comments from readers who found themselves ‘stuck’ some time after they started up by themselves.

Build on your initial success

  • Encourage your existing clients to recommend and refer you. See: How to be remembered, recommended and referred
  • Ensure that your friends and family are well placed to do this – if you didn’t do so when you first started-out. See: Could your friends help your start-up practice?
  • Do you have the confidence to speak at local business events e.g.: Networking groups and Chambers of Commerce? If not then consider joining a local Toastmasters group (this will help you develop the confidence to speak well in public). Then start attending one or two local groups regularly. Remember that not all networking groups are the same so find one where you feel comfortable. See: Networking when you’re new in practice
  • Review your positioning. You may have resisted choosing a niche or a specific focus when you started out. Are you now able to do so? You will find it easier to win new clients if everyone you meet sees you as something other than ‘just another accountant’. See: Ten decisions to make when starting in practice
  • Start writing blog posts that address popular issues and then offer longer pieces along the same lines as articles for the local business press and websites. The reason for writing some blog posts first is to showcase your writing ability. If this is a challenge then you could consider engaging a copywriter to help you.
  • Is now the time to take some professional advice from a marketing consultant who understands the world of accountancy and can help you build on your early successes? You can avoid many of the problems others have encountered here if you make your choice wisely. Many marketing people have a host of inaccurate assumptions about accountants. Someone who specialises in working with ‘professionals’ may want to give you the same advice as they give to solicitors for example. That will not always be appropriate.
  • Remember that marketing is only part of the story. Your ability to ‘close’ enquiries generated by your marketing efforts is key. If your marketing is attracting the wrong type of prospects you need to reconsider what you are saying and where you are promoting this. However if you are seeing the right sort of people but they don’t become clients you need to consider why this is the case. Even if it seems to be about fees often this is not the real issue. Again you may need to invest in external help to get you over this hurdle

If your practice started a while back but then reached a premature plateau, what have you done to move things on?

Mark Lee is consultant practice editor of AccountingWEB and writes the BookMarkLee blog and ebooks on business development and related issues for accountants who want to save time and be more successful. He is also chairman of the Tax Advice Network of independent tax specialists.

Replies (1)

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Man of Kent
By Kent accountant
13th Jan 2014 21:52

Phase 1

I suppose what's described above is phase 1 - you've started and got to a reasonable stage, so what next?

Some decide to stay as sole practitioners with no staff, others get part time help and use subbies, others go for growth, take staff on and continue to grow.

Which option you choose will determine what happens in phase 2 and is where you may decide to look at more marketing techniques - as covered in the article.

I probably fit the description of those who are happy to grow relying on referrals. I do have a big network though, so this works fairly well for me.

Its possible in a few years that I may decide to kick on and grow, but at the moment I'm happy having part time help from Mrs KA and using subbies as and when needed.

I think there are plenty of sole practitioners who get to a size where they have sufficient income to suit their lifestyle and decide there's no need to look for further growth.

It really depends what you want.

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