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Selling - a dirty word?

24th Jun 2013
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Mark Lee's latest article has raised a few hackles. Many accountants seem to believe that 'selling' is indeed a dirty work and not something that a professional accountant should do.

Which is fine by me. Looking at the local phone books there are dozens of accountants and bookkeepers listed in our area, most of which I have never come across in my day-to-day business life. But in most selling - or should I call them marketing, or maybe "pitching" - situations we are generally up against just one very active local firm, or often there's no competition at all. It's the same at networking events.

I'd like to think that's either down to the strength of our word-of-mouth recommendations, or the effectiveness of our website and other marketing tools. But it may simply be because we're the only ones going out there and "selling" our services to prospective clients.

Do we therefore win all the work we quote for? No, because we're not the right accountants for everyone, and we're happy to say that to some prospective clients. But it's nice to be asked first.

So if you don't think you should be doing any selling, that's fine by those of us that are! After all, the lack of a level playing field didn't do West Country heroes Yeovil Town any harm!

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Replies (4)

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FT
By FirstTab
25th Jun 2013 09:18

Link
The link is to a article written by Rachael Power. Are you referring to that article?

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By Rachael White
25th Jun 2013 10:26

I can confirm that article was indeed written by me! 

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Glenn Martin
By Glenn Martin
25th Jun 2013 10:41

Like the Boring debate

I also feel this story is a tad out of date. With prices so keen in todays world many accountants are pitching against 2 or 3 other firms for the right to serve the client. Accountants sell every day regardless of how you choose to wrap it up. Some may be more proactive than others but isn't that the same with all sectors not just "boring accountants".

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Della Hudson FCA
By Della Hudson
25th Jun 2013 22:39

Same here
When we relocated I tried to identify all the other accountants in the immediate area. I found over 20 but only a couple seem to be actively looking for business so there isn't much real competition.

I think the article was how Mark gives away information in his talks with no overt selling agenda. He does promote elsewhere but not during the talks as some others did, and never aggressively.

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