How to win new business in a landscape of economic uncertainty and technological advancements?

Smaller accounting firms generally provide services to the SME sector, but how do they approach the activity of lead generation and business development? what works and what doesn't?

How many practices rely on the tried n trusted routes of word of mouth referral and good old fashioned networking, and how many have embraced technological advancements and experimented with search engine optimisation, social media sites such as twitter, or targeted email marketing?

I’d like to hear from small practices how they generally develop leads and new business, but also more significantly, which activities from the below do they feel could be rewarding and would they like to do more of but haven’t, whether due to prohibitive cost, lack of technical knowledge or simply not enough time in the day.

* good old fashioned face-to-face networking,
* relying on word of mouth referrals from current clients,
* hard copy, direct mail through the postbox
* targeted email marketing
* outsourced telesales for activities such as securing appointments
* SEO strategy to generate incoming leads via a website
* Creating a community via social media sites such as facebook, twitter and linkedin

I look forward to some healthy discussion, debate and examples of where people have failed or succeeded

Chris Chapman

Owner, Sopris Ltd

www.sopris.co.uk