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How to Generate High Quality Leads

4th Feb 2015
Brought to you by
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ICPA is a professional organisation for accountants in practice.

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Attracting new clients to your practice is vital to its long-term success. Joel Oliver outlines a range of lead generation ideas that are tried, tested and working right now

How accountancy services are delivered has changed out of all recognition. The hallmark of a successful accountancy firm is its agility. Flexible, open-minded firms, who are ready to embrace technological, commercial and economic changes, will prosper.

They will attract like-minded clients who want far more than a ‘traditional accountant’ can offer, and they will be prepared to pay for it. A balanced approach to lead generation is one that will generate reliable results that you can predict and base your future growth upon.

In an age dominated by technology, most notably the smart phone and tablet, it is a mistake to simply leverage these platforms in the hope that they will generate quality leads. The reality is that your Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn accounts are just one touch point. Many firms run events, have a website and place advertising online, but few have an integrated plan or process that factors in this human communication. One of the most powerful lead generation tactics your firm can use is to simply pick up the phone and talk to prospective clients.

Clients may have made an initial query via your website, but good lead generation means building into this process the resources to make those personal connections. Your practice will find that these initial personal touches pay massive dividends later with loyalty that could stretch over decades. All effective lead generation ideas are based upon testing and measuring. As not all lead generation ideas will be successful for your accountancy practice, it’s vital that you understand what is working and what isn’t.

Quality leads

One of the mistakes that accountancy practices make is not focusing on specific sectors. This is an error, as many of these leads won’t convert into paying clients simply because they don’t have a connection with your firm and the services it offers. Targeting your practice’s core expertise at highly focused groups of potential new clients will be much more effective.

When you have agreed who is off your target list, ask yourself whether there any companies you ‘really’ want to work for? Perhaps you have one or two areas of specialisation such as vets, doctors, dentists and contractors, which are the most common. These can be marketed to very specifically using highly focused messaging for higher response rates.

It can be easy in a marketing environment seemingly dominated by social media to ignore tried and tested lead generation tactics such as email. Using email as a primary lead generation tactic is cost effective and can deliver high-quality leads. Email marketing though, needs to be handled carefully with well-crafted messages sent to targeted groups of potential new clients.

Email marketing is about being personal, not heavy handed or ‘salesy’ and not over corporate. So when you are writing an email make sure it appears to be written by a genuine person who the recipient can reply to. Yes, this person will have to manage the inbox and delete a few ‘out of the office’ replies, but the bigger benefit is in being able to create and manage a relationship with an existing customer or a potential new client.

Update your website

When was the last time your firm updated its website? According to Internet expert Chris Cardell, it’s been well documented that when people arrive at a website for the first time, 50% of them will leave within eight seconds of arriving. Why? Many of the websites that accountancy firms produce lack strong design, engaging copy and strong calls to action. Visitors are looking for information and solutions to their financial problems. You have eight seconds to grab their attention.

Offer your website visitors something of value in exchange for their basic contact details. A strong call to action is vital. Giving something free in exchange for permission to communicate with someone is what’s called a ‘soft’ offer. It’s regularly used by internet marketers and is a very acceptable way of introducing yourself to a potential new customer. And remember that the most visited pages on your website other than your homepage are the ‘meet the team’ and ‘about us’ pages. Ensure these pages in particular have strong calls to action and engaging content.

One powerful lead generation idea that is overlooked, as practices focus on leveraging social media, is the humble blog. Many accountancy firms are under the impression that blogs are time consuming and offer little return on their investment. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Accountancy firms without a blog are often left floundering, trying hard to manage their content across all of the major social media networks. This can easily be resolved by using integration techniques that simply means your firm needs to only create blog content that then automatically appears on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and LinkedIn.

By writing about a problem that your customers and potential clients may have, you will be seen as a problem solver. There’s no hard sales message, no self-promotion. You are simply providing advice just like you would if you were networking.

App marketing

One of the most effective lead generation tactics and accountancy practice can use is to develop an App. According to Portio, 1.2 billion people globally are now using Apps regularly with this number expected to expand by nearly 30 per cent in 2017.

In addition, expansion of smartphone ownership now stands at 72% of UK consumers aged 16 to 64 compared with 58% just 10 months ago, according to a survey by Deloitte. And research by ExactTarget reveals that six in 10 consumers have downloaded a business-specific app in the past six months, and of those who have, 65% say it’s a more convenient way to access information.

Thomson Reuters’ Scott Fleszar commented: “The mobile App enables practitioners to provide a level of service and sophistication that wasn't possible for small and mid-sized firms in the past.”

• Joel Oliver is MD at MyFirmsApp.com and SalesForAccountants.com

This article is taken from “Accounting Practice” the ICPA quarterly magazine. Dedicated to supporting and promoting the needs of the general practitioner. You can find us at www.icpa.org.uk  or email [email protected]  or by phone on 0800-074-2896

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