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5 ways to win more clients

31st Jul 2018
Brought to you by
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GoCardless helps businesses accept Direct Debit payments.

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41% of respondents in our recent Accountants Benchmarking Survey said that acquiring new clients was a top priority in 2018.

But what are the best ways to do that in an increasingly competitive market?

In this post, we discuss 5 tried and trusted tactics for winning new clients.

1. Target your ideal client

Having a clear definition of your ideal client helps you build up a more valuable client portfolio – allowing you to understand and successfully serve the most profitable business client while avoiding the unprofitable clients who don’t share your mindset.

To target these clients successfully:

  • Find your niche - clarify which industries and business types you are aiming to service and build your offerings around them.
  • Develop your software and services - think about the types of software and value add services you aim to provide.
  • Profile and target valuable prospects - target your websites, marketing, sales and lead generation activity at businesses that fit your ideal client profile and business strategy.

2. Invest in digital marketing

Modern digital marketing provides a cost efficient way of targeting your ideal clients and offers a measurable return on investment (ROI). Richard Suswain at Tyrrell and Company says:

“In terms of marketing, the key things are to make sure you do a good job, give clients the best advice and make sure you’re meeting their expectations. If you do that, those clients tell other people and recommend you. And prospects will then search for you online and will look at your website, content marketing, social accounts and your overall online presence.”

Top tips for digital marketing:

  • Boost your online presence - ensure you website is clear, well designed and responsive with messaging that appeals to your ideal client.
  • Invest in content marketing - create helpful, practical content to inform and advise both new and existing clients
  • Establish your team’s online profile - Use social media to demonstrate expertise, share advice and raise awareness of your brand and team as a group of trusted advisers.

3. Drive client referrals

When an existing contact refers you, it gives the referred business owner some real confidence in the firm and makes them easier to convert. But you will need to do some work to set the right foundations for winning them over.

To drive referrals:

  • Keep existing clients happy - keep your clients happy with the services and support you provide to create true advocates
  • Offer the right services - provide the services, packages and pricing that will appeal to referred clients
  • Incentivise referrals - create a referral programme to reward clients for bringing in new business, for example, offer discounted rates or rewards.

4. Embrace technology to improve value for clients

Modern business owners are becoming increasingly tech savvy and will be looking for firms that share their mindset.

By refining your cloud software and appstack, you can make the firm more attractive to these clients offer a more valuable service.

To win over these prospects:

  • Automate low level tasks - automating bookkeeping, payment processing and debtor tracking will reduce the workload for your clients as well as your team.
  • Encourage communication and improve accessibility - make it easier for your clients to ask questions, reach your team and give them access to their numbers when they are on the go.
  • Increase the value of your advice - use smart reporting tools to improve your analysis of clients’ numbers, and provide more valuable insights and support.

5. Make the right hires

While technology is important when it comes to targeting your ideal client, hiring the right team to drive it forwards and build relationships with your clients is essential.  

The shift to cloud accounting has seen the skillset of the ideal hire change, with the focus now is on interpersonal skills, relationship-building, and technological ability.

To build the right team:

  • Define the key roles for growth - decide which roles will support your strategy and build up a team of specialists, relationship managers and finance professionals that can deliver it.
  • Look for personality - rather than only using more traditional skills based interviews, measure candidates on their social interactions and relatability as well.
  • Get your brand out there - use your social and digital channels to establish your employer brand and the firm as somewhere new hires will aspire to work.
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