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Four reasons why your clients are not buying your advisory services

18th Oct 2017
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Silverfin’s cloud platform is used by over 800 firms to automate core accounting work, making it faster, easier and better.

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Many accountancy firms are trying to move away from being solely reliant on selling compliance services. Heather Townsend, founder of the 'The Accountants Millionaires’ Club' explains why firms struggle to get their clients to take on any non-compliance based services.

Many firms are struggling to sell advisory services to their clients.

Here are the top four reasons why accountants struggle to upsell advisory services to their clients:

1. Poor sales skills

When it comes to sales situations, accountants often seem to only be taking orders. This can work for compliance services as clients need them for legal compliance. However, it is not enough in the case of advisory services, as they are optional for clients.

In order to sell advisory services you have to fight against these three competitors:

  • Inertia: Is the pain big enough for them to do seek advice?
  • Technology: Can technology give them the answers or do they need an adviser?
  • The client’s in-house capability: Do they think they can do it themselves?

When selling advisory services, you have to convince your prospect that there is a real need for them to take the service and that you are the right person to help them.

2. Offering the wrong services

Conducting a market research is essential before trying to sell anything to your clients. Don’t just assume you know what your clients need or try to sell the same type of service as your peers. These services might not be what the client is actually looking for.

The market research you conduct will help you understand your clients’ world, their challenges and their pain points. It also helps you capture their language and their way of putting things so any copy you write really speaks your clients’ language. By really listening to your clients, what they want to buy, and how they want to buy it you will be a step closer to a successful sale.

3. Not defining the value for the client

Advisory services are purely optional for a client, so you will need to identify the challenges and areas that your clients really need your help with.

A great example of an area where many accountancy firms are already adding real value to their clients is management accounts, by helping them to be in control of their day-to-day finances. Many clients don’t want to buy management accounts, as they believe they might be able to get the reports straight from their accounting system. However,  the key is to make clients see added values that are really useful to them, e.g. to help them keep control of their cash flow and take informed decisions on business strategy.

4. Targeting the wrong clients

As advisory services are optional, not all your clients will need more than compliance services. This might be the case for small businesses that don’t need more than basic compliance and tax planning advice. Therefore, it is essential to take a look at your client base and research which of them are the right people to sell to. For example, a start-up business is unlikely to be in the market for exit planning or retirement coaching, but it may be interested in a mastermind group for young companies who want to grow.

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On Silverfin’s authority blog, experts in the field of accounting and technology share their thoughts and opinions. This article has been written by Heather Townsend, founder of ‘The Accountants Millionaires’ Club'.

In 2015 the ICAEW decided she was the number one online influencer for the accountancy profession. She is the author of 4 books, including The Go-To Expert, and ‘How to make partner and still have a life’ (co-authored with Jo Larbie).

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