And How Many Clients Might You Be Able to Sign Up?
I did some work with my local accountant recently and we were curious how many firms he might be able to sign-up in a week or month.
We were just looking at new firms registering on Companies House. In England and Wales alone about 10,000 new firms register as limited companies every week. 10,000 every week, that is staggering! But so what, how many firms were near him / my local accountant?
It turned out that in a village just North of Cambridge - and in a 6 mile radius around it - there could easily be 20 or so firms going limited every week. That's a lot of potential business.
There's now a service which shows exactly this information. If you stick in your post code, it will tell you how many firms have started in near you over the last four weeks. It's free to trial (and on an ongoing basis it is £10 per month). More details are here - Recently Formed.
The service does other things too like give names and addresses of the new firms and director details - but if nothing else - it is just a good indicator / curiosity filler to how many firms start-up in different areas around the UK.
I read this thread with great interest. Price is always a relevant part in the decision making process - and its influence obviously varies for different people. However there are so many other factors - for instance locality / proximity.
Generating New Business Locally
A number of people choose the accountant for their new business because it is nearby. It still astounds me that typically 10,000 new limited firms register on Companies House every month. There are new firms opening up near every accounting practice every week - and the current economic climate only fuels this further as people experience redundancy or the inability to get the job they want.
Here are two things. I've worked with to help capture this opportunity:-
1. Optimise a Google Search For You Area
Where ever your business is located, a common internet search is 'Accountants in XYZ'. Here's a little article of how a business with offices in Cottenham and Soham in Cambridgeshire is now is number 1 in the Google search results when prospective clients search their area - 'Accountants in Cottenham'
2. How Many Limited Firms Start in My Area?
Here's a simple service, Recently Formed, which shows the number and details of new limited firms starting up in an area each week. It offers free 14 day trials and the ongoing service is £10 per month - no long term commitments required.
Great article - and picking up on '3. Your Website' - or more specifically: the Google Search. The internet is playing a bigger and bigger part in finding an accountant and finding clients.
My local accountant is a practice in a rural village in Cottenham, 6 miles North of Cambridge. Until recently not too much thought had been given to the topic of Google Search - so we did a simple test. We typed in 'Accountants in Cottenham' to see where and how the practice appeared. The firm's website was done in the depths of page 8.
Just by thinking about the relevance of the Google Search to finding clients and making some simple changes to the website, the practice now appears as the number 1 position. There's more about this whole story here.
So in summary, get on the front page of results for obvious searches for your practice - like: 'Accountants in [my village]'.
My answers
And How Many Clients Might You Be Able to Sign Up?
I did some work with my local accountant recently and we were curious how many firms he might be able to sign-up in a week or month.
We were just looking at new firms registering on Companies House. In England and Wales alone about 10,000 new firms register as limited companies every week. 10,000 every week, that is staggering! But so what, how many firms were near him / my local accountant?
It turned out that in a village just North of Cambridge - and in a 6 mile radius around it - there could easily be 20 or so firms going limited every week. That's a lot of potential business.
There's now a service which shows exactly this information. If you stick in your post code, it will tell you how many firms have started in near you over the last four weeks. It's free to trial (and on an ongoing basis it is £10 per month). More details are here - Recently Formed.
The service does other things too like give names and addresses of the new firms and director details - but if nothing else - it is just a good indicator / curiosity filler to how many firms start-up in different areas around the UK.
On the topic of generating new business
I read this thread with great interest. Price is always a relevant part in the decision making process - and its influence obviously varies for different people. However there are so many other factors - for instance locality / proximity.
Generating New Business Locally
A number of people choose the accountant for their new business because it is nearby. It still astounds me that typically 10,000 new limited firms register on Companies House every month. There are new firms opening up near every accounting practice every week - and the current economic climate only fuels this further as people experience redundancy or the inability to get the job they want.
Here are two things. I've worked with to help capture this opportunity:-
1. Optimise a Google Search For You Area
Where ever your business is located, a common internet search is 'Accountants in XYZ'. Here's a little article of how a business with offices in Cottenham and Soham in Cambridgeshire is now is number 1 in the Google search results when prospective clients search their area - 'Accountants in Cottenham'
2. How Many Limited Firms Start in My Area?
Here's a simple service, Recently Formed, which shows the number and details of new limited firms starting up in an area each week. It offers free 14 day trials and the ongoing service is £10 per month - no long term commitments required.
3. Your Website - And Google Search
Great article - and picking up on '3. Your Website' - or more specifically: the Google Search. The internet is playing a bigger and bigger part in finding an accountant and finding clients.
My local accountant is a practice in a rural village in Cottenham, 6 miles North of Cambridge. Until recently not too much thought had been given to the topic of Google Search - so we did a simple test. We typed in 'Accountants in Cottenham' to see where and how the practice appeared. The firm's website was done in the depths of page 8.
Just by thinking about the relevance of the Google Search to finding clients and making some simple changes to the website, the practice now appears as the number 1 position. There's more about this whole story here.
So in summary, get on the front page of results for obvious searches for your practice - like: 'Accountants in [my village]'.