5 Proven Strategies for Building Your Client Base

The key to building a successful book of business is to balance retaining your current clients while building a pipeline of net new prospects. The need to effectively balance these two priorities means that efficiency is the name of the game. To successfully navigate this challenge, you need to embrace a mix of tried-and-true tactics with some innovative tactics.

In this article, we will look at 5 successful tactics for increasing customer acquisition in accounting and bookkeeping.

5 Strategies for Acquiring New Clients

1. Conduct an Ideal Client Analysis: The foundation of any successful revenue strategy is to clearly and accurately define who your ideal target clients are. If you do not take time to do this well you risk spending your limited time, effort, and resources pursuing clients that you will struggle to close, can find yourself in situations outside of your core competencies, you may in turn deliver sub par services, which then increases churn while damaging your overall reputation, etc.

   The easiest way to begin this process is to simply look at your previous and current clients. Which are your biggest revenue generators? Who are the ones that were easiest/hardest to close, service, and retain? Do you have core competencies that you have been able to bring to bear with certain clients that set you apart or give you a competitive advantage?

   Now take those clients and figure out what commonalities you can find across them. Are there certain industries, company sizes, etc. that stand out and are relatively consistent, does your experience and network lean towards a certain group, etc.? Those commonalities across your best clients are going to define your ideal client profile (ICP).

2. Join Local Business Groups and Events: Joining local business groups and events may be an effective strategy for attracting accounting customers for a variety of reasons. These organizations frequently act as networking hubs, where company owners, entrepreneurs, and professionals may exchange views, experiences, and opportunities. Even more, this will provide a tightly knit group that is the perfect opportunity for spreading word of mouth (WOM) about your services and organically generating demand.

   And this is where the ideal client analysis you already did begins coming into play. Using this profile determine which groups and events cater to or are heavily attended by those companies and individuals and focus on those. Even more, by focusing on where you provide unique value and competency you will drive more vocal and enthusiastic WOM across your clients and into these groups.

3. Double Down on Your Specific Niche: As you define your ICP you will often discover corresponding niche(s) you should prioritize and focus on. Consider the kind of services that your company routinely delivers. Are these services designed for a certain sort of client or business? This is not just an important targeting and demand generation question, it’s critical operationally as well.

   Business owners often make the mistake of offering too many services to too many customers, as well as too many types of customers. Attempting to do everything for everyone generally means not doing anything particularly well and certainly not efficiently.

   Choosing a specialization makes it simpler to locate relevant, high-paying clients where you can leverage your specific skills and competencies to deliver a superior service setting you apart from the competition.

   Some examples of common niches are:

   1. Real estate

   2. Retail

   3. Non Profit

   4. Construction

   5. Small Business

   6. Healthcare

   7. Food industry (bars, restaurants, catering, etc.)

   8. Legal

   9. Startups/Tech

4. Learn to Upsell and Cross-Sell to Your Existing Clientele: This isn't just about landing additional clients, you also want to find ways to increase revenue from your existing clients. Tailor additional offerings relative to the challenges and needs of your ICP. For instance you may want to offer business formation, automated billing, and business compliance services, becoming a one-stop solution for early stage small to medium sized businesses.

5. Become a Subject Matter Expert: As a bookkeeper or accountant you work in a complicated, technical field and your clients rely on you for your expertise. So what better way to drive interested prospective clients than by demonstrating that expertise?

   There are myriads of ways and formats for doing so but here are a few that can be executed with minimal time and resources:

   • Post regularly (email, social, blog, etc.) with insights and explanations of key practices, challenges, changes to rules and regulations, etc.

   • Host a virtual webinar walking potential clients through a specific topic

   • Host an in person lunch and learn

   • Highlight client success stories and testimonials

   Remember, the very nature of what you do gives you a unique opportunity to provide information, guidance, and value to an audience that is often lost, confused, and desperate for a reliable authority. So, the more you establish yourself in that role the more your clientele will grow.

Time to Elevate Your Client Acquisition Game

Acquiring new accounting and bookkeeping clients requires attention and strategic execution. By learning how to do it efficiently and well you will elevate the quality of the services you are delivering to your existing clients while also efficiently leveraging your limited time and resources to keep demand coming in. By leveraging these strategies, you will find your practice growing at a pace you never imagined.