How to Communicate the True Brand Value of Your CAS Firm
In the dynamic landscape of Client Accounting Services (CAS), effectively communicating your firm's...
In the height of summer, Inovautus Consulting ran a survey asking CPAs and accounting firms about how the pandemic affected their business. The results were a bit surprising: many firms had grim prospects for growth moving forward, and a majority of respondents to the survey actually anticipated having lower revenue.
What’s causing the slump?
According to the author, one explanation stands out. “Clients who feel they didn’t receive adequate support during the crisis will be looking elsewhere for advisory eventually.” Clients are shopping around because they feel underserved.
That’s great news for firms that are ready for the next level—it’s an opportunity for huge growth! But it also means you must have all your ducks in a row and be ready to wow this surge of new clients.
This article covers four actionable and practical moves to make in your practice so you can capitalize on the opportunity and add to your book of business. Let’s jump right in!
A backlog in onboarding new clients stalls growth. You’re getting connected to their accounts, collecting past financials, and entering them into your accounting software.
Plus, you’re setting the stage for the relationship with your clients. You don’t want to start off on the wrong foot!
New customers are looking for a sigh of relief, to know they now have someone watching the back of their company. Your team wants a streamlined process that makes bringing all those details together easy—so they can get to the work of helping their clients.
Key takeaway: Because onboarding is your first impression, your entire future relationship with any given client hinges on how smooth the experience is—from sign-on to when they start deliverables. Prioritize creating a positive onboarding experience!
One way to supercharge growth is to pick a niche for your potential client base. The advantage to this is that your ability to specialize will make your firm the go-to resource for a particular audience, which will eventually translate into a higher fee structure and more clients via industry networking opportunities and word of mouth.
Two primary ways to narrow are:
To develop an ideal client profile is to choose certain features that you want to see in your clients. Then, tailor your services and outreach efforts to best serve that market.
3 Steps to Developing an Ideal Accounting Client Profile
When your team loves doing the type of accounting tasks that move the needle for your clients, they’re more motivated to continue providing the best service possible. But they must have the ability and bandwidth to deliver on your high-return services. It’s all about staff bandwidth!
Opening up staff bandwidth leads to a boost in the number of clients your firm handles and positively impacts the culture of your team. That said, more time also means more revenue for your firm while also providing better value to your clients.
When not bogged down by reconciliations or categorizing transactions, your team is able to steer client conversations toward the future. The future involves higher revenue/higher value services—meaning more income without necessarily taking on new clients.
Streamlining your onboarding, developing your ideal client profile, and working toward opening your staff’s bandwidth is easy and great in theory, but it’s going to require systematic processes.
Everyone at your firm should know the entire timeline for bringing on new clients as well as the needs of your ideal client profiles. Knowing certain things like their concerns and top priorities helps your team better serve incoming customers. And simply put, there’s no way to open bandwidth without working with an efficient plan.
The key point? Document—and share—your processes, and stick to your policies. Proper documentation is one part of making sure everyone on staff is equipped to succeed, but you must also follow up with training and checking in to make sure everyone’s on the same page. It’s a team effort, after all!
This list serves as a loose internal evaluation of growth preparedness for your practice. If you have a firm idea of who you serve, what you offer, and clear out all hurdles for your team, your possibilities suddenly become limitless.
Marketing efforts can be tailored to your target audience, your accountants can begin discussing more services for clients, and everyone will know the process. Remember, your clients want to know the value you provide. Are you ready to demonstrate that value and catalyze your growth?
A major shortcut to growth is leveraging automation. After all, why do the heavy lifting yourself when there are tools to do it for you?
We’ve put together an on-demand presentation of how automation can transform your firm and set you on a path to incredible growth. Click below to check it out and reap the benefits that automation can bring to your firm!
In the dynamic landscape of Client Accounting Services (CAS), effectively communicating your firm's...