Strategies for building a strong client base as a small business accountant

A healthy, diversified client base is crucial to the success of any small business accountant. This not only means delivering an excellent service to your existing clients but also having strategies to grow your client base. So how can you manage both of these, and what tools are out there to help?

Why is it important to maintain a healthy client base?

Quite simply, clients are essential to the success of your business, but a healthy client base can look different to different companies. For example, you may see the potential to deliver more services to your current clients or target prospective new clients that fit your business. Working towards either of these goals would suggest a healthy client base. If, however, you’re struggling to retain clients, you’re failing to find high-value clients, or you’re unable to adapt your service offering to meet their changing needs, your client base will suffer. If there is a steady stream of new clients to fill gaps in the short term, this may not seem like a big issue, but a healthy client base is about more than your bottom line. Sustaining a healthy client base gives you a focus group of people to test new services and offer feedback on what you’re currently doing, helping you make more informed decisions. This can also give you insight into what prospective clients are looking for and the pain points you can help to avert. It’s also worth noting that finding new clients takes time and money, so retaining current ones and building their loyalty can be a smart investment.

How to build a strong client base

So, where do you start when it comes to developing your client base and ensuring current clients remain satisfied and loyal?

Offer excellent customer service and support

This should be at the core of everything you do as a small business accountant. Not only will this help you to retain your current clients, but you’ll also develop a reputation that will help you attract that all-important new business. Key elements of good customer service include being responsive to clients and responding promptly when they make contact, but also being proactive and ensuring they’re aware of upcoming deadlines, changes that may impact them or issues you see developing. Utilising technology, such as videoconferencing platforms and cloud-based accounting software, can help hugely here, ensuring you can speak to clients quickly and collaborate easily wherever they may be.

Ask for referrals 

If your service and support is consistent and top quality, you should have no issues asking your clients to recommend you. This could be simply recommending you to other small businesses or asking them to write a review to use on your website or a review platform. Remember, pretty much all potential clients will conduct online searches before committing to a new accountant, so making sure what they see will be entirely positive is worth the effort. Offering incentives for leaving referrals and for new clients who join you can also be of value – a discount on future services will always be popular, for example.

Invest in online marketing

While gathering content for review sites, don’t forget about your wider online strategy. Many people will begin looking for a small business accountant by searching online, so making sure you’re one of the first names they see is invaluable. So invest in a professional, informative and up-to-date website, share your successes on social media and consider online advertising as you can define and target a specific audience quickly and effectively.

Position yourself as a thought leader 

As you’ll need content to feed your website and socials, you can also tie this in with developing your profile as a thought leader. This may be writing and sharing blogs and tips, doing Instagram Q&As with a key person in the firm, answering FAQs, or even speaking at events or writing for industry media. The more you can get your brand out there and build its profile, the more positive an impression prospective clients will have of you.

Identify your target clients 

Of course, all of this would be a huge task if you’re targeting anyone who needs accounting services, so identify your ideal clients and focus on targeting these. For example, do you specialise in a specific sector or region? Are you looking to focus more on start-ups and freelancers? If so, incorporate these words into your marketing and advertising and make this clear on your website.

Get networking 

While online marketing should certainly be a crucial part of your strategy, that doesn’t mean there isn’t value in face-to-face networking. In fact, making those personal connections continues to be key, so getting out there and meeting small business owners in your area should be high on your list of priorities. Look for business groups in your area, check out what your local chamber of commerce is doing and even look at national organisations such as the Federation of Small Businesses. All of these will host networking events, so it’s simply a case of deciding which best meets your needs. Learn more about how to network in our blog post How to Network to Win Business.

Embrace cloud technology 

Finally, cloud technology will be central to your offering if you’re looking to grow your business sustainably while offering outstanding service to existing and new clients. Cloud-based accounting software, for example, will ensure you can service your clients wherever either of you may be, offering a prompt, accurate response. Not only that but with AccountsPortal, you can log in at the same time as your client, so you can be sure everyone is clear about the situation and is looking at the most up-to-date numbers. It’s also possible to provide access to all of your staff members at no extra cost so they can switch between any of your clients seamlessly. Having all your clients on the same platform also introduces efficiencies as there’s no need to navigate between different systems, and you can be confident all your data is secure and backed up.

Find out how to retain accountancy customers in this blog post

To discover the benefits of accounting software for small business accountants, sign up for a free trial of AccountsPortal.