From Doubters to Believers: Why Does This Accountant Add Up the LinkedIn Marketing Numbers and Start Smiling Again?

All business owners go through dark times at some point…the numbers aren’t adding up, clients are falling away, and the forecasts need to be revised.

How do you get the smile back on your face?

For one Queensland-based accounting firm, the mojo, positivity and smiles returned when they saw the effect that a concerted effort with LinkedIn marketing had on their business.

Here’s their story…

When the numbers don’t add up

Ian started off the year in a fairly dark place. A few of their clients had gone into liquidation and were unable to salvage their businesses in a way that they could remain as clients.

The partners looked at their yearly forecasts and it soon became clear that they weren’t going to be able to achieve the numbers they’d hoped for.

What could they do?

Opportunities were scarce in their existing network. They knew it was time to expand their reach and they needed a system that allowed them to do this.

They realised the importance of social media and the potential it had to introduce them to new clients and get them through the door.

But where to start?

Building a brand new community

We started to build our LinkedIn profiles and grow our number of connection to see what opportunities would flow from that.

They had around 800 connections when they started. Rapidly, that was increased five-fold, expanding the database of people they were in contact with.

As they started building the community, it created greater awareness in their market. People would say “you’re posting lot of interesting stuff - we should have a catch up and talk a little more.”

This created the momentum that they’d been looking for. It helped to turn the flywheel a little faster in the right direction.

The increased activity rapidly started to uncover new leads and opportunities. So much so that they thought that they may be able to revise their forecasts again - because they were able to recover some of the lost revenue from the problems at the beginning of the year.

New energy and mojo!

As the new clients and new opportunities started coming in, many positive things started to happen. Not least, there was a whole shify of mood in the camp:

“It felt like new energy, like we’ recovered our mojo. When you get knockbacks you take it quite personally as a professional.”

They found that, by getting active in the market and not simply accepting what came their way, they were better able to leverage their existing persona and put the skills that people want to know about out there in a more positive context

By providing valuable accounting information for a growing community, people started to perceive real value and this generated great positive energy:

“It makes you feel good as a professional again.”

Supplementing existing marketing - not replacing it

Ian and his team received regular updates about the number of professionals entering their network.

“We achieved around a 50% conversion rate of new connection requests going out. This has built up our special interest groups that were sharing accounting info.”

They found this a great way to get new introductions and word-of-mouth referrals happening more effectively.

“In accounting, you’ll lose clients due to takeovers, business owners selling, and so on. You always need to top up the client database. If you don’t do that, revenue will start to fall.”

But LinkedIn marketing doesn’t replace existing marketing methods. It works alongside them and supports them.

“We found that activity breeds activity - our existing network has also generated new opportunities, as well as the newcomers. Because of our activity, people know we’re in the marketplace and looking for new work. They’re more aware of our presence.”

Do the activity - and see the results

LinkedIn marketing is no turnkey solution. It’s important to follow through on the opportunities provided. This requires sales effort on your part but it fast-tracks the ability to get in front of the right people.

It pushes you along in the sales and marketing process that you must engage in, in order to get new revenue through the door…

“In three or four months, we’ve already landed a substantial amount of work that previously wouldn’t have been provided to us… as for an overall return on investment of time and money, I’d say we’re achieving a return of close to ten times our investment.”

Want to become a LinkedIn believer? Take the first step by applying to join our Influencer Project community. We’d love to welcome you on board…