What can you do if you want to attract a better type of client?

This is a good week for considering what you want for the rest of this calendar year and for the full year ahead. What are you going to do now that you've been putting off?

Below you'll find more practical ideas and insights to help you succeed, plus my advice as regards a very common question:?What can you do if you want to attract a better type of client?

And this week's fun item contains a quick joke about an accountant going to the doctor.

3 practical tips I shared recently in 1-2-1 sessions

My mentoring clients appreciated these tips in the context of their issues, challenges and problems. I hope you will find them helpful too.

1. Celebrate past successes:?This is a way that can help you avoid feeling that 'everything' is going badly when typically it's only one aspect of your life. Remind yourself of past successes and be grateful for what you have in your life that you like, love and that's going well. A journal can help here - or an online note taking facility.
2. Be UNavailable:?Part of your issue with time is that you are being unrealistic.?Clients don't expect you to be constantly available. If you were then you would allow other clients to interrupt client meetings and when you're working on their affairs. That's not a sustainable way to operate. Block time out in your diary and turn off notifications when you don't want to be interrupted.
3. Pre qualify prospects:?You can reduce the time you waste with?people who won't want to pay your fees or who are unlikely to be the sort of client you want. Develop some pre-qualifying questions for initial phone calls before you agree to invest 30-90 minutes or more with the wrong people.

More on mentoring >>>

1-2-1 strategic and practical advice for you and your practice

It all starts with an informal chat on the phone or on zoom. I'll ask you to tell me about the biggest issue you face. And anything else on your mind. Go on - book a call now. It costs nothing and could prove to be very worthwhile.

Book a call now >>>

Expert tax support for your clients

Next time you need tax support - for a one-off situation or to find someone to refer your heavyweight tax issues on a regular basis, just go to FindATaxAdviser.online.

The advisers are all members of the Tax Advice Network, which I Chair.

There's no charge for you to use the quick, easy and free online search facility to find the right tax adviser by expertise and location whatever your tax problem, question or challenge.

You can also register (also no charge) to receive the Tax Advice Network's unique tax updates. Every week these contain at least 3 topical, timely, commercial and practical tax tips with direct links to original source material.

Members of the Network come from various backgrounds, but all are tax specialists and experts in their field. Most work from home (and did so before the pandemic), so they don’t charge the inflated fees you might expect of a large consultancy or accountancy firm.

FindATaxAdviser.online >>>

What can you do if you want to attract a better type of client?

When I ask accountants what they would like to be different in their practice, one theme is more common than any others. They frequently express the desire to have better quality clients, to increase their average fees and to be doing more interesting work.

One sole practitioner accountant I was mentoring expressed this quite succinctly. He said he wanted to attract ‘bigger fish’.

In effect he wanted to know how he could start to attract and win clients who would be prepared to pay bigger fees. He told me his dream was to more than treble his average fee – moving his average fee up from around ￡600 per client per year to at least ￡2,000 per client per year.

When I asked what was behind this dream he gave me two very different explanations:

• Firstly, he referenced the times he had heard about how other accountants generated such fees. He wanted to do the same although he seemed uncertain as to the differences between the services he offered and those being provided by those accountants claiming to generate higher average fees.
• The second reason was because he wanted to be doing more than simply completing accounts and tax returns – which was, at the time, the main focus of his practice.

In my initial reply I explained that if he wanted to attract bigger fish he would need to use a different rod and different bait. (Quite why I used a fishing metaphor I couldn’t tell you as I’ve never been fishing in my life).

Another way of expressing this is the adage that ‘what got you here, won’t get you there’. In other words, it is not enough to do more of the same. If you want different results and outcomes from your marketing efforts, you need to do different things.

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In this week's blog post you'll find the specific questions and answers I suggested have to be addressed to take action here.

Read more >>>

Fun time - An accountant goes to the doctor

An accountant goes to the doctor, knocks on the door of the surgery and walks in.

"Hello, doctor. Please help. I just don't know what's wrong with me. Goodbye."

With that he turns around and walks out.

30 seconds later he is back.

"Hello again, doctor. Please help. I just don't know what's wrong with me."

The Doctor stands up behind his desk, looks the accountant straight in the eye and says:

"Mmm. I think you have a serious case of double entry."

You'll find plenty more to make you laugh on the?Accounting Fun blog here >>>

Let's have a chat...

Let's have a chat if any of the above topics resonated with you. I love supporting and encouraging accountants who want to secure more referrals, reach and results.

You can take your chances here now: 07769 692890

or book a call at a time that suits us both:?www.calendly.com/bookmarklee

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Mark Lee FCA???provides strategic advice, talks and mentoring to accountants and tax advisers who want to improve their reach, referrals and results. He is also Chairman of the??Tax Advice Network, the UK’s largest network of independent tax advisers.

Mark has long been a popular speaker for UK accountants both on stage and online. Informed, entertaining and commercial he also debunks hype and misconceptions. Earlier in his career he was a partner in two top firms. He has a number of voluntary roles including being Treasurer of The Magic Circle for over 7 years - and until next Monday!

BookMarkLee.co.uk