Why Accountants Are Doomed

According to Jeremy Miller, only about 3% of your target market are actually ready to buy from you or take up your services, at any one time.?

That is a very small proportion.?

Imagine a roomful of 100 of your ideal clients. Could you identify the three??

Not without speaking to everyone.?

However, if you walked around with a sign on your head, stating an irresistible offer, which you've crafted with care to appeal directly to your ideal client, what do you think would happen??

Yep, once everyone in the room sees your sign, three of them tap you on the shoulder and ask you about taking up your offer.?

But wait.?

Seven more people tap you on the shoulder. They too want to find out more about your offer. They tell you they're not quite ready to use your service, but they’re really keen to and would love to know more to help them make a decision.?

Another thirty people in the room spot you and your sign, but don't speak to you.?

They've clocked your offer and made a mental note, because they do need what you're offering. Just not yet.?

And the other sixty people in the room? Thirty of them don't need what you're offering and the rest are not interested in you or your business.?

So now you know in simplistic terms how your marketplace works, who are you going to direct the your marketing activity at??

The three who want your offer? The thirty who do, but not yet?

Obviously, you say the answer is the first forty.?

Maybe, but it's not quite as simple as that.?

You see, you need to talk to each of those first forty according to their intent - how close they are to deciding to use your services.

Invert the diagram and you get this:

Your funnel. So called because of the shape.

The funnel is a representation of your potential client's journey - moving towards you and your offer.

The nearer someone is to the bottom of your funnel, the closer they are to buying.?

They each have different questions. Different conversations going on in their heads.

So your marketing communications - your messaging - has to enter the conversations going on at different stages of the funnel, and answer the questions that arise.

And that’s the way marketing works in general.

But for accountants, the situation is a bit different.?

Well a lot different really.

Thanks to the legal requirements placed on businesses and individuals by the government and the tax system, every business has a need for accounting services, to prepare accounts and submit tax returns.

Compliance services.

So in fact, accountants have a bigger market to consider marketing to than the majority of businesses.?

Because the majority of the 30% of the marketplace who would otherwise not have a need for an accountant’s services, actually do.

So almost 70% of your target marketplace have a need for your compliance services and are considering the available providers.

Think about that for a second.

At any one time, 70% of the market for compliance accounting services is either actively looking for a new provider or would consider one if moved to do so.

So now, you have a much bigger pool to market to. A pool with a much broader range of intent too.

And here’s where it gets interesting.

An accounting firm which offers compliance services as its main, or only offering to the marketplace in general, is in a much different marketplace than a firm which offers added value, non-compliance services as its main offering, to a subset of the marketplace.?

A niche provider.

Compliance services are by their very nature undifferentiated.?

One firm’s method of preparing accounts and tax comps has to be the same as another’s, otherwise the government and tax authorities would be really upset.

So you have a large marketplace, with providers each offering the same service. A marketplace where 70% could switch providers at any time.

And a marketplace in which pretty much anyone can set themselves up as an accountant and provide compliance services.

Oh, and just to make it easier, computing power and software makes it easier to move the whole compliance shebang to a fully automated digital system.?

Where standardised accounting codes are printed on every invoice and input into a government approved chart of accounts in every accounting system, making expense allocation and bookkeeping almost irrelevant…?

Yes I know, in the fullness of time, but the direction of travel is obvious.

So what happens to traditional accountancy firms that can’t, don’t, or won’t, offer additional value-added services? Or who don’t focus on a subset of the marketplace??

They become expensive bookkeepers.

(No disrespect to bookkeepers, but a Chartered Accountant didn’t train for three years to jump through hoops of fire and learn the dark arts of sword swallowing, just to swear at Xero’s lack of support at 2am. They were meant for more than that…)

They come under price pressure and have a hard time differentiating themselves from their myriad competition.

So they try to differentiate themselves through branding. Personal branding, hoodies, quirkiness.

Or ‘exceptional personal service’.

They streamline internal workflows and make completion of accounts and tax so damned efficient, they actually start making decent profits.

But compliance is still compliance and the lowest priced provider will win out in the end.

They’re still expensive bookkeepers.

The solution?

Make compliance a subsidiary element of the firm’s offering. Offer something that prospective clients really want.?

The path to infinite wealth, time and mojitos on pearly white sands…

Well actually, they just want guidance.

An Obi-Wan Kenobi whom they can call upon for guru business advice. Someone who can show them the way.?

Think Peter Frampton.

Dave down the pub get’s face time and is a proverbial pain in the rear, because his dubious advice is gleaned from revered sources like the Mail on Sunday and is freely given.

That’s why accounting firms need to get a grip on what they’re offering, who they’re offering it to and why.

And state their offer in a metaphorical big neon sign on their head.

Recognise the need to get a grip of your own marketing?

DM me to book a strategy session and we’ll take it from there.

#accountants #leadgeneration #onlinemarketing #funnel

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