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When we ask CPA firms about their current business
development efforts, we almost always hear the same thing: “Each
of our partners has an individual marketing plan for finding new
clients.”
Individual marketing plans are
great tools for bringing in new clients. However, partners should
consider another tactic that can help grow their firm’s bottom line less
expensively and faster than finding new clients: a client service plan.
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Look
at what your firm does well and for many clients. Then, consider
your top clients and the areas in which they need help. |
CPAs are
concerned about the restrictions in selling more services to current
clients created by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. While the limitations
governed by the Act cannot be ignored, challenge yourself to think about
what additional help your firm can provide. Don’t use Sarbanes-Oxley as
an excuse to not serve your clients at the highest level. In our
experience, CPA firms overlook the opportunity to improve their
financial results by extending additional services to clients.
Additional services may be either services that are new to the client
such as tax planning offered to a 1040 client, or more of what you’re
already doing, such as giving management advice to a CEO. In
addition to growing your bottom line, you can increase the useful life
of a client relationship making it easier to sustain those healthy firm
financials. A client service plan gives structure and purpose to the
idea of client service.
Sometimes
partners struggle with how to go about creating a client service plan.
What is it? What are the components? How do you build one? The concept
of the client service plan is this: Look at what
your firm does well and for many clients. Then, consider your top
clients and the areas in which they need help. Plan proactively how you
are going to introduce services to meet their needs. Sounds easy,
right? If it were easy, everyone would be doing it. And in our
experience, plenty of partners aren’t.
Here’s a
list of steps to guide you in developing a client service plan.
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Identify the services that are
core competencies of your firm.
That is, what does your firm do
well and deliver to a significant number of clients?
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Identify clients that are not
currently buying these services from you but could experience a
positive ROI by engaging your firm to provide them. This is a
critical step in differentiating between being a great client server
with the client’s best interest in mind and being a product pusher.
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A client service plan implemented without
taking the time to explore your clients’ needs and priorities
will position you as a product pusher. |
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Determine who are the decision
makers in each client's organization as well as who influences the
decision makers.
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Consider what will get the
attention of each decision maker. What motivates him or her to listen to you? Is he or
she motivated by threats (“You could face stiff penalties if you don’t
comply”) or opportunities (“You could grow your bottom line 10%”)? How
can you shape your messages and conversations to deal with his or her
frame of reference?
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Determine
a calendar of when to approach the client with various services.
Consider which services you can move
through the client’s decision-making process by creating a motivating
business case for dealing with the issue. Help the client understand
the benefits of dealing with the issues and create a sense of urgency
to act. Be sure you’re thinking about these issues from the client’s
perspective, not yours.
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Determine who
will commit to talking with the client about his/her needs. This may
be one person or a team of people depending on the client and the
needs.
If a team, assign specific tasks,
responsibilities, and due dates to each team member.
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Establish
frequent communication through a variety of methods (mail, e-mail,
phone calls, face-to-face meetings, etc.) to keep the need in front of
the client. Remember,
even though these are clients, it will probably take multiple
conversations to effect a decision to hire you for additional
services.
A key to
success is to be very specific about to whom you will talk, when, and
about what. The more specific you are, the better your chances of
implementing the plan and improving growth. Once you develop the
client service plan, you’re ready for the next step. It’s time to
introduce your thoughts to the client and let him/her tell you what is
most important based on the benefits you outline. A client service plan
implemented without taking the time to explore your clients’ needs and
priorities will position you as a product pusher.
In the next
issue, we’ll discuss this basic yet difficult piece of client service
plan implementation: talking with your clients about their needs and
positioning your firm to help solve them.
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