Driving growth in your firm

le is that growth needs to be strategic and there is no myth to the process which enables it. In fact, many of the strategies and processes have been updated and we need to embrace them.

In this article, I have outlined ways to drive dynamic structured growth, as opposed to generating ‘growth for the sake of growth’. You’ll find many of the processes for creating growth in the guide below. Let’s begin:

1. Embrace Your Client Base
Clients love to be loved. However, because of time and energy limitations, you need to define which of your clients are worth the effort and work it takes to love them and be deemed ‘A-class’ material. Once you have undergone that process it will take a whole lot of pressure off you to perform, after which you can try all or some of the following techniques:

• Meet with your clients and ask questions. Commit to “non-billable” meetings with ‘A’ clients. Yes, even if you don’t have a reason to meet with them! Make your ‘A’ clients feel like they can’t live without you.
• Conduct client advisory boards or focus groups and survey your clients frequently. A manufacturing client of one firm we know attended such a meeting and became the firm’s greatest advocate to a ‘captive’ audience. During the firm’s client advisory board, he stated how delighted he was with the work the firm was delivering – in his words: “the best thirty grand I’ve ever spent”. You can’t buy that sort of marketing exposure. Your clients will really benefit from talking with one another from a number of different perspectives.
• Throw a party. Make the end of the financial year fun. Host receptions, golf outings, sporting events, fundraisers, conduct Chamber of Commerce events, or deliver seminars with drinks and appetizers afterwards.

At the end of the day, client retention is about securing the fences that surround your clients. If you are not doing one or more of the above then you are in danger of letting in a few wolves.

2. Embrace Your Prospects
We often hear accountants bemoaning the incursion of business coaches or consultants into their traditional territories. “What do these people know about advising businesses,” they cry. “Why on earth would our clients be interested in working with a business coach or consultant – we can do everything they do…and more!”

Let me share something with you that explains precisely WHY your clients could be at risk to the predatory business coach or consultant (or other, growth-oriented accounting firms, for that matter):

• The business coach’s or consultant’s obsession is with the client. They spend their waking hours trying to find out absolutely everything about the client and seeking ways to help.
• They ask questions – lots and lots of them. Questions about their business and questions about their personal situation. They find out what they like, what they don’t like; what frustrates them and where their priorities are.

Next time you meet with a prospect, try it out. You’ll be amazed at how much you discover and how well the prospect will relate to you showing such an interest in them.

And then, of course, do the same thing with your clients – all of them!

If you’re thinking that you don’t have time to do that, then try to figure out what things you are doing that are so important that they take precedence over client and prospect development.