You know which clients you want to service but are ALL your clients worth serving?
It makes a lot of sense in professional firms and business to keep your clients and to create ‘lifetime’ clients. But it may pay to narrow your target market or niche – i.e. the clients you want to serve. Why? Because most clients want professionals like accountants and bookkeepers to know their business. Specializing allows you to reassure them you can deliver. It also allows you to know the nuances of a particular industry, be it hairdressers or trades or building and construction or hospitality. Each has its own unique set of needs and, if you at all interested in increasing revenue to your firm or business (and who isn’t?), starting a conversation with a new client and demonstrating your knowledge of their industry is, inevitably, going to be rewarding.
Check out Miles Waterman, UK accounting firm which only works for fish and chip shop owners: www.fishadvisors.com as an illustration. Fish and chip shops may not be the highest value clients but having a niche service that gives the business owner peace-of-mind delivers:
• An understanding of clients deeply enough to add maximum value
• Reaping the rewards of this understanding through premium pricing and great conversion of prospects and leads.
How to niche your bookkeeping practice
• What’s your most effective skill? (We each have at least one). Once you have identified the thing you do so effectively, focus all of your attention, money, and time on figuring out how to grow your practice-business doing it.
• Weed out the losers: Sounds cruel but in any business or service there are usually one or more clients that are time-wasters and which stunt the growth of the business. Figure out which clients add the most value and provide the best opportunities for sustained growth. Then ease out the profit-draining clients.
• Nurture the winners: Once you figure out who your best clients are, ‘commoditise” your service to include value-added services, making sure you over deliver on every single promise.
• Go and sell this to similar business owner
Check out our guide Building a Highly Profitable Bookkeeping Business in our Small Business Series