I was asked this question recently by one of the accountants in my coaching programme. My reply may surprise you.

First of all I reminded him that an investment in marketing may be discretionary but it is not a non-essential cost. As one of my mentors, Nigel Botterill, says:

If you shut down your [marketing] activity you’re effectively giving in. The lockdown is going to mean more people browsing online, with more time to look, watch and consume. Ad costs will almost certainly drop again as the stupid businesses vacate the field. Great opportunities for those smart enough to see it.

And remember, doing business without marketing is like winking at a girl in the dark. You know what you’re doing, but nobody else does… You’ve got to keep the out-reach going.

Well he is from Yorkshire!

I added that for accountants and bookkeepers, their clients need them more than ever at the moment so there are huge opportunities to add value.

My second piece of advice nearly made him spill his coffee. “Why not”, I said, “go negative on your cost of customer acquisition?”

Let me explain: we all know that we need to invest to get new customers, which is why we have a marketing budget, and that it’s really important to know our customer acquisition cost. Because the success of every business depends on our ability to acquire and keep customers - which is your most important job.

But if your acquisition strategy is based, say, on recouping your investment immediately (or even in the same month) this is limiting your growth and earnings potential.

If, however, you know your average customer lifetime value then you appreciate that there may be a significant gap between the time you invest in getting a customer and the eventual ROI. This is particularly true for the customers that stay with you.

So what does this mean for your customer acquisition strategy?

Well, if you want to grow your business by increasing the numbers of customers you serve, but you know that you won’t recoup the cost immediately, you’re going to have to spend more in acquisition costs and maybe even go negative for several months.

My coaching programme for accountants and bookkeepers focuses on the rhythmic acquisition of clients for their firms; but not just any clients. Even ‘good clients who pay high fees’ isn’t enough. I ask three questions:

1. What sort of new clients do you want (sector, size, location etc.)?
2. What services do you want (and don’t want) to provide to those clients?
3. What level of fees do you want those clients to pay?

Invariably we have to dig deeper into the answers, but only then does an answer emerge to the question “How can I get more clients?”

If you are ready to take your accounting or bookkeeping business to the next level, you may have thought about hiring a coach. If so, and you’d like to find out more, I am currently offering complimentary one-hour taster sessions for both accountants and bookkeepers. Find out more.ave thought about hiring a coach

Noel Guilford

PS All my coaching sessions are currently conducted via Zoom or Google Meet.