How to Build an Extraordinarily Successful Accounting Firm

There are 6 critical steps to building an extraordinarily successful accounting or bookkeeping firm. Let me take you through them…

You can watch the video here.

#1 – Plan

This is a critical step that most businesses skip over.

If you want to build your business up into something really successful, you need to decide on what that vision of success means to you. What do you want your business to look like when it’s ‘done’?

When you have that vision, you can then work backwards. If you know what you want to achieve, what key milestones do you need to reach in order to get there? What strategies do you need to have in place to reach those milestones?

As part of that plan, you also need to consider who your ideal client is. A huge part of your business is about getting the right clients, you need to have a crystal-clear idea of who your ideal client is so that you can really work towards those ideals.

#2 - Pricing

Pricing is the most important part of any business - it’s the most powerful lever in the profit equation. 

Most people focus on winning new clients to grow their business. It’s what I did when I ran my own accounting firm back in the late 90s.

But if you are pricing wrong, every time you win new business you just end up getting busier, with very little change in your profits.

You need to accept that the old-fashioned way of pricing by the hour is not an effective way of pricing. You should instead be value pricing.

#3 – Systemise

As accountants and bookkeepers, we should all know the power of systems. We have systems for the work we do: audit checklists, tax preparation checklists, bookkeeping – it’s all about processes, procedures and checklists.

We are very systematic in our way of thinking – but how many pricing systems do you have? 

You need to have systems in place so that you consistently price in the best way every single time.

#4 – Lead Generation System

Only when you have decided on your vision, worked out your pricing and put systems in place can you start to think about growing your business.

You need to become obsessed with list building. Develop a prospect database and fill it with people that you identify as matching your ideal client profile.

You can attract those ideal clients to join your list by having a list building strategy. This might be giving out some high-quality information or resources for free in exchange for their email address. 

You can then market to that list, nurture them and consistently add value until they are ready to buy from you.

You can also automate this whole process so that leads are joining your list and being warmed with your valuable follow up emails on auto-pilot with a great lead generation system.

#5 – Appointment Generation System

Meetings are the heart of sales for accountants and bookkeepers. It’s how we decide if a client is the right fit for our business and convert leads into paying customers.

You need to develop a system that saves you the time of meeting with bad clients. Your system will attract the right people, pre-qualify them, and make sure you are only meeting with people who are a good fit for your business and will value the work you do.

#6 – Change Your Clients’ Lives

Now that your business is set up with effective marketing and pricing systems, and you have a clear idea of where your business is headed, you can start to really focus on changing people’s lives.

How you do that will depend on what you decided upon in step one – who are your clients, what makes you different, and how will you help them.

It may be you have decided to position yourself as the expert in business advisory, therefore you will be able to help change your clients’ lives by helping them to build more successful businesses.

But you can’t start running a successful and profitable advisory service until you have determined your vision and plan, set up your pricing structure, and developed marketing systems to bring in great quality clients.

You need to follow these 6 steps, in this order, to ensure the business you build is extraordinary.

If you found this valuable and would like to learn more about value pricing, I run a free live online training session every month with a topic chosen by you. Attend live and you can ask me any questions you have. Click here to register and I will send you an invitation to the next session.

Wishing you every success on your pricing journey

Mark Wickersham

Chartered Accountant, Public Speaker and Author of Amazon No.1 Best Seller “Effective Pricing for Accountants”