Accountants are not known for cheetah-like speed. But in early 2020, abruptly cut off from the in-person meetings that have been the lifeblood of their client activity, practitioners were required to pivot quickly to digital platforms, or risk being left in the dust.
Spurred by the fast-changing needs of clients — from understanding, applying for and deploying Paycheck Protection Program funds, to complying with new tax deadlines — accountants and tax pros rose to the occasion and did what had to be done. Not all of course, and not all equally well. But many impressively made the switch to new ways of working, especially on the operations side.
For a time, managing partners have been relieved of focus on driving demand, as governmental entities have been driving it. After more than a year of this new normal, many firm leaders are seeing that the changes are not just a flash in the pandemic pan, but represent a real inflection point in accounting practice. As conditions continue to evolve, it’s time to explore using those and other tools, from Zoom to live video, enhanced websites, social media and others, in new and creative ways to spur and sustain growth.
Gary Shamis, founder and principal of Winding River Consulting, acknowledges the upside potential, but warns that we’re not there yet. He says, “There’s a huge opportunity here. A lot of firms understand what’s happening, but it really is in its infancy. Every day we’re seeing a little more momentum.” He believes that for many accounting firms, successful digital transformation will require hiring outside expertise, which is the direction he’s added in his own consultancy.
Tools unite!
Driving demand by growing and managing your digital toolbox in a cohesive way is the order of the day. For years, marketing directors have been urging their firms to get on board the digital train, eking out funding for a tech tool here, or a system enhancement there. But truly leveraging this potential is going to require up-leveling our sophistication, from individual tools to a well-oiled machine rooted in strategy. That’s the position of David Toth, the digital marketing specialist Gary has added to lead the charge at Winding River Consulting: “Many people are still throwing spaghetti at the wall.” What’s needed is strategy, he explained,
“whether you’re trying to grow revenue, rank high in search engines, or drive qualified traffic to your site.”
As important to driving digital demand is offering buyers exciting, individualized services customized to their specific needs and specialties. If all we have to sell is the same old vanilla (read: tax and audit) ice cream that our competitors are hawking, we cannot expect buyers to rush to our firm to get inspired to order them.
Success will require leveraging digital tools to bring highly differentiated new services to different markets and establish creative thought leadership around them, resulting in a differentiated experience for the buyer, and ensuring that buyers can find you.
If your offering is limited to generic, commoditized services, even the best website will not attract a buyer in need of, say, data analytics for senior residential facilities. Because 2020 forced them deep into online interaction, today’s buyers are even more adept digital researchers, skilled at using online tools and channels, like LinkedIn, live videos, electronic newsletters and more.
The future envisioned is one in which digital tools work harmoniously, like instruments in an orchestra, to achieve synchronous results for forward-looking firms and their clients. While the individual strains of the saxophone or violin may be audible at certain times, the overall effect is one smooth, melodious sound. And the deliverable is highly specialized, innovative services that solve specific business problems.
Pathways to growth
Impelled by the constraints of the coronavirus, firms got on board the cyber train in 2020 at varying speeds and with varying levels of success, mostly on the operational side of the firm. I noted above that realizing the full potential of using digital to fuel growth will require integrating individual tools into a strategic whole, and serving up customized offerings that solve uniquely identified business problems by buyer groups.
Now I want to expand on this potential of technology to grow firms in key ways — by adding sophistication to sales and marketing initiatives, removing geographic barriers, and enhancing services. Let’s dive in.
In sales, a key concept is that the buy cycle precedes the sell cycle, i.e., a buyer has typically embarked on a search for a solution before a provider is aware of the buyer’s search. However, technology, properly deployed, permits an accounting firm to reach a potential client at the beginning of their buy cycle, instead of the beginning of your sell cycle. The advantage is your ability to influence the buyer before they’ve been approached, maybe even bombarded, by other suitors.
Here’s an example: A company in the food truck business is seeking to outsource bookkeeping and finds its way to your website, which offers a “downloadable” — a white paper on considerations in outsourcing bookkeeping in their industry. It advises looking beyond factors such as speed and accuracy, to benchmarking profitability and performance against other food truck businesses, a capability your firm has developed.
The food truck company has had annual growth of about 5%. That might feel pretty good to the owners, until the metric is benchmarked against comparable food truck vendors, who have year-over-year gains exceeding 10%. What you’ve done is educate the buyer, enabling better decision-making, and building preference. It’s a powerful, tech-fueled pairing of sales and marketing.
Compare that scenario with the experience of a buyer who stumbles on your competitor’s website, boring them with the technical aspects of their offering (this is standard for most firms), and where the most exciting offering is a “Contact us” form. By the time a response appears in the buyer’s inbox, the buyer has already downloaded your white paper and begun, based on what you wrote, seriously considering your firm. Bottom line, the odds of winning are higher when you seamlessly integrate digital tools to attract, influence and capture a buyer earlier in the process.
Only if you have a very clear view of where you want the buyer to end up can you sprinkle the breadcrumbs effectively through their digital experience. And this is where an integrated digital strategy and execution is so powerful.
Everywhere you need to be
Another game-changing plus of a digital approach is it removes geographic barriers to firm growth. This is important for many reasons. Specializing, the strategic imperative in mature and commoditized markets, necessarily shrinks the size of any specific market within your geographic parameters. However, where once your firm was known for serving dental practices in Boston, technology opens up your geography and increases market size. Cloud and digital assets even more than ever make it possible to offer that same expertise to dental practices from Hahira, Georgia, to Honolulu, Hawaii.
Last year made it abundantly clear, even to those firms lagging behind, that geography is no longer an obstacle to growth. Digital tools let us win clients, develop services, and deliver work of the highest caliber, without physical proximity to clients. It’s a game-changer in our business model. For buyers of our services, it’s a realization that they can partner with the nation’s most in-demand food-truck-market accounting firm, despite being located on opposite sides of the country. Conveying that message through digital communication platforms can motivate buyers who formerly believed that a close zip code was required for a close working relationship.
Your team and the technology you rely on for client-facing and backroom operations is likely no longer in the office. Your team is at home and the technology is now (or in your future) up in the cloud. Go big into that digital future. But go soon. Your competitors are already on their way.
