Are You a Marketing Professional?

If not, then why do you think you can do your own marketing effectively?  If your firm is like most firms, you periodically find yourself in need of legal representation, investment advice, insurance analysis, etc.  In most cases, you will retain a professional to help guide you.  We’ve had great counsel from many sources over the years, yet for many years when it came to one of the most fundamentally important functions critical to our healthy growth – marketing – we did it ourselves.  And not particularly well.

Simplistically there  are three aspects to a successful growth plan from a marketing perspective:

1.  Locating and identifying prospective clients

2.  Proposing successfully

3.  Retaining quality clients that fit your profile

We have never really had a problem with either the first or third.  Simultaneously, proposing successfully in the niche we’ve chosen has always been a challenge.  Our targeted clients are medium to large local businesses, and smaller public companies.  The competition for them is fierce, and frequently includes member firms of the Big 4 and their formidable reputations and resources.

Last year after losing several engagements we felt we were clearly the best choice for, we became frustrated enough to do something about it.

Our proposal document was typical ‘small firm’.  In a letter format we outlined the scope, why we were specially suited, the proposed fee, attached resumes, etc.  Each proposal document was a challenge, taking an inordinate amount of unnecessary effort to customize, and subject to the whimsy of the partner doing the drafting.  Thank God, (or Microsoft) for spell check.  It was ok for a small firm, but couldn’t begin to present the true picture of who we are, or allow comparison to the larger firms.   We hired Golden Marketing.

I had met Michelle Golden at a conference in Las Vegas last year.  She speaks frequently on marketing for accounting firms, and is nationally recognized.  Michelle quoted us a fixed fee which was important to me.  I hate surprises and engagements of this type seem so open ended.  That quote allowed me to do the mental cost / benefit analysis I needed to feel comfortable.  Michelle came to our offices in Reno from St. Louis.

After meeting with our team and gaining some insight, Michelle drafted a proposal document that  we were entirely uncomfortable with, probably because it was a ‘sales’ document written by a professional marketing consultant and we are  – - – accountants.  Ultimately we accepted our status as marketing nerds, and followed her advice,  but I still felt compelled to have it reviewed by some non-accountant business associates and clients.   Their collective response was an overwhelming endorsement of her work, and suggestion for me to stick to accounting and leave the marketing to professionals.    We have subsequently used it about 15 times.  It’s simple to tailor with minimal variables.  We have been extremely successful because of it.  It was very obviously not written by accountants, and unarguably more effective than what we had previously used.  Our success rate has more than tripled.

Golden Marketing was a great fit for us because of their focus on marketing for small and medium sized accounting firms, and their willingness to quote a fixed fee and satisfaction guarantee.  They have become an invaluable resource to our marketing director.

If your proposal doesn’t put the best face on your firm in a positive manner  you may not be getting the clients you should.  You may want to consider a marketing professional – one who knows the accounting industry.