If you’re looking to add more, consistent revenue to your firm while also providing higher value services to your clients then advisory services are likely on your radar.  Advisory clients help round out a firm’s revenue, and these clients often pay more for the services provided than your standard compliance services.  A major survey from SAGE found that 54% of respondents believe new accountants need to have financial advisory skills. Why? Accounting firms need candidates that offer these crucial skills to clients. Roughly 17% of firms are offering these types of services, but there’s one sticking point: how do you begin attracting and winning these new clients?

4 Proven Ways to Attract and Win New Advisory Clients

1.  Refine Your Communication Strategy Communication is key to winning new advisory clients. Your communication needs to:

1. Explain the benefits and outcomes of your services to prospects
2. Ensure your existing clients know you can provide them with these services 

Think about your existing clients. What are their existing painpoints? What are their goals and desires? Are there some ways you could help them alleviate painpoints and reach their goals? Most likely, the answer is: yes! If you want to convert some existing clients to advisory clients, you can:

• Start digging into your clients’ dreams, goals, and desires
• Ask them about their painpoints
• Look for opportunities to assist them with reaching their goals and reducing their pains, with a byproduct of introducing your new services
• You can also utilize some of our marketing ideas here to promote your services

When wining new clients, you must use the right approach to win clients. As shared above, be sure sure to ask the right questions questions, learn the needs of these potential clients, and then share your insights on how you can help them. For example, maybe one client is doing well and growing their business each quarter. However, they’re struggling to maintain positive cash flow. As an advisory service, you can provide insights into key ways the business can maintain its growth, trim overhead, and use tax planning strategies to boost cash flow.  

2. Create Ways to Stand Out from the Competition

In the US, there are 1.39 million accountants and auditors. If everyone decided to offer the exact same service, the person with the lowest price would often get the most clients. But you offer something unique and this needs to be presented to prospects. For example:

• Offer free webinars to clients to help them prepare for acquisitions
• Tailor your services specifically to meet client goals
• Provide an easy-to-use platform where clients can communicate with you, upload files and so on

You must find a way to be different so that you’re the go-to advisor for these clients. Perhaps you work with restaurants, and you have a wealth of experience helping eateries grow their business through acquisitions. In this case, you could promote yourself to advisory clients as the restaurant accountant who helps propel growth through acquisitions.

3. Build Your Firm’s Reputation Strategically

Reputation alone is a strong component to helping you build a business. A prime example of this is Elon Musk. He has created a personal brand and reputation that is so strong, his future business endeavors benefit from them. You need to build a reputation and brand for your firm that demonstrates your expertise to advisory clients. How?

• Add advisory service content into your current marketing tactics
• Focus on SEO to boost visibility online
• Create a social media following (Read our post on how to create more content on social media)
• Start hosting webinars and podcasts around advisory services

If your non-advisory services are doing well, you don’t necessarily want to change your marketing strategy for them. Instead, you want to add to your firm’s reputation by positioning yourself as a one-stop shop that can help with more than taxes and bookkeeping. Additionally, don’t forget to reach out to anyone that you’ve offered advisory services to for a testimonial or review. Why? Statistically, reviews and testimonials are an amazing way to build your reputation. For example:

• 92% of people read online reviews before buying a product or service
• 88% of people trust reviews and testimonials as much as recommendations from friends and family

When posting on social media, through email or other forms of marketing, be sure to add in these reviews and testimonials for advisory services. These real reviews build trust that will go a long way in helping you win more clients. 

4. Create Content That Educates and Nurtures Prospects

Potential advisory clients may need your service, but many of them don’t even realize that advisory services are a “thing.” For example, a business owner may be struggling with cash flow and continues taking out more loans to keep operations going. In this scenario, you will want to nurture and educate these individuals. Content plays a crucial role in this process by allowing you to:

• Create blog posts that discuss how you can help someone better plan and manage their cash flow
• Post on social media to bring awareness to your services.
• Create white papers and case studies that demonstrate how your services help in the real world.
• Email current clients that love your service already and may appreciate advisory services, too.

We can talk a lot about content strategy and creation, but the key is to:

• Create content that brings awareness, educates and nurtures potential leads
• Build trust and show that you’re an authority in the industry.
• Incorporate new forms of content about these services into your existing strategy.

You also want to think outside of the box here. You may want to go to industry events that your ideal client attends to expand your network and promote your service. Additionally, once your prospects reach out to you about the services you provide, it’s time to streamline this contact point. Consider how you can make it effortless for them to take the next step with you. For example, you can create an onboarding process that is simple and easy for anyone to follow. Since your content should lead to action at some point, be sure that you pay a lot of attention to the difficulty prospects may have contacting you or taking the next step with you. The goal is to make it almost impossible not to at least inquire about your services.

Final Thoughts

Attracting and winning new advisory clients takes time, patience, and the right communication. If you follow the tips above, we’re confident that you’ll expand your advisory business and start generating more revenue. Over time, be sure to adjust your approach based on what’s working and isn’t working to attract and win these new clients. Click here to schedule a call to discuss getting new advisory clients.