If you’re an accountant, then you’re probably great with numbers and keeping your clients happy, but what do you do when you need more clients?
That’s where leads come in. Having a steady stream of new leads can transform your business and allow you to stop relying on referrals.
In this article, I’ll show you exactly how to get leads as an accountant or bookkeeper – and not just any leads, but the RIGHT ones for your business.
Understanding lead generation for accounting firms
By lead generation for accountants, I mean the process of attracting new potential clients who are a good fit for your services.
Many accountants – and new business owners in general – make the mistake of depending on word of mouth alone. Please don’t do this…
Why you should stop relying on referrals right now
Don’t get me wrong: some referrals can be good. But the problem is that:
- Your past clients might refer you to business owners who just aren’t your ideal market – or who end up wasting your time on random discovery calls
- You have zero control over these referrals – you don’t know when they’ll come in. Wouldn’t it be better if you get regular, consistent leads into your business?
If you’re aiming to grow your accountancy firm sustainably, relying on referrals is a risky game.
Seizing control of your accounting lead generation
Here’s how your situation will change (spoiler alert: for the better), when you take charge of your lead generation and proactively build a pipeline of leads…
- You’ll fill your pipeline with new potential clients who actually want to hire you
Not those who book discovery calls with a bunch of other accountants – and then pick the cheapest option.
- You’ll attract the kinds of businesses you enjoy collaborating with
For example, you might love working with creative service providers or eCommerce firms, large corporate clients or sole traders (and so on).
- You’ll escape the feast and famine cycle
Even when you’re fully booked, you’ll have a pipeline full of leads. So, as soon as you lose a client (which happens to everyone), you can get in touch with them and fill that spot ASAP.
Much more sensible than relying on something you can’t control, right?
But how can you actually generate leads for your accounting business?
7 strategies for effective lead generation for accountants
Instead of putting all your eggs in the referral basket (or a single platform), have a few lead generation tactics in place – but without stretching yourself too thin.
1. Targeting the right audience
If you haven’t already figured it out, work on this before trying any other lead-generation strategies for your accounting business. Otherwise, they won’t work as well!
You might be tempted to try and reach “everyone” to cover your bases. In reality, it’s much more effective to focus on one target client and speak to them specifically.
So, get crystal clear on:
Who you are targeting
For example, do you work mainly with freelancers, small businesses or large and international companies? Are you more likely to deal with the actual founder or the finance director? Maybe you’re focusing on a particular industry, for example, construction. The more clear you are about who you’re targetting, the better your lead generation will be.
The problems your audience is facing
When it comes to accounting, an overwhelmed freelancer won’t have the same problems as the Finance Director of a large multinational company. A business owner in the construction industry won’t have the same problems as a creative business.
Think about what your clients tell you they are struggling with – it could be anything from managing cash flow to understanding ever-changing tax legislation.
How do you solve your clients’ problems?
How exactly do you change your clients’ current situation when you work with them? And why should they trust you instead of your competitors?
Take just thirty minutes or so to answer these questions because this foundational work is so important when it comes to generating leads for your accountancy firm.
2. SEO and blogging for accountants
Please never think, “But my industry is too boring for content!”
You need to look at it in a different way – because your audience isn’t searching for accountancy content for fun in their spare time:
Remember, before your clients are ready to hire an accountant, most of them will turn to Google!
They’ll ask certain questions to understand your industry. Things like…
- Do I need an accountant right now?
- When should I move to a different accountancy firm?
- What’s the process of moving to a different accountancy firm?
- Will my accountant handle payroll?
- How much does an accountant cost?
- Best accountants for X industry
You get the picture!
If you answer your audience’s questions and provide insightful content (and optimise it for SEO), they’ll find you, trust you and be more likely to buy from you.
This will also make you stand out against all the competitors who don’t go to the effort to give as much valuable advice as you.
Let’s get you started: Blogging and SEO tips for accountants
So, how can you use SEO and content marketing to get leads for your accounting business?
- Blog on your business website – After all, why direct all that juicy traffic to external platforms? This is why you should avoid sharing articles on LinkedIn or Medium initially – but once you’ve posted your blog post on your website, you can then share the same article on those platforms too.
- Always write your blog posts with your specific target audience in mind – What do they need to know? What are they not clear on when it comes to working with an accountant? That’s why the first task was so important, because who you’re targeting will dictate the kind of content you write.
- Focus on the kind of content that will actually bring you leads – How-to articles help you start from the top of the funnel (so, people who are still trying to understand their problem or solve it themselves). But if you want to learn how to get leads for your accounting business fast? Then the trick is to prioritise ‘bottom-of-the-funnel’ content: i.e. those who’re already looking for a solution. For example, “The best accountancy firms in Scotland for architects.”
- Optimise your blog posts for SEO keywords whenever possible – That way, you’ll have the best chances of showing up when your prospects Google those questions
- Have a strong call to action – Encourage your readers to give you their contact details by subscribing to your newsletter (more on that soon!)
3. Social media marketing for accountants
Just like your accountancy business isn’t too boring for a blog, it’s not too boring for social media either.
Once again, the important thing is to focus on your audience (not use these channels to share announcements or internal news).
Make sure you share a good variety of:
- Helpful, valuable content such as when is the best time to move accountancy firm?
- Case studies from clients who are similar to the clients you’d like to attract – explain exactly how you helped and what you achieved
- Behind-the-scenes content – tell us about the changes within your accoutancy firm, but make sure to highlight the value to your audience when you do and not just make it about yourself!
- Stories and experiences – use your own personal experiences to share stories with your audience. Perhaps a client asked you an interesting question or perhaps there’s something in the media you’d like to comment on?
Luckily, if you’re already blogging, then you have a bank of content you can easily ‘repurpose,’ i.e. repackage for social media. This is where you take your blog post and rewrite it for social media. It’s a cheats way to
- Be where your target clients are – This will really depend on your niche, but LinkedIn tends to be an excellent platform to generate leads for accountants because… well, it’s full of business owners!
- Connect and engage with your target clients – Comment on their posts, start conversations in the DMs and form relationships
- Post valuable and helpful content – LESS “At our accounting firm, we are proud to announce that,” MORE “Here’s how we can make your life easier”
- Focus on generating leads for accounting – How? Check out the next step
4. Create a quiz to get premium leads for your accounting business
Remember how I kept teasing that you must collect email addresses and leads?
One of the BEST ways to do that is to create a lead magnet – a resource that your audience can access for free in exchange for their contact details.
And one of the BEST B2B lead magnets? A quiz, of course! You will:
- Stand out – We bet most of your competitors are still offering a boring PDF (yawn)
- Get more data – By asking the right questions and tracking their answers, you’ll get to know your target audience even more
- Pre-qualify your leads – Certain questions will also help you understand if that prospect is ready to buy (e.g. “How much time do you spend doing your own accounting?” and “How open are you to exploring new solutions?”) and if they can actually afford your rates (e.g. “What’s your current budget for an accountant?”)
- Have full control over your accounting lead generation – No more waiting for new referrals to arrive out of the blue! Or wasting hours speaking to wrong-fit prospects. You can now reach out to those who are actually interested and ready to invest. How cool is that?
- Get more clients – Because of all these reasons, quizzes have a 30-50% conversion rate (much higher than most lead magnets)
Creating and promoting your quiz
There are different types of quizzes to generate leads for your accounting business, but Scorecards tend to work particularly well. They help your target clients understand their current situation, what they’re already doing well and what they still need help with – from you.
The goal is to create something that’s valuable for your audience and helps you sell your services. For example, “The Tax Saving Scorecard”, “Are you paying too much tax?” or “How many hours and money would I save YOU?
You can create your quiz with ScoreApp. And once you’ve launched it? Promote it everywhere:
- Website, including your hero section
- Blog posts
- Social media
- Whenever you put yourself in front of your target audience, both online and in person
5. Email your list
Your quiz will show you which leads are warm. But just because someone isn’t ready to hire you as an accountant right now, it doesn’t mean they never will!
So, once you’ve got their contact details, email and nurture them regularly.
By sending them helpful content and strategic email sequences (based on their quiz results), you’ll stay top of mind – until they’re finally ready to invest in your services.
6. Online and in-person events, groups, and memberships
A shortcut to get leads for your accounting business fast? Easy: partner with people who already have an audience (one that includes your target clients, of course)
You could:
- Write a guest post
- Appear on their podcast
- Offer free training for their membership
- Host a workshop or webinar together
- Speak at their event
And when you do, focus on keeping in touch with those viewers or listeners. So, guess what your call to action should be?
(If you answered “my quiz,” you’ve just scored a point!)
Start generating leads for your accountancy business: create a quiz TODAY
All these strategies are a lot safer than relying on unpredictable referrals, aren’t they?
A quiz, in particular, will keep on generating leads for your accountancy business by:
- Collecting the email addresses of your target clients
- Pre-qualifying them for you
- Giving you useful data that you can then reference during your calls
- Feeding into ALL your other accounting lead generation tactics
So, how about creating your quiz today for FREE?
At ScoreApp, you can setup a free account, and you can get everything set up in as little as 3 minutes thanks to our AI quiz builder.
No more feast and famine: it’s time to seize control of the lead generation for your accounting business!
