When I speak with accountants they say "we don't do marketing because they are busy and get lots of referrals." Maybe they don't need to invest in a strcutured marketing programme BUT being busy and having lots of referrals doesn't really mean anything. What matters is the profitability and sustainability of the practice and the impact on the practice owner/s.
Marketing isn’t about being busy. What’s really important is the quality of clients and very often the owners are busy because they have too many of the wrong clients. And, the wrong clients keep referring the wrong clients so it’s self-perpetuating.
If you are busy then maybe it’s time you had a look at why. Are you under resourced or are your resources being swallowed on high hassle, low value work? If some of your resources are being wasted on the wrong clients then consider re-enginerring the protfolio with some proactive marketing.
The 80:20 rule is often reffered to where 80% of your hassle comes from 20% of your clients. The way out of the situation is to have a strategic plan to replace the 20% of clients.
Are all your clients giving you allowing you to generate the results you want for your firm and yourself? If not then there is and opportunity cost…work out what it is and what marketing investment is required to clean up your client list.
If you've got ten years plus left in practice then perhaps this is worth £25,000 a year and will cost you £15,000 to acheieve. At first signt this may not seem too attrractive BUT when you keep in mind the investment is one-off but the return will last for 10 years and enhance your practice value.
A strategic marketing investment is likely to give you a much better return on investment than anything else at the moment.