Going to “Market”

As noted in this space last week, the conference travel schedule for our company principals has more resembled 11^th hour campaign stops just prior to Election Day than a measured and deliberate agenda, but such is the mid-to-late fall season within public accounting.

In just a few short months, our phone calls will be embraced with all the warmth and respect of a persistent subway panhandler in dire need of a shower as our clients no doubt will be snorkeling under a tsunami of 1040s. Succession planning or upstream mergers will be at, or near, the last thing on their minds.

Which in a sort of roundabout way brings me to today’s topic – marketing and lead generation. I’m often asked how we get our leads and my answer is often broad-based. The truth is we get them via a variety of ways – teaching CPE, presenting webinars, getting referrals from existing clients, conference exhibitions and of course, old fashioned cold calling.

All, at one point or another are effective in their own way, but over the past several years, I’ve noticed a distinctive shift – particularly with regard to conferences. With the expense and logistics of coordinating air travel and the difficulty of being away from the office for a set amount of time, there’s been a distinct drop in attendance for many of the past events that have heretofore been staples of the public accounting calendar.

As a result, we have cut down our show schedule somewhat dramatically and bolstered our business development focus on CPE and speaking engagements, which in a breakdown of a cost-per-lead study, are far more economical.  Also we have stepped up our in-house marketing efforts in a big way by onboarding a terrific coordinator.

Interesting, but how does this apply to CPA firms?

Glad you asked.

Recently, there was a study released  by a professional services marketing firm that found the average CPA firm spends anywhere from 2 percent to 5 percent of its gross revenues on marketing. The study was apparently conducted to offer a schematic on the percentage of firms who deploy formal marketing efforts as well as those who focus on business development and other strategies to develop client leads.

Obviously revenue growth would be a top reason for marketing efforts but without going too far out on a limb here I would surmise that targeted marketing could also be used for recruiting efforts. And I’m sure nobody ever has had a problem in that area? Yeah, right.

I always found it strange that whenever a company in any industry hits hard economic times, the two areas that are almost unanimously singled out for cutbacks are marketing and staff training – exactly two areas that should NEVER be trimmed.

So in 2014 you may want to review your current marketing and development efforts and determine where your efficiencies lie.

Don’t worry; I’m sure you’ll still be able to schedule one or two conference trips to Las Vegas.