How to Grow a Bookkeeping Business Fast
Do you run a bookkeeping business and are looking for how to grow it fast? If you do, this article will be helpful to you as it shows you proven ideas you can apply right away to improve and expand your business.
Running a business, including the bookkeeping business, comes with a lot of hard work, and the truth is, there are so many things to do to be able to achieve success in it.
However, one of the smartest thing to do as a founder/manager of the business is to focus on the core work of the business, which consists of marketing, strategy, and funding; anything else is putting too much on your plate.
What is Bookkeeping Business?
The bookkeeping business involves taking responsibility for some or all of an organization’s accounts, known as the general ledger.
Bookkeepers ensure all transactions are recorded, as well as income (credits) and costs (debits). Their responsibilities also involve producing relevant reports for supervisors and managers, such as financial statements.
Now, if you own a small bookkeeping firm, here are ideas you can apply right away to improve on its performance:
Top 8 Ways to Effectively Grow a Bookkeeping Business
1. Provide free resources
One way to endear your business to strangers and subsequently grow it is to give something away for free.
There are a number of ways to do this. You can start a blog that churns out interesting and useful content on improving an organization’s bookkeeping practice that makes your readers want to come back for your next post.
You can give an infographic, ebook, or a free audit to a small business. Whatever you settle for should be good enough to help you make inroads into people’s minds.
Hopefully, your effort should yield reward that comes back in the form of new business in the near term.
2. Create referral program
While you go after new customers, it is wise for you to take advantage of the benefits that your current clients can bring to your business.
Start by creating a referral program that offers your existing customers a great incentive that most will find hard to resist; at the end of the day, everyone should be happy being part of the program.
3. Accessing network opportunities
How about getting 20 or more people in your network each time you show up at an event. Being present and active in industry and community events is a viable way to avail yourself of network opportunities that can prove to be rewarding in the short and long term.
At events, you want to come across as helpful and resourceful. People must first learn about you before they can patronize your business, and the first time they learn about you must be impressionable.
4. Website/online directories
Your website is an asset if you know how to use it. Apart from getting a professional looking website that can help you attract the kind of clients you want to have, it is also useful that you optimize your website for the search engines, so it easily comes up when clients are searching for keywords related to the bookkeeping industry.
You can also join online directories and take advantage of “Google My Businessâ€, a free service provided by Google.
5. Social media
Social media is the new media, it has literally changed how information is sent and received and can be used to effectively grow a small business. Traditional media has been relegated since the coming of the social media.
You need to be on social media because most of your prospects are there. Get on LinkedIn and other networks.
Start by creating a professional profile and fill out all the details. Give people a compelling reason to try your services; network and then watch your business grow.
You should have other accounts on other social media platforms as well, facebook, twitter, etc. but LinkedIn tops them all.
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6. Add Complementary services
There is a stage in the life of a business where it is necessary to add other products or services. It is called line extension.
Providing complementary services is one way to reach your marketing goals faster, grow, and expand your business.
Start by asking what are some of the services that can help your current clients solve some of the problems they want resolving that is not currently catered for, a service that can supplement your bookkeeping services?
Enough thought and additional training (if necessary) would put you forward as the go-to person to provide these additional services.
7. Take advantage of automation
The business landscape is changing and you had better join the train or you risk being left behind. Some areas of need that ranked high for bookkeepers in business include the use of technology, smooth workflow and processes, and getting new customers.
A careful look at these three helps one conclude that technology impacts all three. As a bookkeeper, you should do all in your power to take advantage of automation.
8. Email marketing
Email marketing is one great way to expand your reach as a business. There are several email marketing tools you can use to attract prospects and take them along the conversion journey until they buy from you. These tools include Sendlane, Mailchimp, Aweber, and the likes.
With email marketing as part of your marketing arsenal, you can increase your sales and bottom line at a very low cost.
How do you do this? You create an offer that is advertised on different platforms, for example on social media and on your website; your offer could be a free gift that people find valuable.
In exchange for this gift, they give you their email address, with that, you continue to provide them with useful information and occasionally sell your services to them.
They will be more open to buying from you if they have come to know, like and trust you.
Conclusion
If you are a bookkeeping business owner and need to grow it, the ideas presented in this post are worth trying out; you are bound to see good improvement in your business.