$280,000 in 15 Months - Sole Practitioner

CPA Marketing and Practice Development

Goal:

Acquire $120,000 to $150,000 in annual billings over 18-24 months from small business clients that generate annual fees above $4,000 per year.  Essentially, acquire 30-40 new business clients.  Focus on QUALITY, not quantity.

The old philosophy of taking whatever business comes over the transom is not one that Ben aspires to.  In fact, he wants to focus on certain industries in which he has lots of experience working with. 

Ideally, Ben wants to develop this practice as a “business” that is not solely reliant on him.  At this stage of his life, he wants to be entrepreneurial and build a business that will ultimately provide a balanced lifestyle. 

Background:

Ben quit his job working for a large CPA firm and started his own CPA practice in the northern suburbs of Atlanta.  The accounting practice was somewhat atypical in that he aligned himself with a financial planner and moved into the financial planner’s office location.  Because the financial planner worked with many high net-worth clients, the expectation was that Ben would gradually acquire and service many of the high net-worth clients under one roof. 

At the time, Ben started with two large clients and wanted to diversify his practice by acquiring many small business clients.  However, the practice that he wanted to develop would focus on QUALITY clients, not quantity. 

Earlier in Ben’s career, he had his own accounting practice back in Arkansas that was very traditional.  Back in those days, he relied heavily on referral marketing and would take nearly any client.  Like many accountants, he worked very hard building that practice and did not see the fruits of his hard labor.  In retrospect, he was trying to do everything himself, learning many things on-the-fly and eventually threw in the towel.   

For the second time around the block of owning an accounting practice, “I wanted to treat the practice like a business, not a job.  I wanted to attract and retain highly profitable clients.  As part of the transition from the regional CPA firm, I brought a para-professional with me to assist with marketing.  Marketing was NOT my passion and I envisioned that she would go out and meet with prospective clients.  Unlike me, she enjoys marketing and can charm the socks off anyone.  My role would be working with small business owners and helping them achieve their personal financial goals.” 

To acquire the marketing and practice development knowledge, Ben decided to attend Build Your Firm’s Accounting Marketing Workshop in Atlanta. 

Results:

The results from what I learned at Build Your Firm's Workshop have been “absolutely stellar!” 

After attending BYF’s Level I program, Ben immediately started to implement the program and acquired well over $100,000 in new annualized business in the first five months.  However, he did not take his foot off the gas peddle and kept the marketing in place.  After being in practice for fifteen months, the practice has skyrocketed to $280,000 in annualized billings, which is way ahead of his original goals.  And, the practice runs with very few employees. 

According to Ben, “the BYF program encouraged ME to become the rain maker for my practice and delegate the processing to my staff.  While the rain making role is only a portion of my responsibilities, the more I focus on being the rain maker, the more enjoyment I receive from building this business.” 

In reflection, “BYF has provided me with practical solutions and a system to avoid the errors that I made with my prior practice ownership.  While I have not personally mastered the art of making this a business, my thought process is 180 degrees from where it used to be when I thought of myself as the person who needed to perform every single task.”

BYF’s programs enable accountants’ to transition from being a technical “get the work done” mentality that is pervasive in the accounting industry towards business ownership and working smarter, not harder.  “BYF far exceeded my expectations and has been a wonderful resource.  The honest truth is that BYF goes out of its way to continue to service me, even after the workshop,” says Ben.   

“After making the paradigm shift that I’ve made from owning a practice before, I wish I would have signed up for BYF and attended the conference before purchasing my tax software.  BYF is a must have resource that is equally, if not more, important than any publication, research or software necessary to operate a CPA firm.” 

“I highly recommend BYF to accountants that want to market and develop an accounting business with very few employees, while avoiding a tiresome job.” 

PRACTICE DEVELOPMENT COACHING FOR ACCOUNTANTS – If you would like to operate at a higher level, call BYF at 888-999-9800.