Niche Marketing Case Study: Peter Freuler

Below is a link to an interesting article that was just published on Progressive Accountant about a young accountant who developed a niche in his Orlando CPA practice.

I have had the opportunity to work with Peter since 2009. The Progressive Accountant article highlights his accomplishments over the past couple of years but thought that I'd share some more insight into how far he has come with the practice. It has truly been a pleasure to work with Peter and see his practice flourish.

As background, Peter Freuler took over his dad's practice after his dad passed away in 2005. Peter had worked in his dad's practice for three years before his dad suddenly passed away. At the time, Peter had not completed all of his requirements to sit for the CPA exam. He managed to pick up the pieces on the fly through hard work and determination. He managed to retain 80% of the clients under trying circumstances, which he is proud of. Personally, I can't imagine how difficult this must have been professionally, and personally.

Prior to working with Build Your Firm, Peter's practice was labor intensive, had low fees and had too many 1040 clients which required hand holding. He wanted to reduce the low paying clients and replace them with higher fee-paying business clients. He also wanted to operate more efficiently and transition his role from working in the practice to on the business while dramatically increasing the profit margins. His growth rate has been stellar over the past three years despite trying economic times. And, he managed to offload many labor-intensive clients this past summer with a cull out sale. Next year, I believe that his practice will be in line with the profit margins and efficiently rates that we normally expect.

In 2009, Peter started the educational process in working with Build Your Firm, had us develop a website for him, and expanded this relationship in 2010 by entering the Outsourced Marketing Program. In the first year, we worked primarily with Peter on growing the topline. In year two, we transitioned toward improving the quality of clientele by helping him develop a niche and he moved down the path of selling a portion of his practice.