Preparing for Business Expansion: Plan for Success
If you’re thinking about expanding your PA accounting or CPA firm, you need to be prepared. It’s not just a matter of increasing your client load. The advice you give your clients is the same advice you need to give yourself: plan for change so you're ready to profit from it. The most successful firms are those that are proactive and innovative in their business approach. Preparing ahead will create the environment for success.
Your first step is to create the big picture: your vision, goals, and how you will reach them. These steps should include short-, mid-, and long-term goals and strategies, marketing and branding, networking, client referrals, service expansion, and staff or office expansion. Also consider the tax implications of expansion and the potential need to change your business status.
Once you have the big picture, it’s time to put the steps into practice, considering the areas where you need to improve or implement changes.
Evaluate your software and automation tools and see where you need to make changes. Start with automating repetitive, time-consuming, low-skill tasks such as data entry, reconciliation, report generation, and client scheduling. Implement a CPA-specific customer relationship management tool (CRM) to personalize and automate outreach and marketing. A CRM system can also help you review where prospects are in their “buyer’s journey” and provide personalized outreach to bring them on board as clients. It can also continue to track their experience with your firm. Implement cloud accounting software for any clients still not using it. Consider an AI or remote help desk or FAQs on your website so clients can have basic questions answered quickly.
Do you want to expand your service offerings as part of your business expansion? Take time to consider your own strengths and interests and those of your best staff. Brainstorm with them about areas they feel confident handling. This might mean expanding into a particular niche or expanding into new service areas, such as advisory services, financial forensics, IT management and support, or CFO services for small firms. For instance, if you have an accountant on staff who is also a computer guru, offering clients advisory services on financial software and cybersecurity may be a unique service offering that could draw new clients to your other services.
Move beyond hourly pricing to scalable pricing models such as bundle packages, subscription services, and value pricing. These strategies benefit both you and the client: the client benefits from a clear understanding of the services they will receive and can budget for the cost, while you benefit from reliable income, protection against scope creep, and increased profit.
Besides marketing strategies, there are two tried-and-true methods to bring in new clients: networking and client referrals. Form strategic partnerships with other firms or businesses in adjacent industries or fields of service to whom you can refer your clients and from whom you can receive referrals. Develop a client referral program that encourages your best, most profitable, and most enjoyable clients to refer similar clients to you.
You will get the best and most referrals, of course, when your clients are happy. Therefore, develop a robust client retention policy and train your staff on it. Your automated software will be particularly helpful in this, helping you make regular, proactive check-ins with your clients.
Regularly check to see if they have any additional needs that your firm can support. Offer strategic and personalized insights, which should be part of some of your bundle or subscription services from which they can choose. And don’t forget the human touch: for instance, remember their birthdays or the anniversary of when they joined your practice. Offer them a special of some kind in honor of the day or a gift card to a local restaurant or shop. If you combine both human and professional outreach, your clients will become more invested in you and more willing to refer you to others.
As your firm expands, you’ll need to hold onto your best employees and attract more good talent. An attractive benefits package is a must, but it’s not enough. You need to also offer your staff the opportunities for professional development training, advancement within the firm, and a sense of being truly vested in the firm’s success. Include your staff in decision-making and brainstorming. Encourage creative, out-of-the-box strategic and forward-facing thinking. Provide them with opportunities to take authority over certain projects, niches, service offerings, or other employees.
Be ready to measure your success and adjust accordingly to capitalize on and expand upon what’s working and make additional changes to what needs optimizing. Have the procedures and software in place to measure client retention rate, average revenue per client, revenue growth, profitability, and employee productivity and utilization.
Many of our PSTAP members have scaled their CPA firms. Our PSTAP member portal is a great place to post any questions you may have to gain wisdom from other PA CPAs and accountants who have successfully grown their firms.