A CPA wanted to better leverage his Webstory to get more word-of-mouth referrals.

Our answer:  Add your Webstory to your email signature and invoices.

Why?  

1.  Get clients.  Prospective clients will see your Webstory as you respond to their emails.   They will see current testimonials from real people (pictures of your clients are pulled from social networks) -- saving clients time from checking references and gathering other information.

2.  Retain clients.  Current clients will love that you have a third-party review system asking for continous feedback -- and clients can use the system to give you more word-of-mouth referrals through their social networks.

3.  Manage testimonials.   You can respond to reviews thanking clients for feedback.  Or even flag reviews that are illegitmate -- protecting your online reputation.

A real example

Get even more referrals  ...  Upgrade to the Teaspiller PRO for the 2-step Invoicing System.   Guaranteed to collect payment from clients and get more word-of-mouth referrals after each client engagement.

Problem

There are over 4M+ accountant profiles on LinkedIn.   But most accountants don't leverage LinkedIn for marketing their practices.   Mainly because LinkedIn was built for recruiters and interacting with professional groups – not for accountants who want to get new clients.

Solution

Teaspiller’s goal was to see if you could make LinkedIn even more effective in getting clients for accountants.   But in a really simple, client friendly way.

• Import an accountant’s resume from LinkedIn into Teaspiller automatically
• Create a beautiful webstory with the accountant's LinkedIn resume

Methodology

• Surveyed 49 potential clients
• Asked clients to compare a real accountant’s LinkedIn profile with her Teaspiller’s Webstory

Results

Almost 90% of clients preferred the accountant's Webstory over LinkedIn.

Suggestions

Firms can leverage their employees' LinkedIn resumes to get clients--just by making it more visible to potential clients.  Here are some quick and easy to implement suggestions:

• Clients get reassurance seeing a LinkedIn resume -- it creates the effect of transparency.   Consider placing a link to your LinkedIn profile on your website or email signatures.
• Clients like seeing LinkedIn recommendations.   Make your LinkedIn recommendations visible to potential clients.    With pictures of existing clients, links to the client's business website, or even links back to the client's Linkedin profile,  LinkedIn recommendations are perceived by clients to be more authentic than the classic text testimonials on accountant websites.
• A beautiful online presence does get noticed by clients -- it can make a practice look even more professional.

What people said about an accountant’s Linkedin profile

• “I like the fact that I can see the resume and experience. it would make me want to see more information about this accountant.
• “It provides past experience, education and affiliations. It also shows that she was recommended.”
• “I think LinkedIn is great for networking purposes, but not so much for finding service providers like an accountant.”
• “I can understand all i need to know in one window.”
• “Everything was right out there showing the persons experience and education where as [on Teaspiller] you had to click on multiple things to learn about the person”
• “All the information was right there on the Linkedin profile but had to follow links on the Teaspiller site”
• “The accountant experience, education, and past are very helpful. I like the layout of the site because all the information I need for this accountant is on her bio page without clicking on separate links.
• “Her education, location, number of recommendations, her experience”
• “This gives me lots of relevant info right up front such as education and experience and location. Everything I would need short of an in person meeting.”
• “Past, Education and number of recommendations”
• “Experience and how many people recommend them"

What people said about a Teaspiller Webstory

• “When purchasing anything online, I rely greatly on reviews other people have written on the product. [Teaspiller] seems to be similar for services .... The reviews were much easier to read on Teaspiller, and also it had more of them.”
• “[Teaspiller] has more information (contact info, etc.) and a generally 'warmer' feeling.”
• “… more information about the criteria I give more weight to”
• “[Teaspiller] had way more useful information on the website and I liked that she was upfront about people's reviews.”
• “I get to see an in depth reviews/ratings of an accountant, a list of accomplishments, clients' evaluations/reviews, etc.”
• “I picked [Teaspiller] because it provided me with fees and payments for the accountant. Plus this site layout seems more professional than [Linkedin].
• “[Teaspiller] just seems like the person who puts up a profile there has to put more effort into it and it shows more like what people actually think about it instead if they recommend or not.”
• “[Teaspiller’s] Webstory profile provided a lot more details and portrayed Logan's skills very effectively.”
• “In terms of volume and quality, the Teaspiller site had significantly more useful information. It was also more visually appealing.”
• ”[Teaspiller] had way more information about her on the website.”
• “[Teaspiller] was much more professionally presented and lent legitimacy to the accountant's practice.”
• “Better layout, does not look like an ad.”
• “I prefer to read what people have to say.”
• “Teaspiller appeared to give more information about the person in question.”
•  “The Teaspiller website was better organized, gave more detail description, and I liked the layout more.”
•  “[Teaspiller] seemed more personal and there was more information”
•  “I liked how clearly the information was laid out, especially the graph of practice areas.”
• “The page was much easier to read and locate information. Set up more like a website than a resume.”
• “Easier access to pertinent information”
•  “[Teaspiller] appeared to be a much more reliable source. While [Linkedin] seemed unreliable.”

Sign-up for a free Teaspiller Webstory here:  https://www.teaspiller.com/accountant-marketing/pricing/

(download)

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study-how-teaspiller-makes-linkedin-work-even-better-for-accountants-gjdDjxDervsFCCerwIot.zip (199 KB)

Source:  Google Trends

The alarming online search trend is a wake-up call to the worldwide accounting community.   It also confirms the AICPA’s latest survey about how all size firms are having a hard time getting new clients (and retaining clients).

Observations

• Online searches for “accountants” have declined by 50% since 2004

•  The steady decline represents a CAGR of about -10%.

•  The problem is happening worldwide – not just in the United States.

Some good explanations

•  Do-it-yourself accounting software is stealing market share from accountant practices.

•  Accountants don’t know how (or want) to market themselves online. 

Some other explanations – mostly refuted

 We’ve spoken to the accounting community and got a lot of possible explanations.   Here are some of the explanations we’ve refuted.

•  “Clients search for specialties.”  We’ve tried multiple types of accountant searches (CPAs, PCAOB, financial planners, etc.) and almost all are seeing declines.

•   “Clients look for accountants in a particular location”.   Since this was a broad search, the location would be included in the trend (e.g. a search for “accountants in Omaha” would appear in the trends since the word “accountants” is in the search).

•  “All professional services are seeing a decline”.   Actually, the trends search for “doctors” didn’t see the same decline – while lawyers did see a similar decline (lawyers are facing pressure from DIY alternatives as well).

• “There's a problem in the way Google scales the search volume in the graph”.    While there are more pictures of cute kittens on the internet, the search volume was indexed in relation to 2004 – and there are more people using the internet now than ever before.  Read more here about how Google scaled the data.

Some possible (and controversial) solutions

Here are some ideas we heard from the accounting community to help fix the problem.

• Accountants need to make it more convenient for clients to work online with their accountants.  One of the main draws of DIY alternatives is convenience.   Accountants need tools to make their service equally as convenient online (e.g. online credit card processing, virtual office tools, or anything that reduces a trip to an accounting office).

• Organizations, like the AICPA and the Institute of Chartered Accountants, need to spend more on marketing their members to the general public.   For example, in 2010, the AICPA made over $200M+ from its members, but only spent $8M on marketing members (NOTE:  AICPA executives pocketed $21M in salaries).   To contrast, Turbotax and H&R Block combined spend about half a billion on marketing a year – and have whittled away at the image of accountants as “quality” practitioners.

• Create a real directory for all accountants to be listed and marketed effectively.   Make it so easy for clients to search for an accountant online that customers have a single destination to find and compare accountants.   Currently, potential clients who try to search for an accountant online have a herculean task– clients are using Google, Yelp, Linkedin, state board websites, and other sources to try to triangulate and find a great accountant.   The AICPA and other accounting organizations could band together to create a common marketing platform for all their members – and use revenue from members to market the directory to the general public.

The team at Teaspiller is lucky because we get to talk with online customers searching for accountants every day.   We can see that there’s a basic public awareness problem on the value of using an accountant.  But we also hear about the complaints about “quality” and “convenience” with using accountants too.  The Google search trend is an alarm about our complacency as an industry -- and should be a call to action.

Learn more how Teaspiller is innovating accounting marketing ...   Try our free tool that gets & retains clients:  http://www.teaspiller.com/accountant-marketing/

Teaspiller wanted to really figure-out what clients needed from an accountant's website when choosing a firm's service.   We conducted a survey with 158 potential clients asking them to look at various practices' websites.  The results might suprise you.

What works on an accountant site?

• Certifications / Licenses.   Much like those beautiful plaques in your office, clients wanted to get the same reassurance of an office visit or phone call -- but on your site.    Make it clear how long you’ve been practicing with credentials.

• User reviews.   Clients wanted to save some time from checking references.    User reviews is just that  – a digital version of a referral.  

NOTE:  Don’t use fake or unattributed reviews / testimonials.  Clients didn’t like it when they saw a site with user reviews that didn’t look legitimate.   Try to show real pictures of your clients next to their testimonials or provide links to a client's Linkedin profile.

What doesn’t work on an accountant site?

• Online calculators.   Clients were coming to a practice for a premium service – not to play with tax calculators on a website.

• Monthly online newsletters.   While there might be evidence that newsletters retain clients, having newsletters on a website didn't really sway a client's choice.

• Online tax & accounting guides.   Similar to calculators, clients didn't really want to read through pages of accounting tips.

Other tips to think about …

• Resumes.   Be upfront and over communicate your experience.   The more transparency on your employees, the better.   Don’t let your clients search through the 4.5M+ accountant resumes on Linkedin to find another accountant.

• Contact info.   It’s amazing how many accountant websites hide contact information or make it very difficult to find.   Don’t let your client’s click around hunting for your number.  Put contact info upfront and center.

• Practice & Industry areas.    Clearly communicate what your practice focuses on – don’t  provide a long reading list of services and industries.  Clients often didn't believe that a practice could specialize across a long list of areas.

• Price.  Smart accountant marketers have figured out how to use price effectively.   If you’re not a premium accounting practice (or just tired of getting low quality clients), figure-out how to display some sort of pricing and fee information to attract the right clients.

• Portrait picture.   This was an interesting point.   Quality portraits of your employees instantly created a personal connection and reassurance that your client isn’t going to get lost in a big firm.   The word "personalized" was used often.

Conclusion

The best accounting websites optimize their sites for getting new clients.

• Communicate quality.    Clients need reassurance that you’re a great practice.   Make sure your site exudes quality – and saves clients time from doing any due diligence on your firm.   Real testimonials, license info, and resumes are extremely helpful.

• Simplify your accountant site.   Look at your practice’s website and get rid of 50% on what's not really being clicked.  You’ll be surprised how cluttered your site is now and how much cleaner it will look after.

Potential clients will find your firm more easily in the crowd of other accountant websites -- and decide even faster to use your firm's services.

Learn how Teaspiller used this data to create a new marketing tool for accountants:  http://www.teaspiller.com/accountant-marketing/