Podcast

Summary

• Starting Raw Accounting
• Client Acquisition
• Networking on LinkedIn
• Raw Accounting’s Client Conversion Rate
• What’s Next for Raw Accounting?

Additional Resources

• Raw Accounting
• Luke’s LinkedIn

Meet Luke J. Fletcher

Luke J. Fletcher is the Founder of Raw Accounting and an ICAEW chartered accountant. Having already worked for two of the UK’s largest accounting firms, Luke decided to follow his passion for small and mid-sized enterprises (SMEs) and set up his own firm just 10 months ago. Raw Accounting has a clear vision, to help small businesses unlock their full potential. Luke says that Raw is all about simplicity, cutting out the jargon, and doing things with energy.

Starting Raw Accounting

Since starting Raw Accounting, Luke has already acquired 70 clients. But why did Luke start his firm in the first place? “I was following that normal accountancy trajectory to partnership, and that being the thing that everyone aims for. I sat there and asked myself, ‘Is this really what I want? Is this where I see myself going?’” The answer was no. He wanted to set up his own firm and “put his own stamp on it.”

Whenever you set up your own firm, you need to fast track to find clients. David asked Luke whether he brought over clients, bought clients from another firm, or he had to start from the ground up. “It was zero clients, but I was always, right from the start, very keen to make sure that the right systems were in place.” So once he had the right systems in place, he started searching for clients and quickly found them. 

With his firm’s business growth,, David wanted to know what size team Luke was running. “At the moment, it’s just myself and then I have one part-time person who exclusively works with the payroll. But other than that, it’s just me servicing the 70 clients at this stage.” You might expect that Luke is working round the clock, even overtime, but that wouldn’t be quite right. Luke says his hours are still plenty manageable—even describing his hours as well below the U.S. average.

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Currently, he has 70 clients. On day one of Raw Accounting, he had none. So where did he begin? “The very first step I took was telling everyone I knew, from personal connections, previous network connections.” As Luke began telling people about his firm, people began to slowly trickle in, recognizing a need for the services he was offering.

The majority of the conversations Luke was having were on LinkedIn, where the largest part of Luke’s network was housed. “Day one, I was on LinkedIn and other social channels saying, ‘Look, this is what I’m doing.’” While personal connections (friends, family, close colleagues, etc.) are all well and good, Luke found that his network on LinkedIn had a much larger impact as a whole. Another aspect of his startup post that helped bring in clients was not specifying a niche at first. “I know there are many schools of thought. When you have zero clients and, obviously with zero clients comes zero income… I’ve got a mortgage to pay,” you are much more willing to have a broad array of clients. Luke did say that over time they would refine that client list to be more niche, but for now, he’s focusing on SMEs.

He may have had no clients to speak of on day one, but what about month one? “Month one, it was one client but a significantly sized business.” Though the SME category is fairly broad, those businesses are typically family-run and owner-managed, so the tax implications from one business to another are fairly similar.

Networking on LinkedIn

“LinkedIn really has been a good source of business for me. It’s not just about what you’re putting out; it’s about connection. It’s about commenting, sharing, and engaging with the community. If you’re doing it for your own purpose, then it’s seen through quite quickly.” Luke’s strategy is actually pretty straightforward: build relationships, engage with your connections’ content, and foster trust. The idea is to create meaningful connections and conversations.

But how did Luke have such success on LinkedIn? Luke says that there is honestly no “special sauce” to what he does. He maintains a consistent posting schedule and doesn’t post more than once per day. “I think it all comes down to being authentic.” Authenticity lends itself well to being genuinely interested. Luke says that if you’re commenting on someone’s post, and you’re really engaging with the content, LinkedIn is much more likely to highlight that comment as the top comment on that post, which means it will be the comment everyone will see in their feed with that post.

Part of his client acquisition process involved some direct marketing, both on LinkedIn and otherwise. LinkedIn can be a good source of direct outreach marketing because some of your connections undoubtedly need the services you’re offering. “We’ve all seen how recruiters used to use LinkedIn. A recruiter would send a post, and they’re maybe doing that to hundreds of people on a daily basis. Most of them aren’t landing. Most people are happy… then one, bam. It lands.” Luke isn’t saying to send hundreds of LinkedIn requests and messages on a daily basis. What he’s saying is that you need to be intentional in sending messages and connecting with people.

Raw Accounting’s Client Conversion Rate

David asked Luke how many sales calls and pitches he made in relation to how many clients he onboarded. “I couldn’t tell you the number of messages and email conversations I’ve had. What I would say is, when you get someone face-to-face and have a conversation and you show genuine interest in their business, I’ve found that conversions tend to be pretty high,” explained Luke. The most important thing is building that personal relationship with your clients and prospective clients. Luke calls his clients on a monthly basis, even when he has no real reason to, in order to touch base with them, discover their pain points, and discover their concerns. Eighty percent of those initial conversations turned into current clients.

What’s Next for Raw Accounting?

“The challenge for me now is increasingly my time being that I’m fully occupied at servicing the clients.” Luke wants to focus on growing the business and continuing to improve services for his clients. The next stage is bringing on support and hiring people that fit with Raw Accounting. The issue there is that he provides his services virtually which is a new landscape he’s having to navigate. Do they stay remote and expand their service offerings out or do they set up more traditionally with an office space and offer more local support?  

Conclusion

We covered a ton of great information in the podcast. If you’re after more detailed information, be sure to check out the full episode! If you’d like to connect with Luke to thank him or discuss the next stage of his business, you can connect with him on LinkedIn or through the Raw Accounting website.

Podcast

Summary

• What Is Dream Firms?
• Dream Client Acquisition
• Building Trust

• What Isn’t Working & What’s Crushing It

• What’s the Time Investment for Good Marketing?

Additional Resources

• Dream Firms
• LinkedIn Sales Navigator
• Free CPE Credits—CPA Academy
• Dream Firms’ Facebook Group: Proactive Accountants
• Dream Firms’ Youtube Channel

Meet Tyler S. Clark

Tyler S. Clark is the co-founder of Dream Firms, where they create generational wealth and impact for entrepreneurial accountants by systemizing how they attract, win, and retain the business of their dream clients. This is accomplished by delivering cutting-edge online training material coupled with dynamic coaching experiences while providing an incredibly high degree of accountability. Tyler graduated from Saint Joseph’s University and built and sold his own accounting firm before launching Dream Firms.

What is Dream Firms?

From a high-level, they help entrepreneurial accountants acquire and retain their dream clients. They like to start by helping accounting firm owners identify who or what that is. Most accounting firm owners start their own firm and then begin to generate a bit of revenue – taking any sort of business they can get. Once they create a bit of breathing room, “the game starts to be played in a very different way.”

At the point that you start having a bit of breathing room with some consistent revenue coming into your firm, and this allows you to be more selective about the opportunities you say ‘yes’ to and the ones you say ‘no’ to. This strategic decision is exceptionally beneficial from a client onboarding perspective. “You also have to be very strategic about what you say to the market. Some accounting firm owners will say, ‘I don’t have high-quality clients. How do I get them?’ What is the message that we are communicating and who are you specifically communicating it to?”

Next, you move into the acquisition phase, and that’s all about building trust. “That’s really what we hone in on, and the focus is on how we expedite the trust-building process.”

Dream Client Acquisition

“I’ve conducted well over a thousand one-on-one coaching calls in the last year with entrepreneurial accountants, and the first question I normally ask is who’s your dream client?” Tyler says the most common thing that he hears in these calls is the misconception that a service is a niche.

Saying that you want CFO-level clients isn’t what Tyler is looking for when he asks that question. “Saying CFO isn’t the same thing as having a well-defined dream client that would be in need of CFO-type services.” So, defining a dream client takes more into account that just the type of services that they need.

Tyler says that one of the categories to consider is revenue size. When you begin to think about your dream client, you should ideally be looking at businesses with a revenue size of at least six figures in annual revenue, and for more premium services you’ll need to target companies in the $1M–$5M range or those with at least 10 employees, which can be easily identified using LinkedIn’s Sales Navigator.

Another misconception that often crops up in his coaching sessions is the idea that criteria like “they take my advice” equates to a dream client type. “I love that you want to be seen as that advisor, but how do we target someone that’s willing to take advice?” adds Tyler. When it comes to the dream client acquisition, the important thing is being able to focus on a particular client-type that you serve—essentially, finding a niche to serve.

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Building Trust

Building trust can be hard and take a lot of time. Tyler’s key advice in building trust is to start by putting yourself in your prospect’s shoes. They’re trying to make a large value judgment, whether that’s booking a call with you or buying your services. Tyler recommends starting by Googling yourself.

“How sharp are the various social media profiles you’ve created? If you created a Twitter account but have never Tweeted, that may reflect poorly on your reputation with someone that really values a presence on Twitter.” Being consistent, Tyler says, is the easiest way to build, keep, and maintain trust. If you’ve created a social media profile that you have no intention of keeping up, delete it.

Another great way to build trust is to generate reviews. “Online reviews are the digital equivalency of gold!” You can tell people how much of an expert you are in your particular niche, or you can let your existing clients help convince prospects of that fact.

During the conversation, David pitched in saying that when it comes to reviews, the number you need is relevant to your market. “If you have a competitor that has no reviews, then picking up three to seven reviews immediately elevates you to the top. If you have a competitor that has 60, 70, 80, or 100 reviews, even if you pick up half a dozen to a dozen reviews, it’s still elevating your status.”

Tyler says that they’ve done a study on what would be the most competitive landscape in the United States for accounting, bookkeeping, and tax services, and they found that it was New York City. “What we found is that one 5-star review puts you ahead of 70% of all other accounting firms in the most competitive market in the US. Seven 5-star reviews puts you in the top 10% of accounting firms in that market.”

Lastly, what are your credentials? “Not just your CPA, but what are the other publications and thought leaders that are willing to host you?” shared Tyler. That builds credibility and trust quickly in the online era.

Tyler has a saying that he’s fond of: “You only get one reputation in this life.”

What Isn’t Working & What’s Crushing It

Paid advertising has been lauded as the golden child of marketing. It has been described as the number one way to grow your business over the last decade. “The proverbial silver bullet of Facebook ads and Google ads” have quickly lost relevance and have decreased in efficacy. One of Tyler’s mentors has stated that “the days of putting a dollar into Facebook ads and getting two dollars out are gone and never coming back.” Traffic & Funnels stated that if you’re not generating $100k per month in revenue, you shouldn’t even begin with paid advertising.

The cost of paid advertising has risen dramatically over the last two years. “In my honest opinion, you have to be very careful in choosing to go down that rabbit hole, because it’s a large commitment of time and capital.” David jumped in and said that Facebook, or Meta as it’s now called, will continue to buy up digital properties like Instagram, WhatsApp, and Oculus in order to get in front of as many people as possible. He believes that the digital advertising industries are making a shift to figure out the paid advertising bit and that once they figure it out they will either come back to paid advertising or pivot to something new.

Tyler said the thing that is working is a concept presented by Gary Vaynerchuk, or GaryVee. “He said that everybody thinks that social media is for kids, and really, what you should be thinking about it as is the current state of the Internet.” Tyler likes to help his clients understand that social media is the current state of the Internet. He isn’t saying to go do dances on TikTok, but he is advocating for using social media the right way. When you’re specifically engaging the thought leaders and business owners of your selected niche, you’re doing it right. “People are hungry for niche-specific content. They’re looking for experts to help them.” If you stay focused on and really engage with your niche, Tyler believes that “social media is still the bluest ocean for accounting professionals.”

If you are aware of where the attention is and engage your dream clients, those people will begin to notice you and think to themselves, “…wait, is this accountant niched in my area of expertise? My accountant isn’t. I wonder if they know something that they don’t.” You’re looking to create space for yourself, to differentiate yourself. One way that you can start doing this is through commenting on the existing content that others have created that you find useful.

“Sometimes people overemphasize the need to have really high-brow, intellectual comments. And don’t get me wrong, I’m always a quality over quantity person. But this is a paralysis by analysis. Just saying, ‘Hey this is a great piece of content. Thanks for sharing!’ Boom, you’re top of mind,” said Tyler.

There are so many different tactics that can be used to engage and attract your dream clients, but the important thing is to put yourself in their shoes. “What would get you excited if you were in their shoes? That is the fundamental lesson to me of all marketing.”

What’s the Time Investment for Good Marketing?

“Every single business owner should have three hours of deep focus, uninterrupted, working on their business every single day.” You have to build systems that generate a predictable result by following a repeatable process. So, setting aside time to work on something that will continuously provide results, you can see how important that would be. Tyler clarified that you aren’t perpetually trapped in commenting on people’s content and focusing on marketing. Carve out the time and reap the benefits.

Tyler noted that 99% of accounting firms have no outbound marketing. None. “Even if you dedicate just one hour per day to something related to marketing, you will accelerate yourself to your goals so much faster.” Even just having a very basic content marketing strategy in which you create a little bit of content, then you elevate it on social media, and then you delegate that task to someone else, you will see compounding benefits from that.

Conclusion

We covered a ton of great information in the podcast, so if you’re after more detailed information, be sure to check out the full episode! If you want to learn more about Tyler and how his company is helping entrepreneurial accountants build generational wealth and impact, you can connect with him via his website, Facebook group, or Youtube channel!

Podcast

Summary

• What is Full Stadium and Who Do They Serve?
• Standing Out as a Firm
• How to Get Started in Content Marketing
• Why Content Marketing Works for Accounting Firms
• What Makes for Good Content?
• The Biggest Obstacles to Firms Creating Great Content
• Must Have Tools for Content Marketing in 2022

Additional Resources

• Full Stadium
• Full Stadium’s LinkedIn
• Micky’s LinkedIn
• Micky’s Email—micky@fullstadium.co 
• Full Stadium’s Complete Guide to Accounting Firm Marketing
• Surfer SEO
• Ahrefs

Meet Micky Deming

Micky spent six years handling marketing at an accounting firm, before founding Full Stadium in 2018. 

As a dad to four kids under the age of six, clarity and simplicity are two words that are often hard to find. Though clarity and simplicity are at the core of content marketing and what Full Stadium is all about. Micky loves to bring clarity and simplicity to marketing, helping businesses take their message to their audience. 

What is Full Stadium and Who Do They Serve?

Full Stadium specializes in accounting firm content marketing. Micky notes that content marketing is essential for accountants and accounting firms because business owners need to learn and know how to understand their numbers and their finances. Full Stadium helps businesses in the accounting industry do just that through content marketing, blog posts, social media, and other similar content strategies.

Full disclosure, Full Stadium has worked with Jetpack Workflow for about two years writing the blog posts and helping with the newsletter.

Standing Out as a Firm

Marketing is difficult enough as is, but there are unique challenges for accounting firms when it comes to marketing. One of the primary obstacles is a fear/trust issue. Ask most any accounting firm owner where their leads come from and chances are their answer will be word of mouth. The reason word of mouth is the go-to strategy for lead generation is there is an inherent trust between the two people communicating.

“Content marketing builds a bridge, trust, and allows you, as a firm owner, to show a bit of personality and stand out,” shared Micky.

The second major obstacle that accounting firms face is differentiation. How are you and your firm different from others in the industry? When people think about the accounting industry, they often believe that it’s homogenous—that everyone is the same. So, how do you stand out as a business?

• Be yourself.
• Have a voice.

Micky used David as a prime example. 

“You may not be an accounting firm owner, but you’ve been producing this podcast for years and years and years. So many people know you and know your voice, and that builds trust.”

The key is to start producing content. Micky says that you don’t need to feel embarrassed or like no one wants to learn about accounting. People value your expertise as an accounting firm/accounting professional. People want to get to know who you are and what your firm stands for.

Content can be a real game-changer. However before you start producing content, you should determine who you are for.

“Who is your audience? It’s extremely hard to differentiate yourself, if you’re just speaking to the masses.” 

Narrow your focus and determine your audience. Once you’ve identified your audience, you can start producing content based on what they care about, the questions they’re asking, and the problems they’re facing. Everyone wants their business problems solved, so produce content about the problems and pains your ideal clients are facing.

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Micky notes that there is no formula for perfect content marketing strategy creation. It’s largely based on what your clients need, what your strengths are, and where those two things overlap.

David agreed and brought up one example that came to mind: LWS Tax & Accounting out of Springfield, Ohio.

“I can’t remember a single, specific piece of content that they’ve put up,” says David, “but they’ve got a great following because they’re the ‘Springfield, OH Heros.’”

LWS goes around doing good deeds in Springfield and highlighting different community members. They let their content strategy form organically based around community involvement.

Content doesn’t always have to be how-to guides, it can also be local interest content.

“There are so many ways to do it,” Micky says. “The important thing is to not be static, not be stagnant.”

However, you don’t need to try and replicate what someone else is doing. Micky also recommends just leaning into your own style, because people can tell when you’re not being authentic. 

The Status of Content Marketing in 2022

Competition has become more fierce. The need for differentiation has gotten higher. The need for specificity has increased.

So, trying to write an article or a blog post along the lines of “Accounting to Grow Your Business,” really isn’t going to gain much traction because it’s so broad of a topic.

That’s why it’s so important to know who your audience is. If you have a specific niche or industry that you’re solving problems for, you can create very specific articles tailored to that industry. Produce enough quality content and, eventually, you’ll become the go-to person in that niche.

One of the other major changes that we’re seeing is the importance of up-to-date, accurate information. These days, the buyer is empowered to shop around and be choosy about their purchases. This is why it is vital to have up-to-date information on your website.

“People won’t pull the trigger on contacting you if your website isn’t up-to-date. I know I’m that way. If I go to a website and it’s just stagnant, I wonder whether or not that business is even open anymore or doing anything. That’s just shooting yourself in the foot,” said Micky.

It may be important that people can find you in a search, but it’s even more crucial that you have something that’s engaging—showing potential clients that you are keeping up with the industry and our current economy.

What Makes for Good Content?

David pitched in saying that client FAQs make for great blog posts.

“Worst case scenario, you write it and save your team time because they can reference the article when clients call with questions or you can use it as a prompt for advisory,” said David.

Micky agreed, saying that his team thinks about those questions that crop up consistently and then write about those questions in order to add value to the community, whether locally or globally. Additionally, Micky spends time browsing accounting firms’ websites. One blog post he sees fairly consistently is something along the lines of “Newest Tax Law.”

“I’m just thinking, ‘They trust you to take care of that.’ Clients don’t really want to read about or learn about that themselves on your website,” stated Micky.

On top of the basic changes, there has also been a major shift in focus onto cash flow, forecasting, funding, filing loan paperwork, etc. People want to know how to increase their profits, earn more money, and know how to make distributions within their team. Accounting isn’t boring. Sure, it can be a bit niche, but people are genuinely curious about topics that fall squarely within your realm of expertise.

“In personal finance, you see blogs all the time. People eat that content up. Why would a business owner be any different?” asked Micky.

David provided a few examples of some great content. First, he suggested that firm owners could take a blank loan application from the bank, shoot a YouTube video of how to fill it out (using placeholder data), and then publish it. Not only will that video be indexed by YouTube, but it also serves as a great resource for clients to use. The same could be done with generic tax returns (David said he saw this being done probably 5–6 years ago).

Micky says that you don’t need to worry about overeducating people, because, more often than not, people just want expert help. Putting out information, whether that’s a blog post or a video, that your clients find helpful can only be a good thing. It impacts your referrals and organic leads. That kind of content increases the chance that other people will see it and recognize your firm as being helpful and educational.

The Biggest Obstacles to Firms Creating Great Content

Many firms don’t see the ROI on their content marketing due to several reasons. These reasons are things that require daily discipline.

Just get started. Oftentimes, we create these robust content marketing campaigns that cover a large portion of time. These plans are often so large that we never get started on them. Just start producing content. Producing something that’s even half-decent is better than nothing at all. Even if it’s just once a month, you’re still ensuring that your website isn’t stagnant. Don’t think that you have to completely overhaul your website before creating content, either. What’s important is whether the content you produce is valuable to your clients.

Use your email lists. Wait. Isn’t email dead? Nope. Email marketing is still extremely effective. People often don’t mind receiving emails from your firm whenever they’re downloading resources off of your website. People know that they are exchanging their email for a resource that they find valuable. If the person is in the window shopping phase, they’re looking to see what you send to them next. That follow-up content needs to be valuable, informative, and well-polished. Lastly, don’t abuse it. Send emails out with purpose.

Video. So many firm owners think of content only as blog posts, newsletters, social media posts, whitepapers, etc. In the age we’re in, video is a huge part of content marketing. Video content can help put a face to a name, help your clients see your personality, and give you the opportunity to really engage with your audience.

Remarketing. Marketing doesn’t stop when a prospect becomes a client. You can and need to continue marketing to your clients once they’ve come on as a customer. Clients can forget the range of services you offer, so it’s helpful to remind them. Again, the most common method of lead generation is word of mouth. If your clients don’t know that you offer advisory services, how will they be able to tell their friends that own businesses that you can help grow their business?

Must Have Tools for Content Marketing in 2022

Here are a few suggestions that Micky gave concerning what tools to have at your disposal as you create content for your firm in 2022.

• Surfer SEO— This is a more recent tool for the Full Stadium team, but it’s one that they see themselves using well into the future. It’s a tool that helps you research keywords, plan content, audit your webpages, and compare your site’s performance to your competitors.
• Ahrefs—This tool is used for tracking and keyword development.
• The G-Suite/Google Workspace
• Canva—A design tool that turns anyone into an (almost) design pro.

Conclusion

We covered a ton of great topics in the podcast, so if you’re after more detailed information, be sure to check out the full episode! If you want to learn more about Micky, Full Stadium, and about how content marketing can take your firm to the next level, you can connect with him via email or on LinkedIn!

And feel free to check out Full Stadium’s Free Guide to Accounting Firm Marketing.