Make the Most of Trade Shows

Trade showPlus some mistakes to avoid.

By Sandi Leyva

Events are fabulous ways to leverage face-time selling activities. If you have eight leads, it can take you eight hours or more of one-on-one selling before they have had a chance to get to know you.

MORE SMALL FIRM GROWTH STRATEGIES: Speaking: How, Where and Getting Leads from It | Build Your Community Reputation | Build Reputation through Credentials, Testimonials | 5 Ways to Get More Referrals | Use Feedback for Service Innovation | Create Your Marketing Plan
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In an open house, speaking or at trade shows, you have the chance to meet hundreds of people in a compressed amount of time. That’s why marketing at events is so effective. It’s a great use of your marketing time.
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Speaking: How, Where and Getting Leads from It

Young woman speaking to crowdYou might get video content as well.

By Sandi Leyva

Speaking is a way to demonstrate your expertise to your audience without them having to hire you first. It’s perfect for accountants who are comfortable speaking in front of a room full of people.

MORE SMALL FIRM GROWTH STRATEGIES: Build Your Community Reputation | Track Your Online Reputation | Partnering: Referrals on Steroids | Measure Client Retention … Against Yourself | Take Your Client’s Pulse | How to Determine Your Ideal Client
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When I first started Accountant’s Accelerator, speaking electrified my business. I can trace tens of thousands of dollars in revenue back to just one speech I gave a few years ago.
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Build Your Community Reputation

People standing, holding food and talkingDon’t make these 2 mistakes. Plus: leveraging pro bono work.

By Sandi Leyva

Networking is an extremely popular way to get accounting clients. You can network informally, such as with your hairdresser or dentist or at church.

MORE SMALL FIRM GROWTH STRATEGIES: Track Your Online Reputation | The A-B-C’s of Getting Started with Advisory Services | 3 More Kinds of Referrals | Turn to the ABCs for Client Feedback | Use Client ‘Touch Plans’ to Stay in Touch | Build Your Revenue Plan in Reverse | Four Tools for a Millionaire Mindset | Best Practices for Growth: Network, Specialize, Share | Reconnect with Your Why
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Or you can network more formally in a leads group that you pay to join. Members of leads groups attend meetings and are able to announce their services and share leads with each other.
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Track Your Online Reputation

Businessman using Internet on smartphone and laptopWhat do people see when they search your name?

By Sandi Leyva

One thing you will want to track is your online reputation. This is a little different from online marketing.

MORE: The ABCs of Getting Started with Advisory Services | Build Reputation through Credentials, Testimonials | Use Feedback for Service Innovation
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What do users see when they Google your name? Does your website come up, or is it a person with the same name as yours whom clients could mistake for you?
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Build Reputation through Credentials, Testimonials

Plus how to craft your biography.

By Sandi Leyva

Reputation is a very common way that experts get business, and the power of this method for marketing is often overlooked.

MORE SMALL FIRM GROWTH STRATEGIES: Partnering: Referrals on Steroids | 3 More Kinds of Referrals | Turn to the ABCs for Client Feedback | Use Client ‘Touch Plans’ to Stay in Touch | Build Your Revenue Plan in Reverse | 5 Fast, Easy Ways to Turn Annual Clients into Year-Round Clients | How to Teach Financial Literacy | Best Practices for Growth: Network, Specialize, Share | 10 Easy Tips to Boost Your Business Cash Flow | 2 Ways to Serve Clients Better | How to Fire a Client | How to Manage Client Expectations
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When you are hired through repute, the client initially learns about you from some other source other than yourself or your firm’s employees. They may see your work or discover your work ethic in a variety of ways:
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Partnering: Referrals on Steroids

Portrait of young man and woman in business suits4 ways to spread the word.

By Sandi Leyva

Whenever you partner with another business person, you have access to all of their clients, effectively doubling your network.

MORE SMALL FIRM GROWTH STRATEGIES: 3 More Kinds of Referrals | 5 Ways to Get More Referrals | Use Feedback for Service Innovation | Create Your Marketing Plan | 3 Steps to Using Social Media to Increase Your Search Rankings
GoProCPA.comExclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

Of course, they have access to all of your clients too, so the benefit must be mutual and fairly even. It’s great if your partner has something you need but don’t have, and vice versa.
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5 Ways to Get More Referrals

Woman pressing one of many faces on a gridDo your clients even know you WANT them to share your name?

By Sandi Leyva

The most popular way to get clients is from referrals or by word of mouth.

MORE SMALL FIRM GROWTH STRATEGIES: Measure Client Retention … Against Yourself | Turn to the ABCs for Client Feedback | Use Client ‘Touch Plans’ to Stay in Touch | Build Your Revenue Plan in Reverse | 5 Fast, Easy Ways to Turn Annual Clients into Year-Round Clients | Best Practices for Growth: Network, Specialize, Share | How to Handle Referrals – And How Not To
GoProCPA.comExclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

A referral takes place when other clients refer you to their friends or a business associate passes your business card to a prospect, and the prospect calls you for more information. At the beginning of your career, you may get started with referrals from relatives, personal friends, previous employers or co-workers, or other entrepreneurs if you have been active in professional business groups.
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