Accountants often start small practices because they want autonomy to do what they love: help clients with their year-end accounts, bookkeeping, tax compliance, among other areas of accounting practice.
But for a business to be successful, accountants need to have a commercial mindset, along with the marketing and sales know-how to get a business off the ground.
“Many accountants think they’re in business as an accountant, but like any other business, you have to be good at winning business. If you don’t have clients, then it doesn’t matter how good you are as an accountant,” says Simon Thandi, Director at Thandi Nicholls.
“A lot of people struggle with that because sales and marketing is alien to them. Winning business is one of the biggest hurdles when you start out, so you have to be proactive. If you’re just going to set up your business and think people will come to you, that’s a recipe for failure.”
When Thandi started his business in 2011, he took out ads in local media and distributed leaflets. In recent years, he’s invested in digital solutions, and he suggests other accountants could benefit from a similar approach.
“You need to have a website and it must be something that’s going to engage the client. My advice would be to take a look at other accountants’ websites, and engage a good copywriter and web designer. Then find someone who can help you with search engine optimisation (SEO) to grow your client base, and you could consider using Google AdWords. You need to make some investment in marketing to accumulate business.”
In Thandi’s experience, clients are usually with an accountant for the long haul, so an upfront expenditure on marketing to bring the right clients on board will ultimately be worth the investment.
Getting started in practice
Starting out in business can be a stressful experience, and it can help to share the load with a business partner who complements your skillset.
“I partnered with someone who didn’t want to do the marketing. He was just interested in the work, so our arrangement was that I spent all my time on marketing and sales – bringing in the business – and I could rely on him to do all the accounting work,” says Thandi.
“The other benefit is that it gives you both time off. If you need a break, the other person can cover while you’re on holiday. It’s definitely worth thinking about partnering with someone else.”
In the early days, Thandi took on most prospective clients who came his way, but in time he’s been able to establish a speciality area – property tax – and established Thandi Nicholls as one of the UK’s leading firms for property tax.
“It’s much easier to start as a generalist and I would strongly advise that. As you’re doing that, see if there are any similarities between the work you’re getting that you can develop a niche in. If you can develop a niche, it gives you a significant advantage.”
Take the quiz
So, are you ready to take the plunge and start your own business? Financial Accountant, in collaboration with Nicholls, has developed a short eight-question quiz to help you benchmark your readiness.
