How to move beyond the ‘once a year’ client relationship

A CPA’s business can be notoriously seasonal. There’s a flurry of activity and anxious clients around tax time. But once April 15 (or April 18 this year) passes by, things can get awfully quiet.  

With another tax season behind us, it’s time to think about how you can maintain a year-round relationship with existing and potential clients. Staying connected with your clients over the course of the year helps prevent them from looking elsewhere for new solutions to their financial goals. And conventional wisdom, along with numerous studies, says that keeping one existing customer is at least 5 times more profitable than attracting a new one. 

Here are a few easy ways to connect with your clients throughout the year:

•  Personally touch base 12-18 times a year: You can use email to make contact during the year, but don’t rely on email alone. Make phone calls, send a few handwritten notes, even pass along various articles that might be of interest to your clients. 

•  Participate in local events: We all know that participating in local events, such as conferences or dinners, can be an invaluable networking tool to establish authority in your field and find new clients. These same events can help you strengthen relationships with your existing clients as well. For example, if you receive an invitation to a dinner event, ask one of your clients to join you. If you’ll be speaking at a conference or educational seminar, don’t forget to send personal invitations (with a discount code, if applicable) to your client base. 

•  Set up a client newsletter: Even in a world of Tweets, status updates and RSS feeds, the email newsletter is still an important tool for client contact. This form of communication lets you stay front and center with clients and prospects on a consistent basis. Most importantly, newsletters show readers that you are a valuable source of information that they can count on. Depending on your budget, schedule and interests, you can either hire a service to outsource all aspects of your newsletter, or write the content yourself and find a web application to handle the formatting. Whichever way you go, just remember that content is king. The substance of your articles is what will keep your clients engaged and wanting more.

•  Team up with local professionals in a joint promotion: I truly believe in the power of collaboration, particularly among small businesses. Touch base with some complementary local businesses and brainstorm about a joint promotional event or marketing partnership. You’ll be increasing your target audience by combining everyone’s client bases, you’ll bring more value to your clients, and you can share the expenses with other business owners. For example, if you cater to small businesses, you could organize a “Small Biz Bootcamp” event with other area professionals, such as speaking coaches, marketing consultants, insurance specialists, etc. 

•  Create affiliate relationships with other complementary services: You can expand your own service portfolio by partnering with other professionals and services. For example, you can partner with a legal document filing service to help clients file for an LLC or corporation, or file their initial or annual statement of information. These services are a natural and synergistic extension of what you do already. This act strengthens your role as a trusted resource and advisor, as clients can count on your expertise and help in a greater number of matters. 

Each of these steps is geared toward bringing value to your clients and positioning yourself as an essential resource for their business and finances. With a steady stream of communication, clients will think of you first whenever their personal lives or financial situations change and they’re in need of advice.

Nellie Akalp is CEO of CorpNet.com, her second incorporation filing service based on her strong passion to assist small business ownersand entrepreneurs in starting and protecting their business. She has formed over 100,000 corporations and LLCs across the U.S.  To learn more about Nellie and see how she can help your business get off the ground quickly and affordably, please visit here.