Lead Generation: Tips to Gain More Clients for your Accounting, Bookkeeping and Outsourced Payroll Service Firm

While 68% of B2B companies struggle with lead generation (Apsis), it is a chance that consistently bringing in quality leads is a challenge for your accounting, bookkeeping, and outsourced service firm.

Thankfully, there are easy and more effective ways to generate leads aside from purchasing lists or traditional methods such as direct mail or newspapers. Let us explore what lead and lead generation is, why you will need it, and how you can generate quality leads for your practice.

What is a lead?

A lead is a potential client who has shown interest in your accounting or outsourced payroll service or has expressed an interest or engaged with you. This is typically by providing their contact information or taking a specific action, indicating they may be interested in learning more about your offerings.

An example could be a contact form within a website. When you fill in and submit details such as your name, email address, and phone number, you are now considered a lead to the company. Afterward, you might receive an email or a call.

There are different types of leads – here are some examples of different types of leads and their definitions:

• Marketing Qualified Lead: These are contacts who may have engaged with marketing activities, but are not ready to receive a call yet. For example, someone who fills out a form to attend an online session you are hosting.
• Sales Qualified Lead: These are contacts who may have enquired about your services directly. For example, someone who has questions about your services and fills out a form on your website.

What is lead generation?

Lead generation for accounting, bookkeeping, and outsourced service firms are attracting potential clients who require services such as expertise, tax, bookkeeping, or payroll assistance.

You can achieve quality leads through digital channels like a professional website, social media presence, and content marketing or offline methods such as networking events, referrals, and traditional advertising.

By generating steady leads, you can nurture relationships, showcase value, and convert prospects into loyal clients, leading to business growth and a strong reputation in the financial industry.

Why is generating leads so difficult?

Lead generation can be challenging for accountants due to several reasons:

• The accounting industry is highly competitive, making it harder to stand out and attract potential clients.
• Potential clients may hesitate to switch due to perceived risks or the fear of disrupting their financial process.
• Building trust is critical in the accounting, bookkeeping, and outsourced payroll service profession, and gaining the trust of potential clients can take time and consistent effort, making lead generation a more intricate process for other industries.

However, we should not let these challenges affect the best of us. Let us dive into the top strategies and tips for generating quality leads.

What does brand awareness have to do with lead generation?

Brand awareness matters for lead generation because it establishes credibility, trust, and recognition among potential clients. Leads are more likely to recognise and be less concerned about your expertise and reliability if your firm has a strong brand presence.

Additionally, brand awareness helps accountants, bookkeepers, and outsourced payroll service firms stand out from competitors, enabling you to capture the attention of potential loyal, long-term clients.

8 strategies and tips to generate quality leads

Build a presence on Linkedin

Building a strong LinkedIn presence for lead generation as an accountancy, bookkeeping, or outsourced payroll service firm starts with your company page. Craft a professional and engaging profile that communicates your services, expertise, and unique selling points.

Develop a content strategy that establishes your credibility and attracts potential clients seeking your services. We do not want a sales approach, so share valuable content on social media such as informative articles, tips, and success stories to showcase your firm’s knowledge and capabilities. You can also get better exposure to your target demographics and ideal clients by using Linkedin ads and Lead Gen Forms to capture potential interest and contact information.

Engage in content marketing

Put yourself in your client’s shoes and focus on providing valuable and relevant content. Ask yourself what are their pain points and challenges. How can I offer solutions to help solve their challenges? This will help when building a content strategy.

As an example, incorporate case studies and success stories to highlight how your firm has helped clients overcome specific financial challenges or an article on teaching your target audience how to uncover a range of eligible deductions that could save their business money.

Develop strategic partnerships

Building strategic partnerships can significantly boost lead generation for an accountancy, bookkeeping, or outsourced payroll service firm. Start by identifying potential partners in related industries, such as business consultants, financial advisors, or HR firms. You can then approach them with a clear value proposition and the benefits of collaborating.

New collaboration opportunities include joint webinars, workshops, or co-authored content that can showcase expertise to both partner and target audiences, enhancing lead generation.

Get involved in industry events

Participating in industry events is an excellent way for an accountancy, bookkeeping, or outsourced payroll service firm to generate leads. If you work with businesses in specific industries, start by identifying relevant conferences, trade shows, and networking events.

For example, if you mainly work with hospitality businesses, put yourself in front of decision-makers or leaders who attend local hospitality events. You could even create a campaign or relevant content to support your attendance.

Utilise Pay-Per-Click (PPC)

PPC is a type of digital advertising where you would pay a fee each time your ads are clicked on Google Search. If your target audience searches a specific term that relates to your services, such as “Payroll services for the hospitality industry”, you would want to appear on the first page of the search results so that it increases visitors to your website.

By carefully managing PPC campaigns and selecting the best webpage to direct visitors to, your firm can reach a qualified audience actively searching for accounting, bookkeeping, or payroll services.

Update your website

The first important thing to consider is optimising the design of your website, ensuring easy navigation and clear direction on what you want your visitors to do, whether on desktop or mobile.

For example, ‘Contact us’ at the end of your service/solution pages, ‘Schedule a consultation’ at the end of a blog, or ‘Download now’ for your visitors to receive a free resource such as an e-book.

It is important to place these strategically on your website near forms next to content that showcase your expertise and value by using case studies or client testimonials.

Nurture your leads

Once you have an email list from all your marketing-led activities, if they are an MQL, they may not be ready for a call just yet. This is where nurturing works well to gradually guide them through the sales funnel and increase their interest in your services. By using valuable content consistently, your accountancy, bookkeeping, or outsourced service firm can strengthen relationships and increase the likelihood of converting your existing leads into loyal, long-term customers.

Use automated and personalised emails to specific buckets within your leads to help you save time. Easy-to-use email marketing platforms exist out there that allow you to simply drag and drop.

Ask for referrals

Your firm can tap into a steady stream of qualified leads by fostering a referral network that includes various positive experiences of clients. Satisfied clients are more likely to refer their friends, colleagues, and business associates to you.

This stems from ongoing communication, transparency, and a valuable service offering. However, you can take that extra step by implementing a structured referral program that incentivises your clients to refer you to new leads. This will allow you to offer rewards, discounts, or exclusive services for successful referrals to motivate your clients to promote your firm.

Find the best partner for growth

Lead generation does not need to be a challenge for your accounting, bookkeeping, or outsourced payroll firm. Lean on these 8 tips above to find better ways to engage your target audience, generate leads, and find potential long-term clients.

Accounting, bookkeeping and outsourced payroll service firms who have joined the Employment Hero Partner Network get the resources they need to grow their firm and services such as outsourced payroll.

If you have also been looking for trustworthy payroll and workforce management software to improve your payroll processes for your clients, learn more about Employment Hero Payroll and what we can offer your clients worldwide from Australia, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Singapore and Malaysia.

Are you interested in more blogs like these? Check out our blog on How to compete in the growing payroll services market