Focusing On a Special Client Group

When you want your bicycle fixed you bring it to your auto mechanic, right? How silly. Both bike shops and auto mechanics repair things, but one has a much different focus than the other. Both may work with gears, but the tools they use are vastly different. In like manner, often bookkeepers try to be all things to all people.

Various industries have different requirements for their accountant. An auto dealership will have much different inventory reporting needs than a grocery store owner will. The processes may be similar, but have key differences. A car depreciates quickly, so a car dealer is concerned with the aging of their inventory over the course of a calendar year. A grocer has to keep an even closer eye on their produce inventory to avoid spoilage.

Focus Leads to Efficiency

As you really get to know a specific industry, you will come to know the most efficient processes for solving their financial challenges.

The first time you rode a bike, you probably felt awkward and clumsy. You probably fell a time or two and skinned your knee or got a bruise or two. With some practice, you don’t fall down anymore. You don’t even pause to think about how to ride the bike. It because automatic and very natural to you.

Each time you take a client from an industry you have not worked with before, there is a learning curve. One benefit of the Professional Bookkeeper program is that you get hands-on training in doing the books of several types of companies. Once you are on the job, you know what you are doing, because you have done it before. The support staff at Universal Accounting also provides telephone and email support to give you the answers you need when you run into a challenge you haven’t faced before. It’s kind of like putting training wheels on a bike, helping you in the learning process until you don’t need them anymore.

Selecting a Target Market

So who makes the best clients? That all depends on you. Who do you feel most comfortable working with? If you have fun in the company of dock workers, maybe working with affluent restaurant owners isn’t your thing. On the other hand, independent truckers are always looking for someone to do their books. Unlike a normal nine to five job, when you work for yourself, your job is what you make it. You get to pick your coworkers by choosing those businesses to work with that fit you best.

Pick an industry where the business owners know they need what you have to offer, where you will be valued. One accountant made an entire business out of servicing nothing but long-haul independent truck drivers. Bookkeeping usually isn’t what they want to spend time on, so they are happy to have you handle their books for them. They value what you do because it lets them have their evenings off after a long day, not working on paperwork. Independent truckers also typically make a pretty good income, so they can afford to pay you.

This is just one example of an industry that needs what you have to offer. From the florist down the street to the tire shop close to where you live, small businesses everywhere need what you have to offer. By law, every business must keep accurate books. Even “ma and pop” shops need to account for where their money comes from and where it goes, the same as multi-billion dollar corporations. You are needed.

Focus Brings Greater Profit

If you focus on a specific industry, you get to the point where with each new client, you can get them set up quicker. You get more done in less time. If you use the most profitable method of billing, the one taught in the Professional Bookkeeper program, you charge by the task, not by the hour. When it take you less time to get a task done, you get paid more per hour. You give yourself a raise.

Focus Gives You a Marketing Advantage

Your focus on a specific type of business in short order makes you the expert at that type of accounting. When you approach a potential client who owns a gas station, you have a huge advantage when you can say, “Sure I can handle your account. I service XYZ Filling Station just down the road and ACME Gas and Grocery on State Street.” The business owner knows right away that you are no stranger to his business. When you state that you can show how to save the client a great deal of money by rearranging how a few accounts are set up, your words have credibility. The business owner sees you as someone that knows their business, not as an outsider. Gaining their trust becomes much easier.

Once you are servicing a few clients and they come to know your expertise, ask for a referral to friends of theirs in similar industries. Often they will know many others in the same business and will be happy to refer you to them. Referrals may be the most valuable benefit you get from focusing on a specific industry. When a small business owner is looking for someone to do their books, they will ask around. Often they ask those that do the same kind of work. When potential clients find out how well that you have done for their friends, they are an easy sell.

Get the Word Out About Your Service

Once you have identified your target market, it’s then a matter of determining how you can easily reach businesses within these groups.Here are a couple of suggestions which should assist:

Attend industry networking functions and meet as many participants as you can. You should be able to obtain an invitation to the functions from one of your existing clients.
Contribute articles to any appropriate trade magazines. These can cover accounting or information technology tips which business owners will find of interest.
Meet business owners through attendance at Chamber of Commerce meeting.
Develop a simple flier to mail out to businesses in these industries. The flier should highlight your expertise in accounting issues which are relevant to their business.
Prepare press releases which make mention, of your experience and client base in particular industries.
Ask existing clients for referrals to their industry colleagues.

These are just a few marketing ideas. The Professional Bookkeeper program for startup accounting services devotes an entire 10-hour module to making your business a success. Marketing makes up most of those ten hours. You learn a step-by-step approach to getting the word out about how you can help small businesses in your area be more profitable. University training takes four years to learn accounting skills and never teaches you how to make a profit in accounting. The Professional Bookkeeper program teaches you accounting and bookkeeping in four WEEKS and gives you a simple process to follow to make $30 to $60 per hour. Hands-on training gets you ready to go beyond accounting theory right to real-world skills. You can start making a great income with those skills one short month from now. Many students of the Professional Bookkeeper already have a client or two by the time they finish the course. Click on the link below to see how much you can make for you and your family. You will see why accounting is such a great opportunity and how the Professional Bookkeeper program best prepares you for success. Show me why an accounting service is considered by many experts to be the best of the best Home Businesses

There are three primary reasons accounting is critical to the success of every business:

Tax Planning
Cash Flow Management
Management Information

Lets go through each of them in the order above.Tax Planning – How would you like it if you were the coach of a basketball team but were not allowed to see the score or the statistics until the end of the game? Does it surprise you that many small business owners run their businesses this way?Many small business owners just collect all their financial information in a box during the year. After the year is over, they drop the boxes on their tax preparers’ desks and hope that their tax people can figure the assortment of papers out. The tax preparer then does his/her best to sort through the materials and come up with the information the IRS is looking for. Then a phone call to the business owner notifies him/her of the damages.You don’t have to be a Harvard grad to realize that this is no way to manage a business. With information available throughout the year, a business can take advantage of tax deductions and tax planning concepts that will reduce taxes for the owner. It’s not unusual to save the business more on taxes than you charge them in fees for a year.Cash Flow – Every business owner knows that cash is the ‘life blood’ of the business. Without it the business suffers, and in many cases is forced to close. On the other hand, with proper cash flow management, a business owner can make the best use of his/her cash, and anticipate cash needs in time to arrange for financing, if necessary.Furthermore, knowing the bank balance is not enough. A business can have a sizable bank balance, but be in terrible shape. Our role is to go beyond the bank balance, and see further cash needs and resources.Not only will you be able to provide the business owner with accurate lists of cash resources (current assets), but you will also assist them in collecting accounts receivable, reducing their tax burden, and acquiring financing through preparing all the necessary documentation for the bank, investor, or finance company. The fact that you are helping them with their accounting will improve the chances of them getting a loan, as banks deeply recognize the value of good financial record keeping.Management Controls – Would you ever drive your car blind-folded? Of course not, that would be not only foolish but probably have tragic consequences. Yet, so many businesses have the blindfold on when they operate their business. They have no idea where they’ve been, where they’re at, or where they plan to go. Is there any wonder why one-third of all businesses close in the first 6 months of existence?This is where you should use a presentation book. A presentation book is a sample of complete books of accounting for various types of businesses. You can create one, or Universal has such a book you can buy. Show the business owner what type of information you will be able to provide that will help him/her in running the business.Review each journal. Identify the value of knowing how much sales a business had each month, and where the money was spent. Emphasize that payroll will no longer be the fearful subject it now is as you take over the burden of maintaining it. If they already have a payroll service processing their payroll congratulate them and offer to help them understand payroll even better.Show them an income statement and balance sheet. The income statement provides the monthly ‘score’ for the business. By comparing the current month to prior months a business can not only determine if they are improving or not, but also why profits were up or down.The balance sheet provides information on financial resources and obligations. This will help to determine the strength and solvency of the business. By tracking key indicators, such as current ratio, you and the business owner can identify potential problems before they become insurmountable.In each of these benefits you want to emphasize that information is power. The more information you can provide to the business owner the more capable they will be at running their business effectively.As you’re finishing, ask the prospective client, if these benefits are appealing. If he/she says “Yes” then you will want to negotiate a fee that will be fair for them and fair for you at the same time. If not, this would be a good time to thank them for their time, leave your card, and move on.For information on how to calculate a far and worthwhile fee see my article entitled “A simple and easy way to calculate your fee”There is a great need for those able to offer these services to small businesses in today’s market. Full information in creating an accounting and bookkeeping service is available at our Accounting Made Easy website.

Focusing On a Special Client Group