Mona gives a number of tips to writing effective Paid Search ads, including checking the competition, reviewing your Unique Sales Proposition (USP), and testing
Tag Archives: Killer
Grow Your CPA Firm Using Killer Marketing Materials
Truth be told, you don’t have to be an award winning copywriter to create effective marketing materials for your CPA practice. I found out a number of years back that even the “pros” use templates to create ads and sales letters that get results.
Before I share my template, it is important to first understand some of the objections that may be going on in the mind of the prospect whenever they see your advertising. You will want to make sure the marketing piece you create overcomes these objections.
These objections could include:
? You don’t understand my problem.
? How do I know you are qualified?
? I don’t believe you.
? I don’t need it right now.
? It won’t work for me.
? What happens if I don’t like it?
? I can’t afford it.
Here is my 12-point template to follow to create effective material pieces:
1) Get attention
If the headline doesn’t catch the prospect’s attention, the rest of the letter will not be read. Here’s an example of a good headline: “Some Small Business Owners Pay A Lot More Tax Than Others; Will You Pay Too Much In 2009?”
2) Identify the problem
After you have gotten the reader’s attention, you need to gain their interest by spelling out their problem. The reader should say to themselves “yeah, that’s exactly how I feel” when he or she reads your sales letter. This technique in the marketing world is called “problem – agitate.”
3) Provide the solution
In this section, you will introduce yourself and your services. You position yourself as the solution to their problem.
4) Present your credentials
This is the time and opportunity to toot your own horn. A few things you may consider to put here are the length of time you have been in this area of expertise, as well as important awards or recognition.
For myself, I talk about my credentials, including the fact that I am author of a book and a list of magazines I have appeared in.
5) Show the benefits
Help your prospects understand what they will gain from your services.
6) Give social proof
Provide testimonials from real clients as evidence that your claims are true.
7) Make your offer
Have a specific offer-more specific than your general services.
8) Give a guarantee
Guarantees help overcome the objection “What if it doesn’t work?”
9) Inject scarcity
Make sure the reader understands this offer isn’t going to be available forever. This helps to encourage them to take action now.
10) Call to action
Tell prospects clearly and specifically what to do in order to take you up on your offer.
11) Give a warning
What will the prospects miss out on if they don’t take action now?
12) Close with a reminder
Sure, twelve steps are a little more work than slapping down your name, address, and phone number in an image ad. But if you are serious about growing your CPA practice, it is important to implement effective CPA marketing techniques.
From hereon, whenever you want to create effective CPA firm marketing materials, follow the 12-point template that I have just shared with you.
Salim Omar, the CPA Marketing Genius, is a practicing CPA and founder of the Genius CPA Marketing System, the step-by-step system that shows you how to attract more clients to your CPA practice and increase your income without working more. To receive your FREE Audio CD titled “12 Marketing Secrets – How To Attract Quality Clients”, visit CPA Marketing Genius
Killer Closing Kungfu For CPAs
If you’re a CPA who’s working on improving your marketing, and you’ve already made the time for marketing, positioned yourself as the expert, and packaged your services…and you have a steady stream of leads flowing in–the next step is “meeting with the prospect” and “selling” them on your service, right?
The good news is that closing the sale is actually very simple, when you know how to do it, without feeling pushy and without the prospective client feeling like you’re pushing them to sign on the dotted line.
I’ve been experimenting with the soft close over the last 7 years now on many hundreds of different prospects, and I’ve made every mistake in the book, most of which cost me potential clients. But along the way, I kept getting better and better at it, and started crafting a process that I now consider pretty reliable.
Here’s the process I have in place when a business prospect calls my office wanting to meet with me:
1) When the prospect calls, the admin person in the front office collects all their information on a preliminary interview sheet, including their contact information, how they heard about my firm, questions about their existing CPA relationship and the reason they want to meet with me.
2) Then the meeting is scheduled with me after 5-7 business days.
3) A packet of information is mailed to them before they meet with me. They receive the packet from me that contains several things: a sheet on the team members, special report or my book, testimonials, past newsletters…it’s a thick “shock and awe” packet of information. We also include a “confidential application” in the packet that they must complete.
4) The prospect comes to my office to meet with me. Keep in mind that no one likes to be sold, but everyone likes to buy. With that in mind, I ask the prospect how they heard of my firm. I ask to take a look at their completed application so I can get a better overview of their revenues, their goals, books they have read, etc.
I probe into their needs, what has lacked in their existing relationship with their CPA and why they are looking for a change in their CPAs, what are their major challenges, what are their long and short term growth plans?
All the while I am making notes. I take a brief look at their business and personal tax returns.
I am listening ninety percent of the time and only interjecting to encourage the prospect to dig deeper into their issues. This is important; most CPAs go astray here, because they are not asking good questions and they are not attentively listening.
By engaging the prospect with good probing questions, you have differentiated yourself from the rest of the practitioners in your area. I use my notes to recap the list of things they need help on.
5) I briefly talk about what differentiates my firm from the rest and the service packages we offer and then I go into fees.
And differentiating my firm and me is important because when I come to the portion of my meeting when I talk about my fees, I don’t want the prospect to say “but this other CPA quoted me this.” I have changed the playing field such that the services they will receive are perceived to be very different than what my competitors would offer.
6) I get the appropriate signatures and payment and my firm has now got a new business client.
7) After the client is signed up, I will briefly meet with my Senior Manager to hand off to her the client paperwork. She takes it from there. She will call the client two days later to officially welcome them to our CPA practice and schedule their orientation meeting two weeks later. In the meantime, the admin person will send them a fruit basket and a “welcome aboard” card. I am looking at this as a lifetime relationship and a strong referral source so I am prepared to invest in it from the get-go.
Good closing techniques are very important as the final step in converting a prospect into a client. The good news is that closing the sale is actually very simple when you follow the process I have identified in this article.
Salim Omar, The CPA Marketing Genius, is a practicing CPA and founder of the Genius Marketing System, the proven step-by-step system that shows you how to attract more clients to your CPA practice and increase your income without working more. To receive your FREE Audio CD titled “12 Marketing Secrets – How To Attract Quality Clients” , visit The CPA Marketing Genius
