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By Andreas Rivera

It’s a frustrating feeling to be confident in the quality and output of your firm, but to see a plateau or drop in your growth. Many businesses face these periods of standstill and unease, and it’s usually a signal that it’s time to strategize new paths for growth. Before the global economic upheaval caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, a survey by Accounting Today found that 36% of accounting firms’ biggest concern for 2020 was acquiring and retaining new clients.

Expanding your client base takes a lot of effort in several different areas, including marketing, expanding services, hiring new professionals, and personal outreach. Client retention, too, is vital, but it is an entirely different animal. It is one that requires a different set of strategies, but, if you’re successful, it could prove even more valuable than expansion.

Putting Retention in the Spotlight

Attracting new clients is vital for growth, but accounting retention is even more important. Acquiring a new client is essentially nullified if two clients walk away. One step forward, two steps back is not a path to success. In the accounting world, client loyalty is never guaranteed; if they feel a better arrangement is available, then they’ll probably take it.

It’s unwise to focus too many resources on client acquisition and not enough on retention. Fortunately, client retention efforts are almost always cheaper than expansion; therefore, focusing on your retention numbers is paramount to maintaining growth without having to spend more.

Communication

For every form you need to fill out and process, for every document you need to go digging for in the filing cabinet, and for every signature you need to go track down, that’s time taken away from communicating with your client. The time spent on redundant processes is the bane of productivity. Shifting from a system that requires manual processes to one that assigns these tasks to an automated model allows high-skilled professionals to refocus their efforts toward strategizing, analyzing, and communicating with clients.

Communication can even be improved without direct input from you, thanks to automation. Automated messages containing notifications or reminders let clients know that their account is a constant part of your daily process. Furthermore, secure transmission of documents that is protected by encryption will let them know you take their privacy seriously.

Retain Employees Too

An important aspect of client retention is the relationship between clients and individual CPAs. As mentioned earlier, client acquisition and retention are big concerns for firms, but according to the same Accounting Today survey, acquisition and retention of good employees are even bigger worries. And the two challenges are tied together.

Clients want consistency. They want to build long-term relationships with CPAs who understand what they’ve been through and how their situation has changed year-to-year. They don’t want to have to retell their story if their regular accountant has left the firm. It’s especially challenging since the CPA industry is highly competitive: firms will offer more benefits to talented CPAs to lure them away from the competition.

It’s more vital than ever that CPA firms offer their employees an engaging work environment that allows them to be productive and accomplished, without being overworked. Fatigue and feeling overburdened at a job are some of the main reasons CPAs look for other opportunities. Technology solutions can help lighten the load, namely by streamlining or even eliminating the most mundane tasks of a CPA.

Andreas Rivera is a technology writer with experience in both reviewing and marketing technology services and products. Since early 2019, he has been the marketing content writer for eFileCabinet and is well-versed in document management software. You can contact him at arivera@efilecabinet.com.

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