Projecting Practice Growth for 2010

We heard from an accounting practice owner last fall, “My practice is doing about 10% more than last year”, he said.  That caught my attention since we were in the midst of a recession.  He attributed the growth to his “marketing efforts the past few months.”  Last week we checked back in with him to ask how tax season was going and he responded that his efforts were paying off and he was having the best tax season in his practice’s history.

It’s no wonder his practice is doing well.  He developed a marketing plan and executes his plan.  This may seem like a no-brainer for many, but the fact is many accountants do not plan when it comes to marketing.  We surveyed more than 1,000 accounting and tax professionals last year and 48% responded that they seldom or never follow a strategic marketing plan.  Only 21% of respondents often or always follow a plan.

Can you imagine investing in a company that admits to not creating or following a marketing plan?   A company that is going to rely solely on referrals and repeat business clients from last year to help them achieve this year’s goals. 

Now, I am not saying that every firm needs a marketing plan or that every plan needs to be extensive.  Some accounting practice owners are happy with the status quo.  But 54% of respondents to our survey expect their practices to grow this year, both in revenues and in number of clients.  Many are going to hit that number by accident.  Others will do it by keeping busy and working hard.  A majority or going to need to work hard, be smart and following a strategic plan if they hope to achieve this goal.

My advice is to spend some time after tax season looking back at what worked for you and what didn’t work. Then, lay out a simple plan on how to leverage those successes throughout the remainder of the year.  Then, implement and follow the plan.  You will likely need to make adjustments during the year, but having a roadmap is an important starting point and will help you document lessons learned so you can tune and improve the plan year to year.

We will have discussions and posts related to this topic throughout the year.  Keep an eye open for them let us know what you think.