Niching your accounting practice is the way to up your game. With the onslaught of technology coming at us at rapid speed, accountants and bookkeepers must consider picking an industry, one with complexity, and moving towards only servicing that one particular client base.
In doing so, not only does that help us to stay ahead of the rapidly changing profession, but it insulates us from bookkeeping services that are servicing the simpler, write up clients—the bank rule kind.
Here are my top three reasons to specialize in your practice:
1. If you become a specialist in your industry, people will pay you more for that knowledge. You become the expert. That go-to person that knows the language and can speak to the clients' industry. Does it take more work? Yes, you have to do much studying. It would be best if you put yourself in their shoes. But you enhance the revenue for your firm, it's worth it.
2. You can make your workflows run more efficiently. Imagine only having that one type of client. For me, that's working with attorneys and law firms. I now have a trained staff that knows my workflows. They know my applications and how to use my preferred software, LeanLaw, and lastly, they know what I expect to see when it comes to balancing trust accounts.
3. But this last reason is probably the most powerful one, reporting. Did you know when you study one industry, it allows you the benefit of digging in deep, study KPIs or key performance indicators. Study how other firms of the same size in the practice area are doing. Listen to podcasts, study other applications that very often have read blogs that you can pull and learn.
The reporting tip alone is where you will add that layer of advisory services to your repertoire of services you sell to customers. Do you know you get paid more for that too? And it's enjoyable! Once you dig in and start the slice and dice a firm, you can get into the nitty-gritty of how you can help your client grow. Help them make the right decisions. For example, many of the law firms I work with like to throw money at marketing. But they don't investigate where the leads are coming from, which ones turn into paying clients, where are the marketing dollars well spent? These are essential metrics you research to help your customers map out a good marketing strategy that works. They need us for analysis. They need us for forecasting; they need us for budgeting.
Specializing is the way to go!
I honestly thought I was going to be bored switching from being the "master of all types of businesses" to the "genius of one." That is the opposite of what happened. If you are scared about trying to move to one industry, don't be. Yes, you shut off the generalist sales funnel, but the bonus you get to share those leads outside your niche with colleagues that may specialize in the potential client's chosen field. From my personal experience, that's has been a rewarding perk that I never considered.
If you look at some of my other articles, I outline the steps that are used to move my practice to specialization. I'm excited about the future, and I hope this article at least sparks a thought in your mind of how to stay ahead of technology and stay relevant in our industry.
Lynda Artesani
Author Bio: Lynda Artesani is the president of Artesani Bookkeeping where she uses her expertise and organizational skills to help her small business clients grow their firms, thrive and become profitable. Her specialty is working with attorneys, real estate clients and start-ups. Lynda was recognized by Intuit and invited to be a member of the Intuit Advisory Council and the Intuit Trainer Writer Network. Additionally, she is the first Expert Columnist for the QB Community forum. She also co-admins a Facebook group with Matthew Fulton to help other business owners with QuickBooks, marketing, apps, workflow challenges and much more. The group is called QB Community Live! Originally from Rhode Island, Lynda relocated to Estero Florida. She is a registered yoga teacher and teaches two classes per week. Connect with Lynda on Facebook or Twitter @lynda_artesani and subscribe on YouTube at Artesanibookkeeping.