As an accounting/bookkeeping firm, your advice is key to your client’s success. However, if you aren’t able to identify the clients who are suitable for financial/commercial advisory services, you not only miss out on your own expansion but also on assisting clients ready to scale up their own business. Here we discuss how to identify clients ready to scale up, to find ideal candidates for your financial/commercial advisory services.
WHAT ARE THE KEY COMPONENTS FOR SCALING UP?
Because scaling up means different things to different people, you need to be able to spot the clients who seem to have an appetite to run a larger business. They are focused on growth, but they might not know how to achieve their goals. In order to identify these clients, you need to understand the key components of scaling up including:
A Keen Leadership Team
Businesses focused on growth tend to take the time to assemble a capable leadership team focused on a vision that they are keen to implement. They appreciate the importance of ongoing professional development and invest in their own corporate governance training.
Strong Communication
The reliance on training for a company intent on scaling up doesn’t end with the leadership team. These companies implement ongoing team training as well, as they realize their success can only be achieved with a team with the right skills. They also understand that their team needs to share and understand their vision and therefore regular communication with the general team members keeps everyone invested and engaged in their jobs to help the business meet their goals. A shared vision and investment in communication and training also reduce churn and improve team loyalty for a stronger, more focused business. “Offering financial/commercial advisory services will contribute to your firm’s Talent Attraction and Retention Strategies because your team members will be undertaking interesting and challenging work.”
The Right Strategy
Growth is difficult to achieve without a strategy. A business intent on growth takes the time to identify key strategies covering every aspect of the business. The strategy is shared with the team, and documented to formalize it. Everyone within the business understands the strategy and its role in helping to achieve goals. The strategy is not just documented but implemented and tracked. This is one of the toughest elements of growth as it requires commitment and involvement at every level.
Data-Driven Decision Makers
The leadership team and the directors need to continually analyse the Cashflow Forecast. By keeping an eye on cash flow, they always know when cash is available and where it will come from to fund the business’ growth. This is key to a successful scaling-up process as leaders can identify whether cash flow is available or when it’s time to look at new ways to raise capital. Should they look for extra shareholder contributions? Is this the time to be borrowing money? If they borrow, do they have spare assets for security? Maybe they can raise capital from the public utilising Crowd-Sourced Funding Equity Raising? If the company is a “young company” that has been undertaking innovative activities such as research and development, the company may be able to achieve the status of being an “Early Stage Innovation Company.” Investors in an “Early Stage Innovation Company” are able to obtain significant taxation benefits from their investment. This status differentiates this type of company and is attractive to many investors, therefore assisting a company with this status to raise capital.
USING BENCHMARKING TO INTRODUCE BUSINESS ADVISORY SERVICES
If you find you have a client base that would gain from business advisory services, there are a few routes you can take. For example, if you have a group of clients in the same industry, your range of business advisory services can leverage your knowledge of that industry. You could include a benchmarking service for this group of clients to help them measure the performance of their products, services, or processes against industry best practices to help them become best in class. If you can help them find opportunities for improvement, they can more effectively scale up their business.
Of course, because you will be serving a group of competitors, confidentiality processes must be implemented to ensure confidence in your services. However, this strategy has proven successful for firms in several industries including:
- Marino Wool
- Cotton
- Beef Cattle
- Medical Practices
- Pharmacies
- Dental Practices
- Specific types of Tradie Businesses
This is one of the easiest ways to introduce business advisory services.
TRADIE CHARGE OUT CALCULATOR OPPORTUNITIES
If you find many clients share characteristics, e.g., tradies, you have another excellent opportunity to offer financial/commercial advisory services. You can utilise the Tradies’ Charge Out Rate Calculator as an introductory tool to start a conversation with the tradie business operator. By helping tradies calculate the costs of their services, they can apply the right profit margin to their hourly rate. Tradies can more easily offer accurate, fair quotes to their clients, but also consider how their quotes impact their bottom line.
As a result, you have an opening to develop your product offering to include the preparation of monthly financial accounts and a monthly business review meeting. The tool is the ideal base for you to analyse the tradies' actual performance in areas such as productivity, the markup on external purchases for the benefit of clients, and overhead costs, and identify opportunities to fine-tune the charge out rates being utilised for the remainder of the year. It is the ideal way to establish your worth, improve confidence, and expand your services into something that is tangible and needed.
THE BENEFITS OF RECOGNIZING SCALABLE CLIENTS
When you can identify scalable clients, you can prepare a persuasive upselling strategy to convince them they are suitable for financial/commercial advisory services. As well, you can determine what type of services will provide the most value to your clients, and base the new services on scalable clients’ specific needs. Your firm can expand its reach and become an important partner by helping your clients meet their business goals. Because small business owners do not have the benefit of an in-house CFO, your financial/commercial advisory services provide them with the same insights large companies enjoy, but on an affordable, smaller scale.