Accountants: what’s the secret to securing consistent advisory work?

Paid advisory work can be a major boost to your accounting firm – but only if you can keep the momentum going.

It can bring in more money and deepen your relationship with your clients.

But just as quickly, that work can dry up. If it does, the extra income it brings evaporates, and your deepening relationships with clients can fade.

You need advisory work to be a consistent stream of income. So, how can you achieve this?

A structured plan for winning advisory work

To win consistent advisory work, you need to develop a structured game plan. It must be one you and your teams can rely on, time and again.

With such a plan in place, you can test approaches and see what works. You can also measure the return on the time you have invested because pitching this work becomes much more routine.

It’s a good idea to incorporate paid advisory into your client work from your first meeting. For many clients, this can feel fairly instinctive. You know how businesses work and can quickly uncover their pressure points and ambitions. From there, you can develop a series of advice-worthy objectives and metrics.

But some clients might have an extra layer of complexity. How can you take your first step with them? It’s those businesses we will discuss next.

The “day one” advisory approach for more complex clients

The more complex your clients, the trickier it is to find all their hidden ambitions and needs – the ones where they can benefit from paid advisory meetings.

However, there are some key talking points, depending on the client’s situation. Let’s look at the three complex businesses you will meet and some of the ways you can approach advisory requirements. After that, we’ll provide you with a checklist of major talking points.

1)     Private equity (PE) funded clients

PE-funded businesses operate in a different world from their contemporaries. Important targets are set by their investors, who will have often have executives sit on their board. Because of this arrangement, they might have specific metrics to help narrow their focus. There may also be plans for the PE firm to sell your client. To do this in a way that’s beneficial for all, there may be much to do.

The good news is you can help.

As well as being motivated by the PE company, the client will also have their own growth initiatives. They might be growing through organic expansion or through acquisitions, for instance.

2)     Charities and not-for-profits

Nothing says “complicated” quite like being a charity.

On top of winning funding, they must demonstrate the impact of their funding to those who provided it. They will equally be very mindful of the Charity Commission’s reporting standards.

They may also have nagging concerns about changes in policy.

3)     High net worth individuals

As your firm grows, interesting people come through your door. These include high-net-worth individuals. They might be very much in the public spotlight, where the results of unpopular or incorrect advice have massive repercussions.

For them, everything is more real. It’s their future, their legacy, their reputation. But they might need a lot of advice if nobody has helped them with this before.  

Of course, none of this will come to much if their investments go awry. Is someone helping them to manage their wealth?

Your advisory checklist for complex clients

You might not get all your advisory work in your diary straightaway – that would be a lot of pressure to place on one discussion. So you need to look at their calendar, which is what we’ll discuss next.

Make a client’s calendar work for you

One powerful way to link into a client’s world is through their year ahead. Check in and see what landmark events they have – including things they might never think to mention.

As part of these landmark dates, it might be helpful to put deadlines on their ambitions. When would they like to see efficiencies start to work? What about important dates for leases, investments and M&A? By having clear dates, you can plan together and track results.

But there is one other thing we haven’t mentioned that might make all the difference to your firm and its clients.

Helping to drive gold-standard operations

“Operations” might not seem like a glamorous area, but the results it brings for your firm and your client could change your mind.

This is where real gold is hidden for your client. It’s buried in new efficiencies for everything from their chain logistics to customer service.

Work with them to explore areas like:

• Their budget
• Forecasting
• Improving processes
• New technology efficiencies
• Performance
• Strategic planning

What’s next? Read our full guide

Find out how to fine-tune your firm’s compliance services, open up new opportunities, and prepare for any challenge. Get practical steps from IRIS for expanding your reach or sharpening your strategic edge. It’s perfect for delivering greater value to complex clients in a fast-moving market.

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