Business Development Remains as Chief Concern within Accounting Industry
Attracting and developing new business is a huge challenge in any industry – seems like an obvious observation, right? The accounting industry is no exception.
As part of an ongoing study, the Hinge Research Institute* surveyed 530 professional services firms and were able to determine the business challenges facing firms in the accounting and financial services industries, as well as initiatives they are undertaking to address their challenges:
*“Cited by over 70% of respondents, attracting and developing new business is the top challenge for accounting and financial services firms. This is in line with a trend across the professional services industries. In many market segments, it’s growing more and more challenging to generate new clients. The competition is fierce.”
How are accounting and financial services firms rising to the challenge?
Davis & Hodgdon Associates CPAs, a two-office accounting firm in Vermont, has dedicated significant resources to marketing efforts and business development and their efforts are paying off.
“We have spent the last 5 years focusing our marketing efforts on services expansion, SEO optimization and brand awareness”, explains Bret Hodgdon, Managing Partner. “We want to be in the forefront of business owners’ minds as they look to take their business to the next level – whether that be growth or exit planning. We have done so by expanding our services to include specialized entrepreneurial services including succession planning, financial reporting and remote bookkeeping services, just to name a few. By optimizing SEO we have made it easy for people to find us on the Web and we have turned our website into a valuable resource for timely tax and finance information – for both personal and business finance.”
The firm’s efforts have paid off resulting in significant business growth and exceeding revenue goals for each of the last 5 years.
The firm has also developed initiatives to meet other challenges faced by the Accounting industry and identified in the Hinge survey including staff retention and technology challenges which will be addressed in future articles.
*BY LEE FREDERIKSEN, PH.D., Hinge Marketing, August 2016.
Davis & Hodgdon is a full-service public accounting firm with offices in Williston and Rutland Vermont. The firm is a member of the Vermont Chamber of Commerce, Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility (VBSR), Vermont Business Environmental Partnership (VBEP), Lake Champlain Regional Chamber of Commerce (LCRCC), Women Business Owners Network (WBON). The firm serves its clients by providing progressive, proactive services through expert staff, sophisticated technology, and unparalleled efficiency.
