MARKETING MATTERS

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Build better connections with clients

BY DAVID PETERS, CPA

Have you ever wondered what separates

one financial services firm from another? Yes, I know. We may have different specialties or customers that we target. For example, one CPA firm may cater more to small businesses, while another may push their international tax services. Similarly, certain banks may target high net worth customers, while others may prefer small retail accounts. However, even with these differences, these firms are not usually the only firm specializing in these areas. I am also not convinced that the way a tax return gets filled out at one firm is all that different from the way it gets filled out at another firm.

So what makes a customer choose one firm over another? And more importantly, from a business standpoint, is there anything that can be done to help customers choose my firm more often? How do we connect with our current clients so they never want to leave? How do we build strong connections with new clients? While these questions are difficult, answering them can help us build more sustainable practices — regardless of the type of service industry we are in.

A place to start is to look more closely at how people shop for financial services (and what keeps them from switching). Certainly, we don’t think of picking a CPA firm in the same way that we think of buying a box of cereal or a big screen TV. However, a recent research study in the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science suggests that impulse buying can actually exist in service industries under the right conditions. The authors put forth the notion that impulse buying of services is highly predicated on the transparency of the services being provided, how difficult those services are to evaluate and tangibility.

In short, people are more likely to jump to a new firm if they can see the value they are getting and potentially touch the product in a meaningful way.

Another research article on the banking industry, “Why Customers Stay: Reasons and Consequences of Inertia in Financial Services,” in Managing Service Quality, suggests that while discontentment with services generally increases over time, consumers are generally reluctant to switch banks due to the perceived complexities and time involved. In other words, it is not great service that keeps people at the same bank. People just think it is too hard to change, so why bother?

While these studies may appear disheartening on the surface, they point out a tremendous opportunity for those working in service industries. Customers within your industry may not be so overly enamored with the services they are being provided that they would never switch to your firm. However, the circumstances have to be right.

Your job as a financial service provider is to make the circumstances ripe for new customers to switch — and make it so your existing customers never want to leave.

My intent here is not to suggest some new marketing approach for firms. (I am not a marketing guy by any stretch — just ask my colleagues!) Certainly, most financial services firms are highly regulated, and there are limits in how we can market ourselves. However, within these limits, there would seem to be opportunities to connect with clients that perhaps we have not fully taken advantage of.

My goal over the next few issues of Disclosures is to give you some ideas of how to make these deep connections with clients, so you can keep the clients you have happy, and maybe win some new clients too. n

This is the first in a series of Disclosures articles focusing on marketing trends and tips for CPA firms.

DAVID PETERS, CPA, is the strategic relationship manager and financial advisor for Carroll Financial Inc., in Charlotte, N.C. He is also an adjunct professor in accounting, insurance and ethics, a doctoral student in financial planning and sits on the Disclosures Editorial Task Force.

dpeters@carrollfinancial.com connect.vscpa.com/DavidPeters www.carrollfinancial.com