Tips for Busy Season Marketing – Kristen Lewis and Stuart Baum
By Kristen Lewis, Amper, Politziner & Mattia, LLP and Stuart Baum, Blackman Kallick, LLP

CPA firms traditionally slow down their marketing efforts in the busy season, but in an environment like this one, it’s important to take advantage of the business development opportunities that spring up this time of year. Marketers face the tough task of helping their firm’s professionals make things happen when they are heavily booked. By focusing their efforts on “low hanging fruit” and time-efficient networking strategies, your professionals can achieve results while spending just a little more time on business development.

Taking care of your existing clients is a top priority, of course, but it’s also a way to cultivate new business. Lee Eisenstadt, Managing Partner at L. Harris & Associates, LLC, says that now’s the time for a client retention program. His “10 Reasons to Launch a Client Retention Program During January to April” list includes identifying cross sell opportunities, offsetting client vulnerability and being able to identify the weaknesses in your processes while they are most apparent to the client so you can fix them before they become major problems.  If you want Eisenstadt’s complete list, send him an e-mail at lee@lharrisllc.com.

This is the perfect time to ask for client referrals, so give your accountants the tools to do so. Offer to work with those who may be a little hesitant by giving them ideas on how to broach the subject. For example, maybe setting up a lunch after busy season to talk “bigger picture” for saturation opportunities or wondering (aloud) if your client has any peers who are not as pleased with the services they are getting. 

Another issue marketers always face during busy season is making sure Partners and Senior Managers do not let their external marketing efforts “go dark” for three months. They are certainly busy, but they also must understand lean and hungry competitors are teeing up their clients for post-season pitches.

Here are three more positive reasons they should keep their marketing hats on:

• It’s not busy season for clients or prospects. 
• People are focused on accounting services now. 
• They are out and about and likely going very near a prospect’s office. It would only take a few seconds to see the prospects en route.

There are a number of other time-efficient ways to stay in front of networks during busy season, including planning pre-work networking breakfasts, attending a networking event at night, keeping contacts on a tickler list and making use of social media. 

For another source of ideas, ProHorizons posted an interesting article entitled “Business Development During the Busy Season.” The following line is particularly eye-catching: “Our experience has shown that the more profitable practices are paying attention to client development during the busy season.”  You can find the article here: http://www.prohorizons.com/blog/detail/business-development-during-the-busy-season/

Tax season can be a rough time for business development, but with a little assistance, your professionals will be able to identify the opportunities right in front of them. Low-hanging fruit is still fruit, so good luck with your season’s harvest.