Accountants' Success Secrets Reflection

Good stuff.

So the first interview we're reflecting on today is from episode 111. when our guest was Caroline Hocking, an AAT licensed accountant and owner of Mona Accountancy Services, based in Beverley, East Yorkshire.

Do you want to go first, Mark?

Yeah, sure.

Well, Caroline talked about having built up her practice through word of mouth and ensuring that people got to know, like and trust her, which is a well-known networking phrase.

And it's been quite common among a number of our guests.

And the point I wanted to reflect on here was that That also ties in with the answers that we often see online on accounting web and on Facebook when accountants ask, what's the best way to get new clients? And that's whether they're starting their practice or they've reached a stage where they want to boost the uptake of new clients.

And most of the answers that they get reference networking that Caroline's been doing.

but also social media and just doing a good job.

And those can obviously be good tactics, but I do question how often any such activity in isolation directly leads to new clients.

More often, new clients follow on after people get to know, like and trust you, as Caroline said.

And that means that they see that you're not a stereotypical boring accountant, unless that's the sort of person that they will know, like and trust.

rather the important thing and again i'm sure caroline's been doing this is that you can clearly relate well to other people and other people can relate well to you and i'm sorry if that means if you don't have those personal qualities then it's going to take you longer than somebody who does and is easy to get to know like and trust because otherwise it may be that you're better off remaining an employee or getting a job rather than trying to win work

Yeah, I mean, it's an interesting one, isn't it? I mean, I think obviously the know, like and trust is something that as human beings will always be the case.

I do, however, think that there are ways of quickening that process up.

So, you know, the know, like and trust is at the back end.

So you hear about somebody and then you find out about them.

You know, especially when we're talking about brand and marketing, which I do, the aim is to speed that up, speed the process up so that actually, when you start to talk to somebody, you've already seen a little bit about them, you're getting a feel for them, maybe you've seen some videos, maybe you've seen them on a podcast that suits their brand, maybe you've been onto their website, whatever it is, it's a sort of warming up process, isn't it? But it's also, if you imagine the difference between doing a Google search and having to wade through all of that list and find somebody versus seeing somebody, looking at what they're doing and then contacting them.

You haven't got that sort of process of having to weed people out.

So I think both sides are true.

It's a bit, you know, these days we want black or white, don't we? But there is that grey in between, which is how do you speed that process up? How do you increase the quality of communication and those initial meetings? And I think the beauty is if you can match the two, then you get a really, really good result.

I think that's right.

And it takes time.

You reminded me, I wanted to stress something implied by what Caroline was saying, that it took her a while to build up her practice.

She wasn't generating loads of clients overnight, whether from networking or anything else.

Good stuff.

So the first interview we're reflecting on today is from episode 111. when our guest was Caroline Hocking, an AAT licensed accountant and owner of Mona Accountancy Services, based in Beverley, East Yorkshire.

Do you want to go first, Mark?

Yeah, sure.

Well, Caroline talked about having built up her practice through word of mouth and ensuring that people got to know, like and trust her, which is a well-known networking phrase.

And it's been quite common among a number of our guests.

And the point I wanted to reflect on here was that That also ties in with the answers that we often see online on accounting web and on Facebook when accountants ask, what's the best way to get new clients? And that's whether they're starting their practice or they've reached a stage where they want to boost the uptake of new clients.

And most of the answers that they get reference networking that Caroline's been doing.

but also social media and just doing a good job.

And those can obviously be good tactics, but I do question how often any such activity in isolation directly leads to new clients.

More often, new clients follow on after people get to know, like and trust you, as Caroline said.

And that means that they see that you're not a stereotypical boring accountant, unless that's the sort of person that they will know, like and trust.

rather the important thing and again i'm sure caroline's been doing this is that you can clearly relate well to other people and other people can relate well to you and i'm sorry if that means if you don't have those personal qualities then it's going to take you longer than somebody who does and is easy to get to know like and trust because otherwise it may be that you're better off remaining an employee or getting a job rather than trying to win work

Yeah, I mean, it's an interesting one, isn't it? I mean, I think obviously the know, like and trust is something that as human beings will always be the case.

I do, however, think that there are ways of quickening that process up.

So, you know, the know, like and trust is at the back end.

So you hear about somebody and then you find out about them.

You know, especially when we're talking about brand and marketing, which I do, the aim is to speed that up, speed the process up so that actually, when you start to talk to somebody, you've already seen a little bit about them, you're getting a feel for them, maybe you've seen some videos, maybe you've seen them on a podcast that suits their brand, maybe you've been onto their website, whatever it is, it's a sort of warming up process, isn't it? But it's also, if you imagine the difference between doing a Google search and having to wade through all of that list and find somebody versus seeing somebody, looking at what they're doing and then contacting them.

You haven't got that sort of process of having to weed people out.

So I think both sides are true.

It's a bit, you know, these days we want black or white, don't we? But there is that grey in between, which is how do you speed that process up? How do you increase the quality of communication and those initial meetings? And I think the beauty is if you can match the two, then you get a really, really good result.

I think that's right.

And it takes time.

You reminded me, I wanted to stress something implied by what Caroline was saying, that it took her a while to build up her practice.

She wasn't generating loads of clients overnight, whether from networking or anything else.