When you want to grow your accountancy firm, it’s tempting to take on any new client who comes your way. More fees mean you can take on more team and then have capacity for more clients, right?

Well, you probably know already that it isn’t that simple.

More clients won’t mean higher profits if they’re low-paying, price-sensitive and only looking for the cheapest accountant.

And a bigger team won’t help if you still have to check everything before work goes out the door. Capacity won’t increase but your workload will.

In fact, trying to grow your firm this way leads to overwhelm, exhaustion and burnout.

So, how should you grow your firm?

Through your team, your value and your clients.

These routes aren’t a quick fix but they’ll help you build a firm that develops sustainably, without you losing your sanity.

1: your team

If everything comes through you, your firm’s capacity is limited. I see this all the time in firm owners who are frustrated at the lack of growth but are actually the bottleneck holding it back!

Often, they know exactly what they need to do: they need to delegate work to their team. But they’re afraid that quality will drop if they let go.

The key is to have great systems that mean the right things get done, every single time. Systems that ensure your own high standards are upheld consistently, no matter who does the work.

Look at the tasks that take up your time. Which ones can you create a system for and pass on to someone else?

Start with something simple and keep refining the system (get your team members’ input too) until you’re confident you can let it go.

What if you don’t have a team to delegate to?

Use outsourcing as your team. It may take time to get the process set up the way you want, but an outsourced team can be invaluable in freeing up your time and reducing your firm’s reliance on you.

And remember this can be hugely helpful if you already have a team too. Outsourcing compliance work gives you the space to work on your business, not just in it, so you can focus on developing higher value services.

2: your value

If you only offer what every other firm offers, ie compliance, price becomes the deciding factor for clients and prospects. After all, what else is there to compare against?

And competing on price is a race to the bottom.

But when you offer services that actually help your clients’ businesses, they value you more and pay you more.

Most business owners don’t actually want a tax return or a set of accounts. They want to stop stressing about cashflow or paying the wages. They want to know they’re making the right decisions about their business. They want to be able to have more time with their family.

You can help them achieve those things when you move beyond compliance.

I know this is way outside the comfort zone for many accountants. But you don’t have to do everything all at once. And you don’t have to do it for all of your clients.

Starting can be as simple as suggesting tax planning to clients you know will benefit. And then moving on to deeper conversations that uncover what your client really wants for their business, and their life (this is what I teach in the Profit Improvement Accountant Workshops).

Or you could do what Charlotte Zachariah of The Z² Group did when she decided she wanted to deliver more value for her clients. She gave away some of that higher value work for free. That might go against the grain for many accountants, but Charlotte was certain it was the right thing to do.

She gave them a touch of what the firm could provide. Prior to joining AVN and having acquired the necessary tools from AVN, they would just do a really basic budget or a cashflow for their clients or give them a little idea of where they could save money – one margin from their P&L, say. It got clients a little bit more interested.

They took the stance that if they didn't show their clients what they could do, they would not be able to sell these services. It didn't work for all clients, but it worked. It was something they had to do to be able to show their value and what they could do for their clients.

Through this approach, Charlotte has developed strong client relationships that go way beyond compliance.

Think about your top five clients – what else do they need that you're not currently offering?

3: your clients

As I said at the start, more clients don’t necessarily mean better profits.

But more of the right kind of clients do. That is, clients who value what you offer (as in point 2), happily pay your fees, are loyal and who you enjoy working with.

So, how do you get more of them?

First, you need to be clear on what your ideal client looks like. If you don’t already know, think about your best five or ten clients (the ones who fit the description above). Now look at what they have in common. It could be their industry, size, mindset, the problem they brought to you: where they intersect is your ideal client.

Once you know who you’re looking for, put a proper referral strategy in place. That means systematically asking those great clients for referrals – at every meeting and whenever you hand over a piece of work (as long as they’re happy of course!).

How you word this is important. ‘Do you know anyone who’s looking for an accountant?’ won’t get you very far.

Instead, confirm that they’re happy with the work you’ve done and then say something like, ‘We’d love to be able to give the same kind of support to other businesses like yours. Who do you know who would benefit in the same way you have?’

That difference between ‘Do you know anyone…’ and ‘Who do you know…’ is critical. It gets the client thinking about who they can suggest, rather than dismissing your question.

Then you need to position your firm to appeal to your ideal clients. Make sure all your marketing efforts are laser-targeted at their needs. Show that you understand their pain points. Be specific about how you help and the outcomes they can expect from working with you instead of any other accountant.

These three levers – team, value, clients – work together to reinforce each other in a virtuous cycle.

Better clients fund better team investment. A better team frees you to deliver more value. More value attracts better clients.

You don’t have to do it all at once. Pick one and take a first step to creating sustainable growth.

Shane Lukas: AVN – The Accountant’s Network