Strategic Selling Within Your Client Base: The Key to Launching & Growing New Services in Accounting

Key Points

• The best opportunities for new service growth often begin within your existing client base.
• Internal alignment and firmwide buy-in are critical to launching new offerings successfully.
• Starting internally allows firms to refine pricing, delivery, and positioning before expanding to new markets.

In accounting, like in any business, companies always want to offer something new and find new clients. Starting something new or entering a new market can be tough. Firms often land on services because they notice they have a lot of clients in a certain area, almost by chance. While this has worked for many firms, it won’t be what helps them strategically grow new services.   

As many firms look to offer more advisory and consulting services like client accounting services, valuation, exit planning, technology, and more, an accidental long tail approach won’t cut it for most firms in today’s very competitive market. 

More strategic approaches are necessary to compete today. Part of that strategic approach includes where you start that growth. One of the more common aspects of the planning we overlook is the initial sales strategy for a new service. We focus so heavily on marketing to bring in new clients that we forget about our existing client base. For accounting firms, this can be a wealth of opportunity, depending on the particular service being offered. 

Starting with Current Customers: Why It’s Smart

Your current clients are full of opportunities. They’re a safe place to try new things and get honest feedback. When exploring a new service, interviewing clients can help uncover unmet needs and opportunities. Once those services are forming, having a few clients to deliver them to can help you hone and refine your approach. This approach not only helps improve your services but also lets you easily introduce new ones based on what clients need next. We are also more likely to test pricing elasticity with existing clients or offer a certain number of services at a special pricing level while we build or hone our service offering. 

Don’t Underestimate Internal Alignment

The whole firm needs to be aligned on new services, connecting these to the company’s overall goals. We often fail to be more effective when we don’t have a focus at a company-wide level on what we are doing and why we are doing it. Being open about how new services are doing and checking in regularly at meetings is essential. 

Building trust among the people leading and working on new services is crucial for collaboration. This trust is especially important in the early stages of starting something new. Building that trust requires champions across the firm, verbally supporting it, and leading with internal referrals and introductions. It also means that the new service area leaders are building one-to-one relationships with the people in the firm with the relationship keys. 

Getting your team excited about these new services is also crucial. Teaching them about these services means they can talk about them, recognize what clients need and how to successfully hand it off to help introduce them.  

Focusing on selling to current clients first is crucial as accounting firms look to introduce (or re-introduce) new services and enter new markets. It’s about more than just understanding the market; it’s about leveraging existing relationships, getting everyone to work together, and building trust. This strategy not only helps test and refine new services but also sets the company up for success in new markets. Starting with a strategic focus can transform the challenge of reaching new markets into an opportunity for growth, innovation, and stronger customer relationships.