What are clients are looking for to distinguish competing accounting firms, other than the lowest priced provider? Clients consistently point to these 4 key differentiators:
- Bring deep understanding and informed perspective of your client’s business within the context of their industry.
Companies lean toward service providers that come prepared with an understanding of their business model and business connection to its suppliers, customers and competitors.
- Be proactive. Anticipate the client’s needs − before the client realizes they have a need.
Again, this requires deep understanding of the client’s industry, economic outlook and the prevailing business environment that impacts the client’s challenges and opportunities. - Bring the right team.
Engagements should be led and staffed by professionals who not only have the technical expertise to accomplish the work and deliver services, but who also possess the relevant industry experience, knowledge and expertise to act as valued and trusted advisors. - Demonstrate your firm’s client-centric focus by offering industry insights.
Do this whether the content is developed by thought leaders within your firm or you’re sharing externally published industry information. Sharing industry insights is the primary way your firm and your professionals can be regarded as thought leaders and experts in your client’s industry and demonstrates your committment to your client.
Hinge, a market research firm, published studies which uncover the differences between high-growth professional services firms and average-growth firms. Here are a few key findings:
- The fastest-growing firms were 89 percent more likely to build and proactively demonstrate their areas of industry expertise.
- Most firms that serve a wide range of clients in businesses where the firm has no particular industry expertise are growing at a slower rate than specialists. In fact, specialists grew twice as fast. And how a firm differentiates itself has a measurable impact on its growth rate.
What’s a buyer’s single most important criterion when selecting a professional services firm? According to Hinge’s research, expertise is the clear winner. In fact, expertise tips the scale in favor of a firm in three out of four cases. In addition, expertise is cited as the factor most likely to generate referrals — it’s even more powerful than client referrals!
