Hello, I am currently waiting for my exam results for level 1 ICB, I have worked for 23 years in accounts as AP/AR supervisor, Payroll manager etc and decided I am fed up working hard for other people and putting up with petty office politics and now want to work hard for myself and help other people out by doing small companies accounts. Does anyone have any helpful hints as to how I can find clients? I am thinking of putting an ad in the local paper once I have passed level 2 and maybe delivering fliers to local businesses. Any advice would be gratefully received.
I recently set up my own self employed bookkeeping service and I put an advert in the local paper for 6 weeks, costing around £80 and I didn't receive one enquiry. I advertise on Ebay, free online advertising sites and on noticeboards at local Post Offices, shops, market places etc. I haven't tried a mailer yet to small businesses but I think that may be my next step.
Dont worry Terri, I guess its a dodgy time for all buisnesses at the moment. It will soon pick up and you will be fine. Just think of all these people being made redundant who are going to start up their own business and will need book keepers!
Thanks Anne, that's what I keep telling myself. I am using this quiet period to study more and get my business in order ie invoice templates ready, my own books up to date etc so that when things do pick up, I will be ready
I'm at about the same stage as Terri. I looked at advertising in the local paper but I think you need to really keep it going for a long time. I was given the price of 540+vat per year. I decided rather than this it would be most cost effective to advertise in shops etc like terri, and I've started posting 50 letter per week to small local businesses and following up with a phone call a week later, that's working well right now.
The views expressed in this post are my own personal (HRA protected) views, and are not representative of any organisation I have any involvement with.
Would say the best way of gaining clients for me was by getting contacts with accountants who passed on my details to their clients.
I set up in August 2006 and because I took on quite a few clients all with some backlog of work I was near enough full time until August 2007. Became quite lacking in work so took on a job in August 2007 which was 3 days a week. Gained new clients so more work for clients needing doing so dropped to 2 days at job then left completely in August 2008. From August 2008 until March 2009 was near enough full time again, then lost 1 major client and 2 minor clients. Gained one client for 4 hours a fortnight but would say it is quite difficult to gain new clients in the area I live.
Would say for any bookkeeper if you live within an area where there is not much self employed bookkeeping work going and your circumstances allow you to work full time in accounts department for someone else and you need full time income then that is better until things pick up a little.
I would say one of the best ways of gaining new clients is networking. People prefer to deal with people they know or people who have been recommended to them. You need to get out and meet people.
There should be networking groups in your area. Some have an annual membership and are quite expensive but others let you pay £10-£20 per meeting which covers the lunch or breakfast.
Most offer you a trial meeting so you could go to a few and see which one is best for you.
Even if this doesn't bring about instant results, people may remember you when a contact of theirs is looking for a bookkeeper.
Adding on to what Zöe has said, network with your local bank managers and small business advisers, local solicitors printers etc all have the potential to introduce considerable numbers of new businesses to you.
The current economic conditions whilst on the hand hand making it more difficult to get new business can, on the other hand, bring opportunities.
1. Banks are much stricter in their lending criteria, preferring to see up to sate information rather than historical accounts. 2. New HMRC penalty regime will harshly penalise those who do not take their responsibilities seriously. 3. Business owners need to be more aware of performance than ever before to enable better decision making. 4. Added value services such as credit management and credit control can be offered.
Some pro active target driven marketing rather than just advertising to the world at large can usually produce much better results and at a fraction of the cost, the investment being in time rather than financial.
Good luck.
-- Edited by Jason Dormer on Thursday 15th of October 2009 03:57:28 PM
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