I am Clare, 35 from Gloucester and Cullompton (long story!) and due to a recent company takeover am in the process of setting up my own bookkeeping business.
I am qualified to Level 2 with the ICB and am in the process of taking Level 3. I used Ideal Schools for the manual training but have just taken the computerised Level 2 exam without any training as I have worked on Sage for quite a few years. I've done pretty well in the exams (Level 1 - 96%, Level 2 Manual - 100%, Level 2 Computerised - awaiting result).
The purpose of my post is really to ask how to bring in new clients! I am a fairly confident and professional person who speaks Queens English very well and I have joined the Federation of Small Businesses to enable me to use their networking events but I am interested to know how others have gained clients.
Over the past few years I have carried out bookkeeping services for a local accountant on a regular basis, specialising mainly in antique dealers and jewellers. Do many of you pick up work from accountants or do you find word of mouth or advertising more effective?
FSB and networking is one of the best ways to go. try to join a few local groups if you can find them. Its difficult as they only allow one person per trade, but I doubt many have bookkeepers and they will most likely have an Accountant on board. always worth enquiring tho.
A few other things.
1) Get yourself some web presence. I can recommend www.wsitopinternetmarketing.co.uk for this as they are very affordable and will get you loads of traffice to your site. Get a Google account and setup google maps and a profile for your business. You can link your website to your Google account and Google will track number fo visitors and keywords etc..
2) Search Google for Business Directories and sign up for all on the 1st page. www.freeindex.co.uk, www.ecademy.com, www.Linkedin.com, www.wecando.biz are just a few sites i'm on and work well for me.
3) Take a look at the www.thebestof.co.uk and click "Find a Town" at the top to locate your local area. This is a brillant site which isnt just a directory. TheBestOf people actively market your business for you for about £30-£40 a month. The local sites will be run be a local person so you get face to face human contact and they will most likely be a member of a local networking group.
4) Approach local accountants to let them know your available if they have too much work.
5) Word of mouth is the best kind of referral, but obviously this take a lot of hard work and will link nicely with networking groups.
A few other points, look at getting Prof Indemnity Insurance and also get registered with the Money Laundering regulation. You can either use the Inland Revenue for about £120 a year i think or use your professional association if they offer it.
Get a logo, letterheads and business cards as you will need business cards at the networking meetings.
Hope that helps a bit and I wish you well in your new venture.
I already have the PI insurance and am covered for MLR under the ICB practice licence. The FSB seems to be the most helpful as I can go to their networking events and contact their members through the member directory. Just have to decide what type of clients I want now!
Antique dealers and jewellers are those that I have most experience of but I am finding that a lot are suffering as people are not buying luxury goods as they used to. I don't want to take on a load of clients that then go out of business :(
So any ideas on businesses that are "on the up" in the present times?
I'd also suggest you look at 4networking. Their members in the main are smaller businesses, they are also fairly cheap.
I would also suggest you look a bit at your website, it seems to have a sparsity of information and doesn't sell your service at all.
Personally I haven't had much work passed to me from accountants, and although it does take longer to get underway, have found word of mouth to be the best form of advertising.
Having said that I have recently engaged the services of a marketing consultant to look at my business as a whole.
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.
Antique dealers and jewellers are those that I have most experience of but I am finding that a lot are suffering as people are not buying luxury goods as they used to. I don't want to take on a load of clients that then go out of business :(
So any ideas on businesses that are "on the up" in the present times?
