In this blog post, Jon (who once trained all of BP’s sales teams across Europe) shares 9 sales tips for accountants.


Sales tips for accountants

If you want to sell more, then remember that people need to buy into you before your firm. So, it’s time to think about what they want to buy into (yes, that’s you).

  1. Your passion:  Passion is a powerful emotion, and it sells. Most people tell themselves they buy rationally, but it’s not true. Most people buy on emotion, then confirm it logically (even when buying accountancy services). Think about services you’ve bought; did you have to get on with the person first? What was the connection? I bet it will be something about them, or their passion. How can you ensure your passion shows, and what will it be?
  2. Where you’ve come from: This could help increase the emotional connection. What kind of a person are you, what common ground is there between you and your prospective client?
  3. Your stories: These help to build a bridge from emotion to logic. A story needs to be true, but have enough emotion in it to be interesting and perhaps even inspiring. Then, I’m looking to see if you have helped somebody like me, with a problem like mine and the way you handled it. Yes, the way you handled it, not just what you did.
  4. Your questions: Sometimes it’s not about what you tell them, it’s about what you ask them! Good sales questions allow you to discover more and make them think.
  5. Your credibility: People may buy emotionally, but they confirm it with their head. You will get checked out, even if it’s only on LinkedIn! Credibility can be an emotional response as well as a factual one. Are the stories you put out credible? Do you sound (thinking whole body language here) authentic? Then, what testimonials and other shared connections do you have that back up your credibility? Are you credible as the in their niche?
  6. Your skills: As we move to the head, I want to know you have the skills I need. However, I’m not interested until there’s a connection. That’s where so many accountants go wrong when they tell us, at networking meetings, all the Associations they’re in and how many years they’ve been practising for. So demonstrate that you’re the Go-To Expert, once there’s a connection.
  7. How you can help them: Here’s where you need to show your listening skills. When talking about how you can help somebody, use their language as you talk about their problem (and the solution). That makes it different to the story you told, where you talked about somebody like them with a problem like theirs. You can, of course, refer back to the earlier story.
  8. Where you’re going: Not always needed in direct sales. However, when networking talking about your future, your dreams, values and ambitions help your networking contact to connect you with potential referrals.
  9. Qualify your leads: Although this post is about people buying people, it is important to make sure that when you do get a lead, that you take the time to qualify it. Perhaps the biggest time drain for any accountant is trying to convert leads who will either never convert, or when they do convert are the wrong type of client.


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