Aim Small, Miss Small

I’ve been busy doing lots of 15 minute marketing calls this week.  It’s been fantastic to be able to get some time to do what I love. Talking to bookkeepers about how they can grow their business is my passion.  

One thing is still coming through clearly.  

The biggest problem most bookkeepers are telling me about is the inability to attract clients.  When I ask who they want to attract and work with the response has been fairly consistent. Anyone and everyone.

Let me give you a massive piece of advice.  When you try to attract anyone, you attract no one.  

Most bookkeepers I work with are self employed, working from home and have no staff.  They normally have some sort of caring issues. That could be young children or elderly relatives.  Here’s the crazy thing, maybe 15 clients would fill their month.

Let's think about that for a moment.  Most bookkeepers need to attract 15 clients.  Why are they trying to attract everyone? To quote one of my favourite films “aim small, miss small”

When you only need to attract a few clients, start with a very small pond of prospects.  Try to really focus on what you can deliver to them. Really drill down into what they need and how you can help them.  Be very specific about who you want to work with and go for that person with all of your energy. Don’t spread yourself too thin, you’re only one person.

You don’t need to be something to everyone, you need to be everything to someone.

If you only need to attract a small number of people, and then 1 or 2 each month to replace any who leave there’s no point in trying to speak to thousands or millions of businesses.  Just pick one tiny group and speak directly to them.