1. Build a solid middle management layer

Biggest bottleneck or limiting factor in a small practice is time. Partners end up spending lot of time in monitoring and reviewing audit work. They hardly get any time to focus on marketing their services. If they decide to actively invest in building a solid middle management layer, they can take out time to actively market and grow their practice.

2. Get out of the building (GOOB)

As a rule, devote 20% of your productive time outside your office networking. Networking is a powerful tool. Even in the digital age, it is still one of the most effective business growth strategies. Attend trade shows, lunches and other events run by the Chamber of Commerce or your local Business Enterprise Centre. You’ll meet lots of like-minded people and discover new opportunities.

3. Be a trusted adviser

“Its not my job”. I have frequently encountered practitioners who often provide links to government websites for clients to decipher the regulatory changes on their own. Becoming a Trusted Business Adviser is about showing an interest in your clients needs and be a problem solver. That’s how you position yourself as their “go to guru” for all business-related and financial-related issues. You also go from being seen as a vendor of tax and financial reports to a source of strategic business/financial advice and services — and in doing so, you become your client’s most valuable asset.

4. Be a thought leader

Try to spend some time thinking about issues faced by industries and provide insights and solutions. Write and publish content if you can. Becoming a thought leader is the process of being a recognized industry expert combined with the ability to seriously monetize this positioning. Here, monetization means creating a pipeline full of highly desirable prospects very strongly predisposed to become your clients and quite willing to pay the prices you set. Because the prospects come to you strongly endorsed by other professionals or from your current clients, it’s quite likely that your ability to convert them into clients is extraordinarily high.

5. Invest in inbound marketing

Inbound marketing is a technique for drawing customers to products and services via content marketing, social media marketing and search engine optimization. It all starts from a good website with lot of relevant content, a good social media presence and a decent CRM system.