{"id":7870,"date":"2021-11-26T08:36:14","date_gmt":"2021-11-26T08:36:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ie\/blog\/?p=7870"},"modified":"2026-01-07T12:34:18","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T12:34:18","slug":"business-development-process-accountancy-practice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ie\/blog\/business-development-process-accountancy-practice\/","title":{"rendered":"How to create a 5-step business development process for your accountancy practice"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGrowth & Customers<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\tHow to create a 5-step business development process for your accountancy practice\t\t\t\t\t<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\tJon Hubbard<\/span>\n\t\t\t<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n

How often do prospects slip through the cracks? Do you deliver proposals only to hear crickets? Do people in your practice bristle at the idea of ‘selling’ or say they\u2019re too busy for business development?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is a common cure for all of these problems: a business development process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Without a business development process, it\u2019s a challenge to lead your practice forward or grow consistently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Business development isn\u2019t sales. It\u2019s the process of implementing strategies and opportunities across your practice to promote growth<\/a> and increase revenues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And it\u2019s not solely the responsibility of your practice \u2019s marketing team or partners. Everyone in the practice can and should be a part of the process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although every practice\u2019s exact process for landing new clients will look different, the five steps we highlight in this article are a good place to start.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here’s what we cover:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Business development step 1: Discovery<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Step 2: Deep dive<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Step 3: Decision-making<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Step 4: Awaiting signature<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Step 5: Close<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Final thoughts<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Download your free copy of The Practice of Now to learn about the changing face of accounting and how you can support your clients <\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Business development step 1: Discovery<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

When your practice’s marketing efforts generate interest in your services, this creates a lead, and you should schedule a call with the potential client as soon as possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is known as a discovery call.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The discovery call serves four purposes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  • You can ask the client some initial questions about what they need.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • You seek to understand their pain points. Why do they need your service? Why do they want to change practices?<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • You gain an understanding of their decision-making process. Who will ultimately make the decision to work with your practice? What factors into that decision (price, value, trust, etc)?<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • You identify the person or people in your team best suited to meet the potential client\u2019s needs.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    Step 2: Deep dive<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    This second call (or meeting) is a chance to take a deeper dive into their pain points. It connects the right person from your practice with the potential client\u2019s decision-maker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    You ask detailed questions to ensure you understand the nuances of the problem they want to solve by working with you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    This step is also when you collaboratively create a game plan with your team, share your capabilities, process and pricing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    This doesn\u2019t have to happen on one phone call.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Once you have a deep dive call with the client, you may need to meet separately with your team to strategise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Step 3: Decision-making<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    By the time you reach the decision-making process, your prospect has all of the information they need, and it\u2019s time for them to decide whether to engage with you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    They may compare your package and pricing to other practices. Make sure you schedule a time to follow up with them about their decision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Your role during this step is to follow up with your prospect and answer any additional questions that might arise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Step 4: Awaiting signature<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Once the prospect decides to engage your practice, you need to send a contract or engagement letter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    You may need to follow up with the client to ensure you get the signed engagement letter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Step 5: Close<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    At the end of this process, you\u2019ve either won the new business, and you can move on to new client onboarding, or the client decided to engage another practice, and you can close out the prospect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Be sure to communicate the decision and details to all appropriate parties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    So who on your busy team is going to oversee this process?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    This is where having a business development manager comes in. Someone in your practice should be responsible for overseeing every lead. The same person doesn\u2019t have to monitor all leads, but each one needs to have someone in charge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Your business development manager doesn\u2019t necessarily have to lead all of the calls and handle all of the tasks involved in the process, but they do make sure everyone is doing what they\u2019re supposed to be doing when they\u2019re supposed to be doing it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Final thoughts<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Working through your business development process helps your team understand your practice’s goals and strategy for winning new clients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    So take some time to think through your business development process and ensure you have someone to run prospects through it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Then you\u2019ll have everyone on your team working toward the same goals, leading to greater success and growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    Discover how accountants and bookkeepers are preparing for the future and learn what you can do now to keep your practice successful.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDownload the report<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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    Join 1.5 million subscribers and get the best business admin strategies and tactics, as well as actionable advice to help your company thrive, in your inbox every month.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSubscribe now<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Discover how having a business development process in place at your practice can help you win new clients.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":951,"featured_media":8297,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sage_video":false,"post_featured_image_hide":false,"sage_hide_published_date":false,"sage_hide_read_time":false,"sage_hide_share_buttons":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[162],"tags":[],"business_type":[2],"lilypad":[],"context":[],"industry":[],"persona":[176],"imagine_tag":[177,330],"coauthors":[447],"class_list":["post-7870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-growth-customers","business_type-accountants"],"sage_meta":{"region":"en-ie","author_name":"Jon Hubbard","featured_image":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ie\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2022\/04\/GettyImages-88308806.jpg","imagine_tags":{"177":"Accountants","330":"Business planning"}},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"Sage Advice Ireland","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ie\/blog","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ie\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7870","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ie\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ie\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ie\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/users\/951"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ie\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7870"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ie\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7870\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ie\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/media\/8297"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ie\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ie\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ie\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7870"},{"taxonomy":"business_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ie\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/business_type?post=7870"},{"taxonomy":"lilypad","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ie\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/lilypad?post=7870"},{"taxonomy":"context","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ie\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/context?post=7870"},{"taxonomy":"industry","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ie\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/industry?post=7870"},{"taxonomy":"persona","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ie\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/persona?post=7870"},{"taxonomy":"imagine_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ie\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/imagine_tag?post=7870"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ie\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=7870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}