Episode 48

Practical Marketing Wisdom for Progressive Accounting Firms

Amanda C Watts

Amanda C. Watts is the creator of the Velocity programme for CPAs and accountants. Velocity is a structured 3-step marketing and sales programme based on the best selling book The Pioneering Practice. By helping firms to clearly understand and communicate the value they provide they transform their positioning, remove their competition and generate higher revenue with fewer clients. She can take an average fee of £3k to £10k a year and beyond.

Amanda has been in marketing and sales for 26 years and has won awards for her training programmes. She is the author of two best selling business books: Escape, the Definitive Guide To Becoming A Freedompreneur®, and The Pioneering Practice. She has been featured in The Guardian, The Telegraph, spoken at Quickbooks Connect and Accountex London. Shownotes:

  • To go from good to great, accounting firms need to make it all about relationships
  • Accountants have been labelled over the years as not people oriented but too technical
  • Anyone, even accountants, can program their mindset with the right attitude and coaching
  • Accountants who don’t like the term ‘trusted advisor’ can’t come up with a better alternative
  • For accountants, sales and marketing means attracting, connecting with and converting your ideal clients
  • Why the accounting profession is so exciting right now, with ripe opportunities to give, grow and get
  • Accountants are better than business coaches because they understand the numbers
  • Two biggest challenges for growing accounting firms – tech and staff
  • What ‘focus’ looks like for marketing savvy accountants
  • Three things an accountant should look for in an ideal client
  • The wisdom of changing niches every few years
  • The savvy accountants are using more sophisticated marketing techniques vz a few years ago
  • Worst advice being given to accountants at the moment is on pricing
  • The best hiring policy to attract good people is through culture and how much fun it is to work for you
  • Shout to out Alex Falcon Huerta – what she gets her staff doing most of the time
  • A major source of confidence is gumption – just closing your eyes and going for it!
  • The ‘advisory conversation’ has been going on too long with very little change
  • The two biggest reasons why accountants fear change
  • No amount of marketing will bring you business – you have to start having conversations off the back of it

Amanda C Watts on the BD Academy Accounting Influencers podcast with Rob Brown

 

Amanda lives in Surrey with her husband Matthew, two children and her cat named Cat. She has a passion for different cultures and loves travelling the world. To learn more about Amanda and her work, visit www.twentytwo.agency or contact Amanda:

Phone +44 (0)1883 317 369

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amandacwatts

Twitter: @amandacwatts

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About the Podcast

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Accounting Voices Podcast
Accounting Voices helps people in the accounting world stay relevant visible and vocal. Host Rob Brown interprets trends reshaping the profession and gives listeners insight to build authority influence and a stronger voice in firms and markets.

About your host

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Rob Brown

Rob Brown is the founder and host of the Accounting Voices Podcast, the flagship solo show of the Accounting Voices Network. Each episode offers sharp analysis and commentary on the trends, ideas and people shaping the global accounting profession.

Through this Accounting Voices Podcast, Rob helps accounting firm leaders, decision makers and professionals stay relevant and make sense of disruption in areas like AI, automation, M&A, private equity and soft skills beyond the tech. His perspective blends clarity, insight and curiosity, making complex issues relevant and practical for professionals and decision makers across accounting and finance.

He also leads two monthly panel shows, Accounting M&A and Accounting AI, which bring together senior voices to explore consolidation, strategy and the impact of technology on firms and people.

Rob is the author of the bestselling book Build Your Reputation (Wiley) and a TEDx speaker whose talk The Personal Brand of You has more than 400,000 views. Over his career he has hosted and moderated more than 1,000 conversations with accounting and fintech leaders worldwide.

Based in Nottingham UK, Rob is a stroke survivor living with epilepsy, a black belt in kickboxing, a decent chess player and an average player of four musical instruments.