A week or so ago, I used the example of choosing an accountant to do your taxes to demonstrate the advantages of focusing on a specific target market that has predictable and expensive problems.

Let’s look at that again.

Pretend that you met two accountants who could help you file your taxes. 

One was the self-described “smartest tax person in town.” He’s got a lot of great client stories and seems smart. 

The second is an accountant who focuses their whole practice on doing taxes for service-firm owners with over one million in sales. They showed you specific tax strategies that would help you to pay less tax this year and likely for many years into the future.

Which one are you likely to choose?

For me, I would choose the second accountant every time.

The focus of that firm means that they would know me and my problems. I wouldn’t have to explain so much, and they might be able to see some things in my firm that were different from other firms they know. They may have insights that could help me improve my firm’s performance. P.S. If anyone knows a firm like this, I want to meet them!

Now comes the money question!

How much more would you be willing to pay for the expertise and specialized knowledge that the second accountant displayed?

If the specialist showed you ways to save on your tax bill right away, you’d pay more. And if there was an expectation that they might improve your business in the future, you might pay more for that too.

So not only is it easier to close deals, clients would be willing to pay more too.

But there’s more!

If all that panned out, you saved money on your taxes and got some good insight that would help you to run your business better, what would you say to your peers about that firm? I’m guessing they’d get a lot of referrals too!

So the specialist accountant not only has an easier time closing deals, they get more referral leads, and they can charge a higher rate too. 

Which accountant do your clients see you as?