I Just Engaged My First Thirty-Thousand Dollar Client From GoodAccountants.com
“Spending $5,000 dollars for the opportunity to meet with a potential client is not as fool hearted as it might sound,” says Joseph Charneske, a partner in a full service accounting firm based in Bannockburn, Illinois. When asked how his partners felt about such a proposition Charneske admits they were somewhat skeptical at first however after some reassuring from him were willing to move forward.
“I basically received a phone call about a $7 million dollar medical equipment and supply company that was looking for a new accounting firm to outsource all of their accounting work to,” says Charneske, a partner at Goldberg Mechales Charneske & Schiffman, Ltd. “We’re accustomed to receiving client referrals from other clients of ours who are happy with our work and not from a marketing firm,” says Charneske. However his awareness of GoodAccountants.com which spans a period of more than 18 months combined with the appeal of the fast growing medical equipment company presented to him by Senior Consultant, Al Chisolm was far too compelling for Charneske not to follow his intuition to invest the $5,000 dollars required to become a member of GoodAccountants.com. The decision to do so has paid off handsomely in the form of a six-hundred percent (600%) return on investment achieved in little more than sixty days.
“I now have a contractual $30,000 dollar yearly billing engagement with a great client referred to me by GoodAccountants.com and believe it or not I just sent them another $5,000 dollars today,” says Charneske.
When asked by GA Insider if his partners were now ready to upgrade to a larger marketing program Charneske replied they would have been pretty disappointed had we not landed the client. Charneske himself maintains however he is very comfortable with GoodAccountants.com considering the extensive research he has done on the company and having witnessed how far GoodAccountants has come over the years.
The fact is Joseph Charneske is a Certified Public Accountant and with all things being equal he certainly does understand what a good return on investment should look like. A six times return on one’s money is not exactly chop liver especially when stacked up against the single digit rates of return that are being offered today by most other investments. “This is a great way to build an accounting practice and I also get to write off the $5,000 dollar membership fee as a marketing expense,” adds Charneske.
GA Insider’s very next issue will feature the $7 million medical supply company engaged by Joseph Charneske from GoodAccountants.com. To insure you receive the full television reality episode filmed on location please click here.
Sole Practitioner Richard Hayes Bills $80,000 To First Two Clients Referred By GoodAccountants.com
“I don’t know anywhere else you can invest $5,000 dollars and get back $35,000 in annual billings,” says Certified Public Accountant, Richard F. Hayes about his annual billings to the first of two companies referred to him by GoodAccountants.com within weeks after he became a member of the nation’s largest accountancy referral network. I’ve earned eighty grand in total from the first two clients that I received,” says Hayes about his first ever experience with GoodAccountants.com.
Hayes describes the two companies he engaged through GoodAccountants.com as clients every accounting firm in the country would want as their own. A sole practitioner based in Orlando, Florida he landed the first of two clients literally within a week after joining GoodAccountants.com for an engagement of $35,000 in annual billings only to be followed a few weeks later with the engagement of another client paying $45,000 in annualized billings. “My return on investment in the case of the first client I landed from GoodAccountants.com was seven times my investment,” says Hayes. I immediately upgraded to their $25,000 marketing program which guaranteed me a minimum of $75,000 in annualized billing for a 3 to 1 return on investment,” explains Hayes.
“We have signed commitments for $80,000 dollars in billings just from two introductions to two companies referred to us by GoodAccountants.com within weeks after we became members,” explains Hayes. “Had I bought a practice for $80,000 dollars or had I bought these two clients from another practitioner they would have cost me $80,000 or even $100,000 or more,” he adds. Now convinced that GoodAccountants can help him grow his practice in the most cost effective way possible Hayes plans to upgrade to a guaranteed marketing program that is offered by GoodAccountants.com that will net him in excess of $500,000 in additional billing.
“Frankly it makes sense that it seems too good to be true because the return on investment for me has been terrific,” says Hayes. “I think what I’ve learned from this process is people are looking for accountants in non traditional ways,” he adds. Although Hayes believes accountants should not completely abandon relationships with financial or legal associates who have largely been a main referral source for the profession he also believes the downturn in the economy has created an urgent need for more proactive ways to offset the high client attrition rate that has been sustained by most accounting firms in recent years.
“What GoodAccountants has done is they’ve created a presence in the business place and when a client has decided to make a change which is the key, and they see the GoodAccountants.com presence and they go to GoodAccountants and they say ‘we need someone to help us find a really good accountant,’ that’s very different than a referral from a friend or business associate that may or may not be a good match for your practice,” explains Hayes. “It’s because they’re not being solicited or sold, they’ve decided to make the change on their own and they’ve gone to GoodAccountants.com which is what makes the meeting so pleasant, so effective, because the client is ready to commit to make the change to a new accountant,” he adds.
“I think the presence that GoodAccountants.com has is the value they bring to the table which your average practitioner just can’t generate….that presence in the marketplace,” adds Hayes. GoodAccountants.com is very helpful to business owners as well as they are non threatening to them and so they don’t get the feeling they’re being sold anything as they would if they were approached directly by the accounting firm.” Hayes further explains.
When asked how he first learned of GoodAccountants.com Hayes says he received an email which normally would have been discarded however something about it caught his attention causing him to read it. He later received a phone call from Patty Schoenfeld, a senior consultant with GoodAccountants.com during which she informed him she had a client in the area that was looking for a new accountant. “I’m glad I listened and kept an open mind,” says Hayes.
To receive the upcoming full Reality TV Episode on Richard F. Hayes’ unedited interview subscribe now to GA Access click here
Wendroff & Associates, LLC Embraces Internet Marketing
Wendroff & Associates LLC, a full service CPA firm based in Arlington, Virginia with more than 60 years of combined experience represents a new wave of accounting firms that rely heavily on Internet marketing as a way to attract new clients and reach new markets. Among a growing number of accounting firms that employ a Director of Communications, a position that would have been non-existent in earlier times due to old school conservatism that relegated accountants to pursuing new clients strictly by word of mouth, Wendroff & Associates embraces cutting edge technology as a part of its overall marketing strategy.
Wendroff & Associates, LLC also has offices in San Diego, California where it employs fifteen accountants with a combined 100 plus years of accounting experience. The firm is so highly technologically based that it provides monthly webinars for its clients who benefit from a corporate philosophy that engenders extremely proactive outreach. Wendroff & Associates also offers outsource bookkeeping as an alternative way to lower their client’s accounting costs.
With the emergence of firms such as Wendroff & Associates, LLC the accounting profession is rapidly undergoing dramatic change despite the fact that accountants in general are still regarded by most marketing specialists as being fifty years behind the times when compared to other professionals such as lawyers, doctors and dentists who rely heavily on advertising and marketing. Darren Wendroff who serves as the firm’s Communications and Marketing Director says his firm has been quite happy with the level of client referrals it has received from GoodAccountants.com since joining the nation’s largest accountancy referral service earlier this year. “Since we’ve joined GoodAccountants.com we’ve received more than fifteen referrals that have ranged anywhere from $1,000 dollar individual clients to $30,000 dollar annual billings for business clients and they’ve also been very good about meeting our criteria for what we were looking for in the way of a client,” says Darren.
Spotlight on Four Good Accountants
The current episode of GA Access begins documenting the experiences of four accountants located in various cities across the country that have been selected from among the ranks of accountants nationwide who are members of GoodAccountants.com. Over the next twenty-six weeks various episodes of GA Access will focus on the day to day experiences of these “good accountants” along with the clients they obtain from GoodAccountants.com.
GA Access, the internet-based reality television show was developed by GoodAccountants.com, the nation’s largest accountancy referral service to help demystify the company’s marketing and referral process. “The current economy has cost many accountants some of their best clients that have fallen victim to tightening credit markets and the sharp decline in construction and real estate development,” says Johanna Laurent, President of GoodAccountants.com. “Today accountants are more willing to market themselves in order to replace clients lost as a result of a bad economy or to attrition,” she adds. GoodAccountants.com offers accountants who may be sole-practitioners right up to large accounting firms a high-tech, one-stop solution to finding quality clients. Accountants who may be considering using the services of a professional marketing firm can now take advantage of a special 10 day offer that guarantees a two to one return on investment provided their membership with GoodAccountants.com has been activated within the next 10 days ending on December 31, 2009.
“Our member accountants are now able to track the referrals they receive from us right through their computer,” says Laurent. “We’re making it easier for them to receive their referrals by being able to alert them within a few minutes of a pending new client that may have just logged onto our website and requested a referral to a local accountant,” she further explains. “We can also send a text message or email alert to a hand held device that notifies the accountant of their next appointment,” Laurent adds.
The reality television series will document the effectiveness of the technology that has been deployed in the field to help member accountants land more clients from the companies that use the GoodAccountants.com website to obtain referrals to local accountants.
Sushil Kumar, George Jay Kite, Kris D. Hinckley, and Kirt D. Hinckley, all Certified Public Accountants are featured in this episode of GA Access.