Technology — whether it’s your tech stack, app stack, AI, or automation — is constantly changing. For accounting firms that still rely on legacy systems, the risk of getting left behind increases with every passing day.
In fact, many firms are feeling the pressure to find the latest and most effective apps and tech solutions before it’s too late. They know they need to improve their processes, efficiency, and profitability, but they need your help because so many don’t know where to start — and some aren’t even aware that tech advisory is a thing!
So how do tech advisors find and sell to these potential clients? Keep reading to find out because in this article, you’ll learn 5 key ways to finding the right clients for your tech advisory services.
Starting with step 1…
1. Define your target
Before we start searching for the right clients, we have to define who they are first. So, what does the ideal tech advisory client look like? To do that, you’ll have to ask some important questions about their key characteristics, goals, pain points, etc.
So, let’s define your buyer personas (ideal clients) (or in other words, the predetermined criteria for any potential clients).
Who is your ideal client?
To build your buyer personas for tech advisory, start by considering the following:
- Typical job descriptions and responsibilities
- Business size, type and vertical
- Operational needs and challenges
- Pain points at each stage of the buyer’s journey
- Typical budgets and decision-making criteria
A great way to start is by looking at what worked in the past. Look at your firm’s most successful or profitable projects, and arrange collaborative discovery sessions with key stakeholders in sales, marketing, service, and operations. It’s important to meet with leaders and experts across different business functions in order to see the bigger picture of who you’re selling to and why.
SMEs in sectors like finance, e-commerce, tech, and manufacturing are prime candidates for tech advisory services, as they’re constantly on the lookout for opportunities to improve efficiencies and save money.
Keep in mind that large, enterprise-level clients usually have complex infrastructure needs that often require bespoke tech advisory and implementation processes. While bespoke solutions typically take longer and are more labor-intensive, tech advisors can save time by grouping potential clients by industry and similar tech stacks, and then developing repeatable, scalable frameworks that apply to those different groupings to quickly build profitable tech advisory service lines.
However, your ideal clients will ultimately depend on your firm’s circumstances and the services you offer, so think about your firm’s capacity and specialties and play to those strengths.
2. Finding clients for your tech advisory services
Once you have your buyer personas and you know who you’re looking for, the next step is finding them.
Similar to many other types of services, there are many ways to find your ideal clients, such as industry conferences, networking events, online communities, social networks, and marketing channels.
Identifying tech advisory prospects from your existing client base
Another great way to find potential tech advisory clients is exploring your current client pool since you’re probably already aware of their tech issues because you’ve already worked with them. Your current clients are also more likely to convert since you already have a pre-existing relationship, which means your foot is already in the door. Compare that to cold calling with its much lower success rates of 1% to 3%.
Tech advisors should take advantage of these quick wins to continually drive revenue for your firm through tech advisory services.
Here are a few ways you can identify current clients who are a good fit for tech advisory services:
- Use your CRM or practice management tools to review your client list and assess suitability
- Explore Xero HQ for insights into which apps your clients have integrated with Xero
- Reach out to different team members and departments to discover more opportunities
- Complete an internal audit on all your firm’s clients to identify the apps they use, how much they spend, and how well they’re using them
Granted, these methods are largely manual, labor-intensive, and time-consuming. But the good news is that new solutions are constantly emerging — like AppVentory — to automate these processes to help you quickly assess client tech stacks and analyze app spend and usage.
How to find new prospects for your tech advisory service line
Use the insights gained from your ideal client profiles and fact-finding sessions in combination with the data gathered from your existing client base to steer new lead gen strategies.
You can also run campaigns targeted towards specific client types that incorporate your audience insights and ideal client criteria.
Additionally, firms can expand their websites with tech advisory-focused service pages in tandem with SEO best practices to drive new opportunities organically.
Or, you could create a dedicated hub for your tech advisory offerings that showcases its value, while building SEO-friendly thought leadership content that speaks directly to the needs and pain points of your key personas.
3. Use tech advisory tools to make your job easier
One of the biggest challenges for tech advisors is getting visibility into their clients’ tech stacks. It’s a significant bottleneck that previously held back the tech advisory space but much of it comes down to a lack of tools.
AppVentory was built to fill this gap with auditing capabilities that help you uncover which apps your prospects are using and how they are using them. This allows you to quickly identify which clients could benefit from your tech advisory services while enabling efficient and scalable processes that make your services more profitable.
A recent report revealed the average churn rate for professional services was 27%, so driving added value for existing clients while generating a healthy pipeline of new clients is critical to success in tech advisory.
How to sell tech advisory services to prospective clients
A well-oiled process for selling to and qualifying tech advisory prospects is crucial because it helps you determine which clients are a good fit along with their budgetary needs.
Here are some things that you should consider when qualifying prospects:
- Company type, size and budget
- Stage of growth/readiness for tech advisory
- The apps in their tech stack
- The complexity of their IT infrastructure
Additionally, you should conduct discovery calls and consultations to assess client suitability while also communicating the benefits of your tech advisory services.
Remember — great tech advisory starts with great discovery. AppVentory provides a unified solution that handles all the data collection and analysis in one place to help you easily judge client suitability, scope out potential projects, and ultimately, simplify the selling process.
To save time, you can segment prospects into different ‘app stacks’ categories according to industry, business type, and typical app combinations, thereby making it easier to build quotes, provide data-backed proposals, and estimate budget needs.
4. Tips for scoping out tech advisory projects
Knowing which apps prospective clients use is one thing, but drilling down into app usage, process flows, and bottlenecks is where you truly get into the details that will inform which clients you take on. It also lets you scope out their specific business requirements for implementation projects.
Combine audit data with qualitative insights from key stakeholders, such as growth goals, user pain points, operational challenges, and level of digital optimization.
Use AppVentory to discover the full picture
AppVentory integrates with cloud accounting solutions like Xero and Quickbooks, along with Google and Microsoft cloud workspaces, to analyze client tech stacks and reveal discovery insights such as:
- Which apps are in the stack
- How much is being spent on apps (AppVentory gathers data on both app subscriptions and expenditure)
- Which apps are being used, how frequently, and by whom (these usage details are displayed in AppVentory’s intuitive live dashboard)
- Adoption gaps in the stack for new apps and integrations
- User satisfaction (AppVentory enables you to send pulse surveys to get user feedback)
5. Strategies to continue attracting the right clientele
Having an efficient client identification and qualification process is a great way to generate tech advisory opportunities but making your tech advisory arm truly sustainable requires a strategic approach to selling those services.
Here are some strategies to continue attracting your ideal tech advisory clients:
- Increase your online presence across channels with thought leadership content, (such as articles, whitepapers, event speaking, interviews, etc) as 73% of B2B buyers consider thought leadership more trustworthy than traditional marketing
- Build topic clusters around relevant content “pillars” to improve SEO and ensure you’re speaking on topics that interest your audience
- Create inbound campaigns to address persona needs/pain points
- Use personalized outreach to target specific accounts
- Build trust and authority with testimonials/reviews, impact stats, and success stories across your website and brand channels
- Join the conversation – provide insights and answers in social media groups, at events, and in forums like Quora and Reddit
- Leverage partnerships, including collaborative content and hosted webinars
Tech advisory: Untapped potential
Done right, tech advisory has the potential to be a hugely profitable service line. And in some ways, you’re simply monetizing something you’re probably already doing for free.
For example, how many of you have recommended something like Xero, QuickBooks, or a similar accounting tool to a client before?
Because the majority of firms we’ve talked to have.
But so many accountants look at tech advisory as something intimidating and unknown, when in reality, a huge part of it is giving tech advice — it’s literally in the name. More in-depth, well-researched, and data-driven, sure, but that’s fundamentally what tech advisory is.
You just need to streamline the process for finding and selling to the right companies, and solutions like AppVentory can help speed up that process.
Ready to add tech advisory as a new service? AppVentory empowers accountants and firms to become tech advisors with a scalable process for optimizing client tech stacks.
Apply for early access and see AppVentory in action.
