Enlightened firms win clients, data shows
Knowledge of topical issues and client research are two important factors in attracting new clients, a benchmarking study of accountancy firms has found.
An analysis of data submitted by 63 small and medium-sized practices into the Accountancy Benchmark database found that firms that kept up with ‘fast-changing subject knowledge’, were the most successful in bringing in new business.
The database, part of an ongoing research project aimed at helping firms raise their levels of business and skills development, also found that practices that made a point of learning as much as they could about a possible client before bidding for their business, had a high degree of success.
Colin Coulson-Thomas, professor of competitiveness at the National Centre for Competitiveness, emphasised the importance of benchmarking studies in giving firms the opportunity to judge themselves against an objective standard.
Benchmarking, he said, was ‘vitally important’ as a means of judging ‘present performance and future improvements’, as international competition for clients grows stronger.