Business owners need to get the basics right in plotting a strategic path for their practice
A key part of my role in No More Practice 4 involves advising Sam Henderson on the best growth strategies for his successful SMSF advice practice. Developing a sound business plan is integral to the successful growth of any practice, and business owners need to get the basics right in plotting a strategic path for their practice
There are a number of key operational elements of a successful business plan. Firstly, you have to get your back office and underlying support structure of the business right – this is a fundamentally important element of a good business.
Secondly, you’ve got to find a niche. When we established Count, for example, we went down a route that no one else had pursued at the time. I was a banker and I knew I could never compete against the sales skills of life agents and others. I believed accountants should be involved in the advice business so we worked with accounting firms, and in doing this we carved out a niche where there was less competition.
Thirdly, nothing will happen unless somebody pushes the wheel and is out there generating business. So you need to be out there getting new clients, recruiting good advisers and whatever else is required to build your business. If you don’t have good “finders and grinders” in your business then you won’t be able to grow your practice. This is a whole exercise in its own right.
Fourthly, you’ve got to be out there identifying opportunities for growth. In building Count and working with accounting firms, for example, we went to a lot of tax discussion groups, we went to accounting conferences and we produced newsletters and helpful columns in suburban newspapers. People generally just don’t come and knock on your door for business – you’ve got to be out there getting in front of your market segment and you’ve got to show and prove that you’re a caring, expert professional.
Lastly, once you get the clients in the front door, you need to retain them and avoid losing them out the back door. So you need to provide great service to clients once they are in, and ideally become their preferred source of all sorts of advice – so that in their eyes you become so valuable they won’t go anywhere else. Not only will you retain your clients, but this is an important key to organic growth in providing existing clients with more of your services.
