Selling a Necessity but not a Commodity

14 replies
I'm a Certified Public Accountant that loves marketing (rare combination). I've been trying to think of different angles I could take to sell tax consulting services (includes prep).

I've considered doing a product launch campaign and limit my services to only 100 business owners. Of course, I would give these 100 plenty of value and charge them accordingly.

What I need advice on most is how to sell something business owners are required to do by law. This takes out the primary factor that governs most sales: emotions. Should I go with logic OR find ways to bring emotion into professional services?

Any and all advice will be greatly appreciated and considered.

Thanks,
Neal
#commodity #necessity #selling
  • Profile picture of the author CDarklock
    Emotion comes in immediately!

    Remember when you started your business? How excited you were, that you would be doing what you loved... and getting paid for it... and being your own boss? Remember how great that felt?

    And then, WHAM! You found out about all this garbage you had to do! Along come all these three-letter agencies that want to tell you this has to be tracked, and that has to be archived, and oh by the way file a report every three months! I mean, honestly, who wanted to do all of that?! I'm not trying to run a bureaucracy, I'm trying to run a business!

    Well never fear, mister and missus businessman, for I am here to answer all of your prayers and do all of this tedious and annoying work for you at the low low price of LOTS OF MONEY! Isn't that worth ten times the price?! Blah blah blah blah...

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    "The Golden Town is the Golden Town no longer. They have sold their pillars for brass and their temples for money, they have made coins out of their golden doors. It is become a dark town full of trouble, there is no ease in its streets, beauty has left it and the old songs are gone." - Lord Dunsany, The Messengers
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  • Profile picture of the author Hugh Thyer
    There are plenty of emotional reasons to do it.

    What are the consequences of not doing it?
    How painful and frustrating is it to do?
    What ELSE could they be doing instead?
    Are they too busy tied up in red tape to be earning REAL money?

    Go check out Chauncey Hutter (Real Tax Success) and try to find some of his old ads. Big Dan Kennedy guy.
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    Ever wondered how copywriters work with their clients? I've answered that very question in detail-> www.salescomefirst.com
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  • Profile picture of the author NealAshley
    @CDarklock - Impressed at what you were able to throw together in such a short amount of time...Perhaps, I'm making a mountain out of a molehill. I've been known to do that a time or two. Do you think a salesletter approach OR more of a whitepaper approach would work better? I know, test, right?
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    • Profile picture of the author CDarklock
      Originally Posted by NealAshley View Post

      Do you think a salesletter approach OR more of a whitepaper approach would work better? I know, test, right?
      Test to know the answer, but as far as what I think... it depends on your target market. Highly biased opinion - if you're targeting small business owners outside of the tech and financial industries, I think the traditional sales letter is probably best. Large businesses, or small ones inside the tech and financial sectors, probably the white paper.

      If I couldn't test, that's how I'd go. But yeah, test.
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      "The Golden Town is the Golden Town no longer. They have sold their pillars for brass and their temples for money, they have made coins out of their golden doors. It is become a dark town full of trouble, there is no ease in its streets, beauty has left it and the old songs are gone." - Lord Dunsany, The Messengers
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    • Profile picture of the author J. Barry Mandel
      You know your market better then we do. Would other accountants prefer some sort of white paper?

      :confused:

      If so you might want to use that as part of the launch material to offer to them to butter them up BEFORE they can purchase from the salesletter so they see what they are getting into before they purchase.

      Use PPC and set up a campaign targeting accountants asking them how THEY would want to find out more information - MP3, Video, White paper etc.

      Then give it to them exactly as they want it using the stats that you got from them

      Best of Luck!


      Originally Posted by NealAshley View Post

      Do you think a salesletter approach OR more of a whitepaper approach would work better? I know, test, right?
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  • Profile picture of the author J. Barry Mandel
    The answer is BOTH.

    Most people are tempted to buy because of emotion so ya gotta hit 'em where it hurts

    Your copy would no question need logic in it since your field is dominated by that kind of thinking type.

    But, you gotta get them to emotionally connect to your product

    Best of Luck!
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  • Profile picture of the author NealAshley
    @Hugh - thanks for mentioning Chauncey. I've looked at some of his stuff and it is pretty good. In fact, I bought his stuff a couple years ago but it didn't convert well for me. I think my list may have been off but I followed his advice.
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  • Profile picture of the author NealAshley
    @Justin - As crazy as this sounds, I didn't consider using both (DUH!) Thanks for sharing the obvious. I just said I liked marketing not that I was good at it =) Appreciate the advice. I'm wanting to take my practice to the next level. I'm thinking it should be easy given that I'm in a field that thinks advertising/marketing is for used car salesman and not for professionals.
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  • Profile picture of the author dtendrich
    According to David Garfinkel (and I'm sure he's not the first person to say this), the 7 reasons people buy are (not in order):

    1. To save time
    2. To save money
    3. To save effort
    4. To enhance pleasure
    5. To reduce pain
    6. To improve health
    7. To make money

    I think as an accountant you can help your clients with a good bit of these (which are all tied heavily into emotion). Let's go through the list, shall we?

    1. To save time - they can just outsource the red tape work
    2. To save money - court fees, attorney fees, and anything else that comes with not doing tax work, also, if you offer a lot of value for what they pay, they're saving money on your services
    3. To save effort - similar to the time reason
    4. To enhance pleasure - they can focus more on what they love to do, where their passion is
    5. To reduce pain - no more worrying about if their taxes are getting done the right way
    6. To improve health - less stress = better health
    7. To make money - you can organize their finances in a way that they see what they're making every month, and can set goals as to how much they want to make, and you can track their progress

    I know I didn't go too in-depth on these, but it's a start, and very similar to what everyone else has just said.

    Best,
    David
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    Copywriting Tips, internet marketing jargon, thoughts, and rants by me.

    Atlanta Copywriter, serving clients worldwide.

    Write your life.
    David Tendrich
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  • Profile picture of the author Daniel Scott
    Dude.

    You're an accountant - and you're asking what the emotional side of it is?

    Tax is like having your money stolen from you... and there's nothing you can do about it. But with a decent accountant, you can severely limit what you pay in tax.

    If you can take someone who's making loads of cash from paying $100 000/yr to $50 000/yr... they will want to have your babies.

    This is a very powerful service you have here - don't sell yourself short!

    -Dan
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    Always looking for badass direct-response copywriters. PM me if we don't know each other and you're looking for work.

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    • Profile picture of the author John_S
      Do you think a salesletter approach OR more of a whitepaper approach would work better? I know, test, right?
      Properly written, a white paper is a sales tool. Just not the way the vast majority write them.

      Selling a Necessity but not a Commodity
      To the contrary, selling "accounting" to "business" is a commodity. And that is why any white paper you consider should be issue specific and targeted to a niche.

      It makes exponentially more sense to market a way to slash 32.7% off payroll taxes if you have more than eighteen employees than "pay less in taxes."

      Then you can work out an upsell stream with whitepapers as well. Have a plan for your whitepapers, don't scattershot and hope to hit a customer. And don't overlook the role your website can and should play (and no, not just as a PDF Dump - IM style.)

      Accounting has a wide open field of online development going unexplored.

      Accounting may be a necessity. Hiring you to do it is not. Learning the difference is your first step into marketing your business. Sell your accounting knowledge or the reader will (rightly) assume they can get what you're selling from anyone -- including wherever they get their accounting taken care of now. (If it's a necessity you have to know they're not sitting around waiting for you).

      Let's go through the list, shall we?
      What can you give a small business person off the list they can't get from the QuickBooks software they're using now (cheaper, faster, and with tons of user testing making it easier)? '

      Assuming you are selling in an alternative-free, competitor-free vacuum is a recipe for marketing disaster.


      Related:

      Write Better White Papers With Irresistible "Pass Around Factor" Most whitepapers are a horrible marketing tool -- here's how to make your white paper work to bring in business.

      When you're ready for the bigger picture of an upsell, read Visual Display of Process Information. .....And don't give me that "my customers are small businesses" junk. The concept was developed by an accountant for small businesses who don't have a CFO with a degree in financial accounting.
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      • Profile picture of the author dtendrich
        Originally Posted by John_S View Post

        What can you give a small business person off the list they can't get from the QuickBooks software they're using now (cheaper, faster, and with tons of user testing making it easier)? '

        Assuming you are selling in an alternative-free, competitor-free vacuum is a recipe for marketing disaster.
        Hey,

        Oh, he's not selling in a vacuum? And here I thought he was... Thank you, Cap'n Obvious, for pointing that out to me

        That's what you call a valid objection to hiring you. Every business has one or two or ten of those. And if I thought my clients were living in a competitor-free, alternative-free world, I'd never help them make a sale.

        The point is to take each of the things on that list, and suit them to your business. If you find that your competitors can satisfy those desires for your prospects, too, and if they're better at it than you, then think of something unique to you and your business that your competitors could never have.

        What do you have that QuickBooks doesn't? That could even be a great unique selling proposition.

        Maybe write a letter about, (this is just off the top of my head)

        "If I were you, I'd just buy Quickbooks. I mean, it's easy, cheap, user-friendly - what's not to love? Except that I used to use quickbooks, and there were some tax things I didn't understand, and I couldn't figure out how to properly do them in the software. That lead to me getting a $5,000 extra charge on my taxes that I shouldn't have! The IRS almost audited me, too! But if I'd had an expert who could do this all for me, then I know I'd be free, clear, and $5,000 richer"

        Maybe your USP is even the fact that you're the #2 guy.

        Like David Ogilvy wrote in the famous rental car series: (I'm paraphrasing)

        "We're the #2 car rental company. That means, unlike the #1 company, we can't afford to have you walk away unsatisfied. That's why we have to make sure that the gas tank is full, the ash tray emptied, the car as clean as if it were brand new, and that each car still has that new car smell. Oh, and our lines are shorter, too."

        David
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        Copywriting Tips, internet marketing jargon, thoughts, and rants by me.

        Atlanta Copywriter, serving clients worldwide.

        Write your life.
        David Tendrich
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  • Profile picture of the author NealAshley
    @dtendrich - David, great suggestions on both threads of yours. thanks very much!
    @John_S - good advice; I agree about Pablum style dashboards being a great upsell!
    @Daniel Scott-you're right...i sell myself too short way too much
    @Justin-i'm not targeting accountants but small business owners (similar); thanks for the advice on PPC...that could work

    If I missed anybody, I do appreciate your input. I've gotten several ideas from this thread. Thanks to all and I'll keep you posted.
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