What Can Your Accounting Firm Learn from a Skip Broker?

When I was a business consultant I worked with a skip broker company, who would provide a wrap-around removal service, but weren’t getting sales because customers would ring up and ask the price and because they thought they only wanted the cheapest skip, the call would end there.

But when I looked at their range of services, it was obvious they had a far wider range on offer than their competitors, with an incredible support service. So, what does this have to do with your accounting business?

Ask clients the right questions

I helped the team at the skip brokers change the questions they were asking clients, and this is something you need to be aware of in your business.

Let me explain…

Someone would ring them and ask for an eight yard skip. Straight away they’d give the price and the conversation would end. I coached them to say this instead:

“Absolutely fine, I will give you a price straight away but I just need to ask you three questions to start with to make sure I’m offering you the right thing, is that okay?

Great.

Will it go on the drive or on the road?
What are you putting in it?
Are you filling it yourself?
Yes? What else would you be doing if you weren’t spending your weekend filling a skip?”

From these questions, they could instead offer them a man with a van who’d fill it and take the waste away the same day. The last question helped sell the client their weekend. It painted the picture of what they could be doing with their time instead, in exchange for the higher priced service.

Remember, YOU’RE the financial expert

You see, clients come to your accounting firm knowing what they know, and they ask for what they think they need and want. It’s our job to:

Learn what they’re really trying to achieve
Understand what obstacles are in their way
Educate them on what they need to do to reach their goals

They might still not sign up for the options we suggest, BUT we’ve presented them with a bespoke set of services that we know will get them where they want to be. You can still progress the relationship with a stripped down set of services, knowing you can re-communicate the value of extra options down the line.

How can I do the same in my accounting firm?

A consultative sales framework can easily be incorporated into your accounting firm to empower your entire team to have better conversations with your clients.

They might feel scared initially, but you can show them that this isn’t a case of retraining completely… it’s just a case of asking better questions. To help you and your team with this, we developed The GLOSS Method®, to ensure you’re presenting your clients with the very best solution for them.