Creating an Automated Lead Funnel for Your Accounting Practice – The Six Things You Need to Know

An automated lead funnel is one of the best tools for generating new leads. It can take your accounting practice to a new level and expand your client base dramatically.

Samantha needed new leads for her accounting firm. She’d never subscribed to the idea of a commoditised accounting practice. And she needed help in finding clients who would recognise her value.

So she turned to Oompf Global for advice on how to talk to prospects. How to make them understand her services and why they needed them. She quickly understood the need to properly distribute tailored content to her niche. And how this type of approach emphasised how VITAL her practice could be.

Creating an automated lead funnel is one of the best ways to generate new business for your accounting practice. And it allows you to develop new leads passively, thus freeing up more time for your existing clients. Even multi-step marketing processes can be straightforward. 

That said, an automated lead funnel is not always natural to develop. It’s critical that you fully understand what it stands for. And the best practices associated with developing a successful funnel. After all, filling your funnel is crucial to a successful business. It’s so important that we refer to it as a marketing and sales superpower.

What Is an Automated Lead Funnel?

A lead funnel, or marketing funnel, is a journey. It’s the journey that your customers take with your practice. In essence, it’s a multi-tier strategy that you use to generate new leads. An automated lead funnel is a way of generating leads automatically, through a multi-tier process. Automation presents many benefits and can free up your time. 

The basic stages of the lead funnel are as follows:

• Awareness
• Interest
• Desire
• Action

Awareness is the first step to getting potential clients interested in your practice. This is where you research and target any businesses that fit your ideal client profile. It’s at this point that you share information about your company and what you can do to help.

During the second stage of the process, you have to generate Interest. First, you create awareness for your practice. Then you introduce the concept of solving your prospects’ problems. It’s essential to build a relationship during this stage and continue delivering information to your prospects.

The Desire stage is where you try to influence your prospect’s decision-making process. It’s the stage of the lead funnel where you can really benefit from sharing testimonials, case studies, and so on. The goal is to establish your company as VITAL to your prospect’s success.

When entering the Action stage, you can begin to take a more direct approach. By this point, prospects are aware of and interested in your services. They also have the desire to work with your practice… They need that extra push.

With that in mind, you can’t create an automated lead funnel for your accounting practice without specific tools. You need a clear set of principles and guidelines if you want to be successful. Here are some tips on how to devise a unique funnel for your practice.

Tip #1 – Create Content That Grabs Attention

During the awareness stage of your lead funnel, prospects don’t know they need your accounting firm yet. At this point, they are slowly becoming aware of specific problems. So you mustn’t start selling your services right away.

Create content that catches attention and highlights industry-specific problems. Identify your prospect’s needs. Offer information that helps prospects reach a simple conclusion on their own… That they could use an accounting firm like yours.

Identify the ideal type of client for your accounting practice. Based on that, create content by answering questions that your ideal kind of client might ask.

Tip #2 – Develop a Powerful Lead Magnet

A lead magnet is a tool that lets you connect with prospects. It can generate awareness for your practice. It can also serve to answer questions in more detail, without overcomplicating your emails and call scripts.

How do you create a compelling lead magnet? First, let’s look at its format. A lead magnet can take the form of an e-book. It can also be a report that speaks directly to your prospects.

To make it irresistible and impactful, you have to keep in mind a few principles. First and foremost, you must present simple solutions to common or unique problems affecting your prospects. In addition, the information you provide must: 

• Give value
• Be relevant to your prospect’s business
• Be easy to read and absorb
• Be easy to access – digital content is usually preferable
• Be free of charge

Also, remember that there are many ways to get prospects excited about your lead magnets. And there are multiple ways to promote your magnet using social media posts and ads. You can even promote it during networking events, or embed it in an email signature.

Tip #3 – Build a Great Landing Page

Your landing page needs an opt-in form. This will serve to convert visitors into leads. It’s one of the best ways to share your lead magnet with strangers and get their contact information in return. You can then leverage that information to develop personalised messages and pitches. 

You don’t need a lot of experience to build a successful landing page. Here are some tips:

• Keep the content simple
• Focus on your value proposition
• Highlight proof-of-concept stories
• Don’t include page-navigation elements  
• Use persuasive subheadings to retain the reader’s interest
• Identify with the reader’s pain points
• Be very clear on the solution you offer and why your services are VITAL

Many online marketing services offer great templates for landing pages. The content on the landing page should promote your lead magnet and convince visitors to opt in.

Tip #4 – Leverage Split Testing to Optimise Your Funnel

Split testing is a powerful method for lead funnel optimisation. It helps you understand your prospects and find out what makes them tick. Once you’ve identified their needs and motivations, you can react accordingly.

Optimising your funnel is critical if you want to maximise lead conversions and sign more clients. Split testing is simple. For example, you can offer two different rewards to two different groups of prospects. And then see which one results in more lead conversions.

As an accounting firm, you could offer an industry report to some customers. And to others, you could provide a free consultation, or a discount for the first month of doing business. Set clear conditions for both rewards, such as signing up with their email address.

Using this in an automated lead funnel is very easy, because there’s no need for manual prospect selection.

Tip #5 – Nail Your Call to Action

Your call to action, or CTA, is an essential part of the lead funnel. It needs to follow specific guidelines to be effective. Keep in mind that this is the stage where you advise prospects to do business with you.

A strong CTA is:

• Simple and easy to follow
• Maintains a friendly tone
• Reiterates how VITAL your services are for your prospect’s company
• Utilises strategic placement (your CTA should be the final thing a prospect reads)

Don’t think of your CTA as something that converts leads into clients immediately. It can also ask a prospect to sign up for more information. The main idea behind it is to turn leads into viable prospects consistently.

Tip #6 – Retarget Prospects with Automated Ads

An automated lead funnel may generate more leads due to its broader reach. But not all of them will convert to clients. Fortunately, this is no reason to despair. There are many ways to re-engage the interest of prospects who refused your newsletter. Or didn’t call for a meeting.

Using automated ads to retarget prospects is one of the most efficient ways to generate new interest. Like any good ad, an automated retargeting ad needs a clear message. It should highlight your VITAL practice’s role and position on the market.

At the same time, these ads need a more personal and emotional touch. Prospects are more likely to click on personalised ads, even for a service or brand that’s unknown to them.

The people you want to target with these ads are the following:

• Anyone that signed up on your landing page but didn’t pursue further contact
• Those who visited the page but left without signing up
• Anyone that came close to calling a meeting or selecting a service, but didn’t follow through

Use Lead Funnel Automation to Increase Your Reach and Grow Your Practice

An automated lead funnel can help you speak to a large audience simultaneously. It can assist you in generating more leads. An optimised funnel is critical if you want to grow your practice and show just how VITAL your services are for companies in need.

Use all the tools at your disposal when designing an automated funnel. Create unique and personalised content. Use a robust lead magnet that offers value and increases engagement. Make use of a landing page and use split testing to optimise your funnel.

Finally, embed a compelling CTA. And don’t forget to retarget prospects with a more personalised approach.