At a glance
- Before pitching, determine your target audience and start building your reputation.
- Learn how to improve your public speaking skills while embracing technology.
- Don’t sell to the client; instead, take them on a journey with you.
- Don’t underestimate the impact of your unique value in the pitching room.
For accountants, commercial success depends on more than qualifications and technical expertise. Building a business requires many strategies, from developing interpersonal skills and setting boundaries to creating a brand and selling new services.
Another key strategy is pitching. It’s essential to finding a client base, attracting new clients and persuading current clients to invest in extra services.
We speak with Sarah Lawrance, Founder of Hot Toast accounting and bookkeeping firm about how to perfect the art of pitching.
1. Establish your target audience
“Traditional accounting firms will take on anyone when they first start out,” says Lawrance.
However, Hot Toast took a more focused approach. “I came out of years in advertising and television, so I had strong ideas about how to position the business,” says Lawrance. “It was important to get the branding and marketing right first – pitching is the end result [of that].”
Central to the process was determining the types of clients Hot Toast wanted. “We developed marketing personas, asking ‘Who are we trying to reach?’ ‘What do they look like?’ ‘Are they male or female?’ ‘What’s their age bracket?’ ‘What’s their likely turnover in the next two to five years?’”
Consequently, when it came to pitching, Lawrance knew which clients to target. “We knew who to pitch to and how to pitch to them,” she says. “For example, we adopted Qwilr software, [which creates proposals], and employed designers and copywriters, because we wanted to look as though we were in an agency pitching to a client.”
It also meant that, if a client rejected the pitch, Lawrance remained confident. “From the beginning, we had the philosophy, ‘If you don’t get it, you’re not our kind of client’. We were laser focused.”
2. Build trust, credibility and a good reputation
With your branding established and audience defined, the next step is building your reputation. Lawrance recommends a wide-ranging approach.
“Pitching isn’t just about you walking into the room,” she says. “It’s about everything you do from a branding perspective.”
Hot Toast’s branding is embedded in every aspect of its operations – from the appearance of its websites and business cards to how it communicates with the market and clients. The company also considers how it impacts the community and partnerships with charities.
“We’re B Corp certified, so we’re very focused on who we want to be, how we want to get better and who we are reaching,” says Lawrance.
“Having all this behind you helps when you’re pitching.”
3. It’s all in the preparation: learning to speak well, while leaning into tech
For Lawrance, two skills are essential to pitching: public speaking and using technology. She acknowledges that communication can sometimes be challenging for accountants.
“[Before starting Hot Toast], I had never done any speaking to the industry,” she says. “In the first year, I decided to do things that scared me, including speaking on stages.”
Along the way, Lawrance developed crucial skills, such as slowing down her speech when nervous, taking calming breaths and talking to herself positively. “When I’m freaking out, I tell myself, ‘This doesn’t matter. It actually doesn’t matter. It’s just a moment in time’,” she says.
She also recommends watching a recording of yourself speaking. “It’s cringeworthy, but you realise there’s a lot of ums or dead spaces, or you’re talking faster than you want to,” she says.
At the same time, Lawrance has learnt to embrace new technology. “I always make sure I have beautiful presentations – great visuals, great video content,” she says. “They’re not the story, but they supplement the story I’m telling.”
4. In the room: transforming the numbers into a beautiful story
When it’s time to enter the room, the way you approach the client could make or break your pitch. For Lawrance, success relies, not on selling, but on taking the client on a journey.
“I never just go and deliver a presentation,” says Lawrance. “Instead, I take the client with me: ‘This is who you are; this is who we are. I know you want to get to X. Now, let me take you on a journey on how we’re going to do this together’. I frame everything from that perspective, as opposed to, ‘I’m here to educate or sell’.”
To achieve this, good storytelling powers are essential. “The hardest thing to do is tell a beautiful story,” she says. “The problem is you’ve got to understand the people you’re talking to.”
This requires determining a holistic picture of a client’s business and life, with an emphasis on pain points. “[Pitching] isn’t always business first,” says Lawrance.
“I never just go and deliver a presentation. Instead, I take the client with me: ‘This is who you are; this is who we are. I know you want to get to X. Now, let me take you on a journey on how we’re going to do this together’. I frame everything from that perspective, as opposed to, ‘I’m here to educate or sell’.”
Sarah Lawrance, Founder, Hot Toast
“Instead, ask some questions. ‘How are you going?’ ‘What are you doing at the moment?’ ‘How is your business going?’ ‘How is your family going?’ ‘How is school going for the kids?’”
This puts you in a strong position to introduce the numbers, but without losing sight of their underlying meaning. “Understanding the stresses at play allows you to connect and add value,” says Lawrance. “You might ask, ‘What do these numbers mean for tomorrow? Next week? Next month?’”
Equally important is avoiding dry, technical, jargonistic language. “It’s one thing for an accountant to talk to another accountant,” says Lawrence. “But, if an SME owner is freaking out about cash flow, or has no idea how to meet their payroll obligations, or doesn’t understand why their profit is so high but there’s nothing in the bank account, that’s a different story.”
Accounting is about helping people succeed, not just in the business sense, but in their lives, according to Lawrance.
5. Keeping your unique value front and centre
“One of the smartest people I ever worked with told me, ‘Never discount what you, personally, bring to a pitch,” says Lawrance.
Sometimes, an accountant’s unique value can be hard to define. It doesn’t necessarily turn on having the biggest following, widest reach or slickest social media channels. “[It] might be based on your manner, the story you tell or the vibe you bring,” says Lawrance. “Don’t minimise the impact you have in the room.”
Trusting in your unique value can also help with confidence. “When you’re feeling unsure, or obsessing over what, in your proposal, will or will not win over the client, try to remember that, in the long run, what will win is showing up and bringing the value you can,” she says.
6. Above all: remaining authentic
Lawrance advises against overstating your abilities and to thoroughly prepare and research the company. “People appreciate it when you make an effort to look at their business and the industry, and there can be moments of pure gold when you weave [your knowledge] into your pitch,” she says.
“But the biggest thing is being genuinely interested in who you’re pitching to. If you’re not, why are you pitching? We never walk into a room to pitch to talent we don’t want.”
This mindset views failed pitches as stepping stones to more appropriate clients. “If your pitch doesn’t go well, walk away, and accept that the client wasn’t right for you,” she says. “I’m a big believer in like attracts like. You’ll find the clients who align with your values, the kind of business you want to grow and the impact you want to have.”