Marketing for professional services firms

For owner-managed UK accountancy practices

You didn't qualify as an accountant to cold-call.

Too much senior time goes on price shoppers and people who were never going to hire you. Here is what we do about it.

Fewer price shoppers. We put you in front of owner-managed firms that value the work, not the ones chasing the cheapest quote.
Senior time protected. Enquiries are qualified before they reach you, so partners stop sitting through calls that were never going to convert.
An enquiry target, agreed up front. We set a number before anything launches. Miss it in the first 90 days and you get your money back.
A second engine alongside referrals. Your referral network keeps working. This runs beside it, so growth is not capped by who you happen to know.
Deliberately small. Fewer than ten agency clients at a time, and never two competing practices in the same area.

30 minutes · Video or phone · Engagements from £500 a month

We agree an enquiry target before anything launches. Miss it in the first 90 days and you get your money back. We hold fewer than ten agency clients at a time and never two competing practices in the same area.

Who you will actually speak to

Ross Harrold

Founder, Ventra Media

I take these calls myself. I have spent years working only with professional services firms, and I will tell you honestly whether we can help, including when the answer is no. You will not be handed to a salesperson.

Most practices have already been burned once.

Leads, not clients

Most providers sell you leads and call the job done. A lead is a name on a form. A client is someone who signed. Only one of the two pays for your staff, and it is not the one you were invoiced for.

Sold to several firms at once

The same enquiry goes out to five practices, who then bid each other down until the cheapest quote wins. That is not marketing. It is an auction you did not agree to enter, and you were charged for the privilege.

Aimed at the wrong businesses

Letters to every newly incorporated company and anyone with accounts falling due. People who have taken no advice, set no budget aside, and will move on for the next cheapest quote. We do not do this, and we would talk you out of paying anyone else to.

All of the above is a targeting problem. Decide which clients you want before a penny goes into advertising and most of it solves itself. That is where we start, and it is the first thing we will do on the call.

What the call actually is

Thirty minutes. Three things.

Which clients you actually want more of

Not more of everything. The service lines worth growing, the sort of business you want on the other end of the phone, and the ones you would rather leave to somebody else. Everything after this depends on getting it right, and most marketing fails because nobody asked.

Where your work comes from, and what it costs you

Referrals, search, repeat clients, networking. We map it and put a rough cost against each, including the senior hours going into enquiries that were never going to convert. Most practices have never seen this on one page.

What we would do first, in order

A short, prioritised list with rough numbers and honest timescales. Some of it works inside a month. Some of it takes two or three quarters. We will tell you which is which rather than promise you a full diary by Christmas.

You keep that list either way. If we are not the right fit for your practice, we will say so on the call rather than sell you something. We would rather turn down work than take on a firm we cannot get results for.

See available times

The arrangement

Days · Money back

We agree a number. Miss it in 90 days and you get your money back.

Before anything launches we agree a specific enquiry target, based on the services you want to grow, the kind of client you want, and your capacity to take them on. Not increased visibility. Not impressions. A number, written down, that we both sign.

Before you book

This is not for every practice.

We would rather you read this and decide not to book than sit through a call that was never going to go anywhere.

A good fit if

You are an owner-managed practice, typically 1 to 20 people

You have capacity to take on more of the right clients

Someone senior is involved in winning work

You want more of a specific kind of client, not just more of everything

You would rather have ten good conversations than fifty enquiries

Not a fit if

You are looking for the cheapest option, or cannot commit from £500 a month

Nobody in the practice can follow up enquiries promptly

You want a bigger pile of enquiries rather than better ones

The practice is being sold within the next twelve months

You are fully booked with work you are happy with

See available times

Straight answers

The questions accountants actually ask.

Is this really free, or is it a sales call?

It is free, and it is also a conversation with a company that sells marketing services. Both are true. What we will not do is spend thirty minutes on a slide deck.

We tried a marketing company before and got nothing but price shoppers.

It is the most common thing we hear, and usually it happened because nobody agreed who the practice was for before the spending started. If the targeting is wrong, a bigger budget just buys more of the wrong people. We will tell you honestly on the call whether that is what went on, including if the answer reflects badly on us as an industry.

Referrals bring us steady work. What does this add?

A second source alongside them. Referrals are the best work you will ever get, but they arrive on their own schedule. A practice whose clients are mostly heading towards retirement can see the gap coming without being able to see the replacements. This gives you something you can turn up before a capacity gap and ease back when you are full.

How long before we see anything?

Some of it is quick. Tightening how enquiries are handled and qualified often pays for itself inside a month. Building real demand takes longer, usually two to three quarters before it produces steadily. Anyone promising a full pipeline in eight weeks is selling you something. We would rather set the clock honestly now than disappoint you in month three.

We are a small practice. Is this for us?

We work with owner-managed firms, typically 1 to 20 people. If you have capacity for more of the right clients and someone senior involved in winning work, you are who this is built for. Engagements start from £500 a month, and we will give you a realistic cost per new client before you commit to anything.

Pick a time

Book your free strategy call

Choose a slot below. The calendar is live, so whatever you pick is confirmed immediately and the invite lands in your diary straight away. The call is on video or by phone, whichever suits you. Within two working days afterwards you will get the prioritised list we talked through, written down, yours to keep and act on with or without us.