Do Your Letters Help You Grow Your Bookkeeping Service?
For freelance bookkeepers, written communications are just as important as personal ones. Like it or not, you can’t conduct all your business face-to-face or on the telephone. Often you must write to get an appointment, say thank you, or keep in touch between visits. To make the right impression, you need good letter-writing skills.
Try these tips:
* Open with strength. Don’t try to work up to your main point. Come right out with it and give the client a reason to keep reading.
* Avoid “thank you” as an opener. Even if you’re writing a letter of appreciation, “Thank you” is a poor way to begin. The client may think you’re just following the etiquette book but have nothing more to say, and toss our letter out unread. A more personal style is a better approach.
* Watch that “I.” To hold attention, turn the spotlight away from yourself and onto your client. Write “you” often, “I” only rarely. In particular, don’t start paragraphs or sentences with “I.” That often makes readers start to skim, looking for the next “you.”
* Keep it short. Short letters, made up of short sentences and paragraphs, get the best readership. If you demand more than 2 minutes of the client’s time, you may be out of luck.
If you’re a student of ours, the template letters provided in Module VI follow these rules, and will certainly get you off to a good start.
Module 4 of our Professional Bookkeeper program, entitled “Building a Successful Accounting Service” describes other marketing methods to make your Accounting or Bookkeeping service grow!To see an overview of marketing concepts that the Professional Bookkeeper course will teach you Click HERE.
Other sections from this week’s newsletter:
- It’s Raining Referrals
- Extended Follow-Up Support
- Be a State of the Art Accounting Service Provider
