How do accountants get clients? Seven ways that work for a small UK firm

The short answer

Accountants get clients from three places: people who already trust them, people searching for an accountant right now, and people who have seen the firm's name often enough to think of it when the need arrives. Referrals cover the first group, Google covers the second, and regular LinkedIn posts cover the third. A small firm that works all three, steadily, does not need a marketing department.

The seven steps below are in the order most small UK practices should take them. The early ones cost nothing and can pay back quickly. The later ones take longer and keep paying. All of them sit inside the marketing rules of ICAEW, ACCA and AAT, which are covered near the end.

1. Ask existing clients for referrals

Referrals are the fastest source of good clients, and most firms get fewer than they could because they never ask. A referred prospect arrives already trusting you, rarely shops on price, and tends to look like the client who sent them. If you like the clients you have, this is how you get more of the same.

Ask at the moment a client is pleased with you: just after you have filed their return, saved them tax, or sorted out a letter from HMRC. Be specific about who you want. "Do you know anyone who needs an accountant?" gets a shrug. A named type of person gets a name back.

• Make it a routine. Add the ask to your year-end sign-off checklist so it happens for every client, not only when you remember.
• Make it easy. Give the client one thing to pass on: your direct email, or a booking link for a first call.
• Close the loop. Thank the referrer whether or not the prospect signs. People refer again when they hear what happened.

2. Be easy to find on Google

Someone who types "accountant near me" or "accountant in Leeds" is ready to hire, so being visible for those searches matters more than any other marketing you can do online. Three things decide whether you show up.

• A complete Google Business Profile. It is free. Fill in every field: services, opening hours, the areas you cover, photos of the office and the team. Use exactly the same firm name, address and phone number as on your website.
• Reviews, asked for properly.Send happy clients the review link soon after a job is finished. A review is the client speaking in public about a confidential relationship, so it has to be their choice. ICAEW's guidance on marketing for member firms says client testimonials are in order when the client has consented to their comments being used that way.
• One page per service and per place.A page titled "Accountants for contractors in Leeds" can rank for that search. A single "Our services" page listing twelve things rarely ranks for any of them.

Answer the questions clients ask you on those pages, in plain English. That is the content search engines and AI assistants quote, and it is the same material you will reuse on social media in step 4.

3. Pick a niche you can say in one sentence

A firm that says "we act for dental practices in the North West" is easier to recommend, easier to find and easier to choose than a firm that says "we help businesses of all sizes". A niche does not stop you taking other work. It gives people a reason to remember you for something.

Look at your current client list before you choose. The niche is usually already there: five construction subcontractors, a cluster of GP locums, a run of online sellers. Pick the group you enjoy, that pays on time, and that you understand better than a generalist would.

• By sector: contractors, hospitality, dentists, charities, landlords, e-commerce sellers.
• By stage: first-year limited companies, sole traders moving to a company, owners planning to sell.
• By problem: moving onto Making Tax Digital, cleaning up years of backlog, getting management accounts for the first time.

Only claim what you can show. Say "we act for more than 40 contractors" if that is true and you can prove it. Do not call yourself the leading contractor accountant in your town unless you can state the basis for the claim, because your professional body expects it to be substantiated.

4. Stay visible on LinkedIn every week

Most people do not need a new accountant today. They will in six months, when their current one misses a deadline or their business outgrows a spreadsheet. LinkedIn is how your firm stays in view until that day. It also backs up every referral, because a prospect who has been given your name will usually look you up before they call.

Two or three posts a week is enough for a small firm. Answer one client question, cover one upcoming deadline, and share one thing from inside the practice. Our guide to what a small accountancy firm should post each week sets out the pattern, and there are 30 post ideas for accountants if you need a starting list.

The hard part is keeping going through January and year end. Write a month of posts in one sitting and schedule them, so the page stays active when the practice is flat out. This is the job Pillr does for accountancy firms: it reads your website, drafts a month of posts in your firm's voice, and schedules them to LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram once a partner has approved each one.

5. Build referral partnerships

Other advisers meet your ideal client before you do. A mortgage broker sees the self-employed buyer who needs accounts. An independent financial adviser sees the owner planning to retire. A bookkeeper sees the business that has outgrown them. One good partner can send more work in a year than any advert.

• Choose three, not thirty. Pick people who serve your niche and whose work you would be happy to recommend back.
• Give first. Send them a client, share their post, or write them a short guide their clients can use. Partnerships start with whoever gives first.
• Stay in touch. A coffee every quarter keeps you in mind. A partner who has not heard from you in a year refers to someone else.

6. Approach prospects directly, within the rules

Direct outreach works when it is specific and rare. Write to twenty businesses in your niche with something useful to them, not to two thousand with a brochure. A short email about a change that affects their sector, with an offer of a call, will beat any mass mailing.

Two sets of rules apply, and they are different.

• The law on electronic marketing. The ICO's guidance on business-to-business marketing says you do not need consent under PECR to email corporate subscribers such as limited companies, but you must not hide who you are and must give a valid address for opting out. Sole traders and some partnerships are treated as individuals: you can only email them with their consent or under the soft opt-in. If you are not sure which a business is, the ICO says to treat it as an individual.
• Phone calls.ICAEW's marketing guidance says firms must screen numbers against the Telephone Preference Service, the Corporate Telephone Preference Service and their own do-not-call list before any marketing call, and must always say who is calling.
• Your professional body.ICAEW's code says services must not be promoted in a way, or to an extent, that amounts to harassment of a potential client. ACCA's code says the same. One follow-up is reasonable. Repeated calls to someone who is clearly not interested can end in a complaint.

7. Reply fast and make it easy to say yes

Many firms lose clients they have already won the attention of, because the enquiry sat in an inbox for three days. Someone looking for an accountant usually contacts more than one firm, and the first helpful reply sets the standard the others are judged against.

• Reply the same working day, even if only to offer two times for a call.
• Offer a short first call and use it to listen. Both ICAEW and ACCA guidance allow a free initial consultation at which fees are discussed.
• Send a clear proposal within a day: what you will do, what it costs, what is not included, and what happens next. If you quote fees in public, the same care applies, because a reference to fees must not mislead.
• Make switching painless. Tell the prospect you will handle the handover from their current accountant. Fear of that conversation keeps many people with a firm they have outgrown.

What ICAEW, ACCA and AAT allow in marketing

All three bodies allow you to market your practice. The limits are about honesty, not about whether you may promote yourself at all. If your marketing is true, provable and polite about other firms, you are very unlikely to have a problem.

• ICAEW.Paragraph R115.2 of the ICAEW Code of Ethics says firms must not bring the profession into disrepute when marketing. ICAEW's marketing helpsheet spells this out: no disparaging statements about other firms, no exaggerated claims about services, qualifications or experience, and no unsubstantiated claims of size or superiority. Its own example is that saying you provide a better service than a named firm is not acceptable even if it is true, while saying you pride yourself on your service is fine.
• ACCA. The ACCA Code of Ethics and Conduct carries the same R115.2 wording, and its section on marketing professional services adds that promotional material must not be misleading and must not discredit the services offered by others, whether by claiming superiority or otherwise. Fee comparisons with other practices are allowed if they do not give a misleading impression.
• AAT. AAT's guidance on marketing and promoting your businesssays members must be honest and truthful, and may bring the profession into disrepute if they make exaggerated claims about their services, professional status, qualifications or experience. It also warns against business names and descriptions that mislead, such as using "chartered" or "audit" when you are not entitled to.

This summary is general information, not a ruling on your own marketing. If you are unsure about a specific advert or claim, the codes encourage you to ask your professional body before it goes out.

A plan for your first month

You do not need to start all seven at once. Four weeks, a few hours a week, is enough to get the basics working.

• Week 1. Complete your Google Business Profile. Write down your niche in one sentence and put it at the top of your website and LinkedIn page.
• Week 2. Ask your ten happiest clients for a Google review, and five of them for an introduction to someone specific.
• Week 3. Write a month of LinkedIn posts in one sitting and schedule them. Book a coffee with two possible referral partners.
• Week 4. Add one page to your website for your main service and area. Check how quickly your last five enquiries got a reply, and fix whatever slowed them down.

Then repeat it every month. None of these steps is clever. Firms that grow are the ones that keep doing them after the first burst of effort has worn off. For the fuller picture on the social media side, read our LinkedIn playbook for accountants.

If week 3 is the one you know you will skip, that is the part Pillr takes off your desk. Paste your firm's URL on the home page to see the posts it drafts from your own website, or look at plans and pricing first.

Questions accountants ask