Does earning £100,000 a year from probate and estate administration work seem like a pipe dream? Well, some accountancy firms are doing just that! And it comes down to effective probate marketing.
If you’d like to increase your fees from probate work, or if are considering becoming a licensed probate practitioner, read on.
Having worked with many firms of accountants who are licensed to carry out non-contentious probate work, I have seen what works and what doesn’t work when it comes to marketing your probate service.
The probate hurdles you must overcome
Whether you want to earn £10k or £100k from your probate service, there are certain aspects you need to be aware of and to learn how to deal with them. These are:
- The fact that licensed accountants can now carry out probate is still largely unknown to the general public. In my opinion, the accountancy professional bodies still have much work to do to change this perception. So, for the short term at least, it’s down to you to educate people and to promote your probate service.
- Reminding your staff that you offer a probate service. Don’t just mention the new probate service to them when you first become licensed, keep them updated throughout the year.
- Thinking you only need to mention it once and people will remember you as and when the need arises. They don’t. You need to keep reminding them.
- Not to treat it as an isolated service, it must be part of your wider private client service offering to give you different reasons to start a conversation about it.
- Selling probate is different from selling general accounting and tax services. It’s not an annual requirement or business transaction. It could well be a one-off assignment that will require empathy and support when people’s emotions are running high. It requires a different marketing message and a different approach with your clients (or potential clients).
- It usually takes a while to achieve a steady stream of work, so concentrate on being omnipresent to increase the chances of being in the right place at the right time. Be patient but keep trying.
The successful accountancy firms don’t fall at these hurdles when it comes to promoting their probate service. They have a methodical approach to achieving the results they want.
If you are considering becoming a licensed probate practitioner, further details from the ACCA and ICAEW can be found on the related links.
How to maximise your probate marketing to increase fees
- Understand that repetition is key. You must keep reminding clients, staff, potential clients and the wider public that you can now provide this service.
- Make it clear why people should choose you and not a solicitor or bank. Highlight the likely fee differences, the speed in which you can carry out the work and sort out the tax elements and so on.
- Use different marketing channels to keep people informed of your probate service. You cannot rely on one form of communication, to be more effective use a mix of letters/emails, adverts, social media, blogs, articles in local magazines, bus adverts, SEO and Google adverts and so on.
- Ask clients for feedback on how they have found your probate service, why they decided to use you and if they would recommend you to others. This can then be used as testimonials in your marketing activities.
- Aim to have a month by month plan of different marketing and client communication activities, so that you keep connecting with different target audiences using different marketing channels.
And the best way to maximise your income from probate? Don’t be the world’s best-kept secret, tell people what you are doing and why they should use you. And keep telling them. That’s what the successful accountancy firms have done who have generated tens of thousands of pounds in fees.
Taking your probate income from zero to hero!
If you’re still not sure where to start or how to improve your probate marketing activities, I can help. You can register for my free probate marketing review call here or simply call 01822 833300 or email vicki@momentumforprofessionals.co.uk.
