Recovering Lost Revenue: How to Drive New Revenues and Grow Your Advisory Business After Losing a High-Value Client

Nothing can feel worse than losing your highest-value advisory client. 

You know the scenario… you take on a client who pays you well and really needs your services.

You transform their business to the point that they now don’t need you anymore but instead need someone in-house. 

You have done your job, it's a massive win for your client but a huge financial loss for you once the work is completed. 

Losing a high-value advisory client can feel like a punch in the gut, right? It's a tough pill to swallow. 

This decrease in revenue can send you into a tailspin, where you start cutting costs and stop investing in business growth, marketing, and building your team. 

Well, today I want to share there is another way.  Today I will share the inside scoop on how to drive new revenues and get your advisory business back on track. 

Let's dive in and explore the steps you can take to make this happen.

UNDERSTAND THE LOSS AND BREAKING IT DOWN INTO BITE-SIZED MONTHLY TARGETS

Let's say you've lost a client that brought in £50,000 annually.

Breaking that down into a monthly figure gives us £4,200 a month in recurring revenue. 

You can either replace the lost client with another large client (risky to put all your eggs in one basket again) or you could take on 5 new clients and eliminate the fear of losing a big client again. (5 x £10k clients instead of 1 x £50k client) 

It can be MUCH easier to get 5 x £10k clients than 1 x £50k clients. The clients I work with in the UK get 3 new clients a month paying them £6-£10k a year for their services. My clients from the USA charge $18k-$30k a year to work with them. 

If you want to replace your £50k client you just need 1-5 sales.  

This is not daunting if you have a marketing machine in place to get those clients. 

This marketing machine looks like this:

1. Adding to your audience every day

2. Posting content that speaks to their pains

3. Having an irresistible offer that transforms a client's life/business

4. Building your prospect database to nurture the “not now” buyers

5. Having a webinar to get the “now” buyers into telephone conversations

6. Having a way to get high-value clients without having to send proposals via email and hear nothing back. 

With all this in mind let’s have a look at what you could do today to recoup the lost money from your best client: 

• Develop a plan and set realistic timelines

We know that drumming up 5 new high-value sales won't happen in a snap. It might take a few months to achieve this goal, especially if you don't have your marketing machine in place. You'll need to allocate the necessary time and resources. It's all about getting clear on your offer, and then having more conversations with people who are interested in your offer. 

• Now execute!

Instead of dwelling on the loss, you must get out there and start selling. Apart from the usual way of getting clients (relying on referrals) why not implement the marketing machine strategies to drive new prospects to book a call with you? 

And guess what…  After three to four months, you will quickly achieve your target and then be able to double down on your lead generation and get even more high-value clients. Once you have the marketing machine in place, you can scale.

Here are some other ideas to consider when looking to replace lost revenue:

• Identify upselling opportunities with existing clients

Why not try upselling your current clients and introducing a new service? This is your low-hanging fruit since you don't need to acquire new clients, just engage with the ones you already have.

• Explore new geographic markets

Consider expanding into new cities, provinces, or even countries to find fresh business opportunities (yes when you offer leveraged advisory you can sell across multiple countries). Just make sure to figure out the best way to reach your target market, and don’t waste time on doing marketing that doesn't yield results.

• Leverage your core competencies for new revenue streams

Can you use your accounting/advisory expertise to create a new solution or partner with another firm to find new sources of revenue? Think outside the box and see what opportunities present themselves.

• Boost your content marketing and inbound lead generation efforts

Content marketing, including blogging and running webinars, is a cost-effective way to bring in new leads. For some firms, these efforts have generated as many as 12 to 15 leads per month, while others have seen 40 to 50 leads per month.`If you converted just a small % of these leads you can easily replace lost revenue. 

So there you have it! Losing a high-value client is tough, but with a marketing machine in place, you can make up that lost revenue and get your business back on track.

What's the next step?

Are you feeling stuck and want to offer more advisory support to your clients? Want to stay ahead of the curve and provide awesome insights to your business clients? If you're nodding your head, then come join me in my weekly marketing business advisory webinars!

As a trusted advisor, you play a super important role in helping your clients navigate their financial challenges and opportunities. And by joining my webinars, you'll get tons of useful tips and tricks to help your clients achieve their business objectives.

We'll be covering a bunch of topics, including marketing strategies, sales tips, delivery of advisory services, and more.

So what are you waiting for? Don't miss out on this opportunity to expand your knowledge and provide even more value to your clients. Sign up now and join our community of accounting pros who are all about offering transformational advisory services.

Thanks for checking this out, and I hope to see you at our next workshop. Here is the link to join.