We mustn't kid ourselves that our firm has qualities that surpass anything our competitors can offer. Imagine for a moment a prospective client asking what makes your firm stand out from the rest. Sure, we'd respond by saying that our fees are reasonable, that we are very approachable and knowledgeable etc. But the truth is, that if the prospect were to go to our competitor next door and ask the same question, they would get the same answer.What this means is that we don't have an advantage at all. We are probably no better than most other firms that the prospect meets.

To stand out from the crowd, a practice has to offer greater value than its competitors. Clients look to us to solve their problems; we are in the problem solving business, so we need to offer help and advice as well as a precise compliance service.

The nature of that advice should be wide-ranging:-

• Are our clients working as efficiently as they could be?
• Do they have appropriate systems and processes in place?
• Do they require additional services to make their working lives easier?

By regularly reaching out to our clients with newsletters, factsheets, informative events or even the occasional lunch, we can provide the added value that will retain and grow existing clients and make us attractive to new ones.

The brilliance of the internet, and the downfall of many practices, is that comparison between your competitors and your firm is easy and client mobility is rapid.

A strong web portfolio of resources such as blog-posts, fact-sheets, calculators and industry news helps set one practice apart from another. Developing and maintaining new resources is no easy task, which is why Bizezia has developed a suite of tools that practices can access and brand for a low monthly payment.

Clients don't care about hourly rates or the processes we go through behind the scenes. Ultimately, clients want to engage someone who is familiar with their business sector, who understands the pressures and opportunities that they face and who can be a trusted, caring adviser and friend.

Remember these words from the wise Australian, Barry Urquhart: "It is better to be different than it is to be better".

At the end of the day, clients rarely complain about poor service, they vote with their feet.

Notes:

• Bizezia provides high quality, unique website marketing apps and practice management tools. Bizezia's products are designed to make business easier, encourage people to to visit your website and to keep them coming back.
• The Bizezia Contract Engine contains over 200 fully-editable client care letter templates together with market-leading terms and conditions.
• Bizezia's EziaNews is an ideal example of how to keep your website current and informative. It's a daily round-up of business news that can be placed on to your website with no effort on your part and gives your clients, prospects and staff instant access to the latest business news. 
• Bizezia can trace its roots back to 1986, at a time when accountants were beginning to develop innovative marketing strategies for the first time. Then, with the launch of the Internet, Martin Pollins, founder of Bizezia, saw a new business opportunity to provide marketing and administrative products specifically for professionals serving SMEs, which would be available on their own websites with the aim of attracting potential clients and improving the level of service to existing clients. 
• Martin Pollins, chairman and founder of Bizezia, is a Chartered Accountant with wide experience in corporate finance and business management. He ran his own accountancy firm in Sussex and was the first accountancy firm in the UK to advertise on television. Martin went on to create and launch the CharterGroup Partnership (the UK's first accountancy network) and then LawGroup UK, one of the largest networks of lawyers in the country. He also served on the ICAEW Council for several years. 
• Operations director, Iman Rouane, is an honours journalism graduate, who has worked on a number of magazines, including Marie Claire and BBC Eve and was also a freelance newsreader for several radio stations across the south east. She joined Bizezia in 2005.