Elevator pitch examples for accountants
An elevator pitch fails when it describes the business instead of giving the listener a reason to ask a second question. These end somewhere the other person can pick up.
Ten of them follow, written for accountants rather than filled in from a template. Your customer is a small business owner doing their books at eleven at night, and what they are weighing up before they get in touch is a mistake that brings a letter from the IRS, and being charged for every email.
The one-liner
We are accountants in [your town] — we handle tax preparation and filing and bookkeeping for a small business owner doing their books at eleven at night.
Use this when you have one sentence and no idea who you are talking to.
Problem first
The thing people worry about with accountants is a mistake that brings a letter from the IRS, and being charged for every email. That is the part we deal with. We are accountants, and we agree the fee before the work, not after.
Use this where the problem is instantly recognisable and the service is not.
Names who it is for
We work for a small business owner doing their books at eleven at night. Mostly tax preparation and filing and bookkeeping. If that is not you, you probably know someone.
Use this at an event where most people are not your customer, to find the ones who are.
Credential first
We are licensed CPAs. Licensed CPA, in good standing, with professional indemnity cover and a real person answering in April. We mostly do tax preparation and filing and bookkeeping.
Use this in a room where qualification is the thing that buys attention.
The contrast
Most accountants [what the default does]. We are the one that is reachable between January and April. That is more or less the whole difference.
Use this when your market has a clear default and you are not it.
With a number in it
We are accountants — [number] years, [number] engagements, and we agree a fixed fee in advance.
Use this when you have a real number. Do not invent one.
The origin
We started because a mistake that brings a letter from the IRS, and being charged for every email was normal in this trade and it did not need to be. So that is the business: accountants where we agree the fee before the work, not after.
Use this when the reason you started is short and true.
Ten seconds
Accountant. Tax preparation and filing, mostly. [your town].
Use this when someone asks what you do and is already half-turned away.
Ends with the ask
We are accountants doing tax preparation and filing and bookkeeping. If you ever hear someone say [the thing your customers say], that is us.
Use this when the point of the conversation is a referral, not a sale.
The warm version
[their question] — we are accountants. The part people usually ask about is being reachable between January and April.
Use this where the pitch would land badly and a conversation would not.
Writing for accountants: what actually matters
What should an accountant’s website say that a generic one does not?
Three things, in this order. That you are CPA licensed and insured. That you understand the thing people are actually worried about, which for accountants is a mistake that brings a letter from the IRS, and being charged for every email. And what happens next: a free call to see what you need and what it should cost. Everything else on the page is decoration by comparison.
What does a small business owner doing their books at eleven at night check first?
The credential, then the proof. For accountants it sounds like this. We agree a fixed fee in advance. We answer questions without starting the clock. We handle the correspondence if a letter arrives. Put at least one of those above the fold rather than on a separate page nobody opens.
What is the most common mistake on an accountant’s website?
Writing about the business instead of the customer. "We have been established since 1998" answers a question nobody asked. "We start with a free call to see what you need and what it should cost" answers the one they are actually holding. If you only fix one thing, fix that.
How long should the copy be?
Shorter than you think, except where trust is being built. An About page of 120 well-chosen words beats 500 vague ones. The exception is anything explaining a mistake that brings a letter from the IRS, and being charged for every email — there, specifics earn their length.
Everything else for accountants
Elevator pitch for other trades
- Plumber
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- Therapist
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- Massage Therapist
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