John Briggs built Insight Tax from solo practice to 30 people by spending 20 hours a week on in-person networking through BNI and local groups. He generated leads by offering free seminars and lunch-and-learns to business owners, and by mining his existing clients for referral opportunities.
What I want to share with you today are things that I wish I knew when I started my own firm. My name is John Briggs. I own Insight Tax, which I've built from a firm of just me to now we have 30 team members. I've been where you are. I've been the small firm. I've been the guy who wears all the hats. When I started, I knew nothing about marketing. I didn't understand sales. I had no idea where I was going to get new clients. So I joined BNI, Business Networking International, and some other networking groups. I was spending like 20 hours a week just shaking hands, talking to other business owners, hoping that they would at least refer people to me. Super incredibly inefficient. I did end up meeting business owners and anyone that had interest, I would offer a free seminar. So lunch and learns and small events can be really good in bringing in leads. One of the most efficient ways that you can find some of these groups is to email your current client list.
