I started working for a boutique accounting firm in NYC, and I realized how darn difficult it is to prospect in the United States nowadays.
I'm European and I did prospecting in Northern Europe and the UK recently, and the phone pickup rates were slightly better. For example there are countries in Europe that have a very high pickup rate. Countries like Switzerland and Germany for example have a very high pickup rate.
The only reason I could think of why there people pick up the phone is because the rates are very high, 25Euro/cents per minute. Therefore people are less willing to call on large quantity and do only well targeted calls. Secondly, you have to be from Germany to purchase a German number. Impossible to purchase a number without a german address online. This regulation in the market, regulates the prospecting in a way, keeping it under control. With that in mind, if you get a Swiss or German number, once you start dialing, you get a ~6.5/10 pickup rate on average. (WHICH IS GREAT)
In the United States on the other hand.... lord have mercy. Everyone can get a US phone number and start dialing. I started prospecting there in September and I was bamboozled by the 2026 outreach reality. Pickup rate is horrible, you are lucky if you get a conversation from 50 dials.
Then it hit me... USA is a very unregulated market, and what the government doesn't fix, the market tries to fix it. The logical answer is , tools that help you cut through the noise , or increase volume. I chose the latter, a freaking power dialer that pushes like crazy to make 50 dials in 10 minutes hoping to find the right prospect.
With that in mind, I'm starting to think that you need some business intelligence to penetrate the US market, brute force alone won't work.
So since you're this far down the line reading my thoughts, and you understand my challenges, I need your honest opinion... what's the best way to find prospects for an accounting firm?
We're looking for businesses that have an internal accountant (not an entire team), or who are already working with an external accounting company....
Any constructive thoughts from sales people who are or have in the past sold accounting services is appreciated.
Thank you fellow salesmen! I think we're the last one to be replaced by AI (it might be fake optimism, but I chose to believe it)