Anthony Bell: Making it big in financial services

“We want to feel like it’s an equal relationship–we’ve given them as much as they’ve given us.”

So, as well as offering competitive remunerative structures—everyone has key performance indicators and a bonus structure—Bell also tries to offer something a little different, from the management team all the way down to the juniors. There’s a firm social club that runs events on Friday nights, he takes teams to conferences, as well spontaneous adventures like afternoons playing lawn bowls.

While the work hours are 8.30am to 5pm, and he tries to get everyone out by that time, it’s an industry that requires some long hours. And for those with family commitments, Bell says he’s designed a model that allows for remote access, where each team member works on laptops.

Innovation & Growth

Bell draws on innovation to make his business stay at the top in such a competitive field. “There’s a vital need to reinvent ourselves every year.” So although they started off as a “different” type of accounting firm, Bell acknowledges that different very quickly becomes the same if it’s not refreshed regularly. And this is where the boutique size of the business comes in handy. “We’ve been able to listen to our clients, and offer them products they want. We want to be a one-stop-shop and offer the services the big firms do.”

So he looks at the big, national accounting firms and strives to compete on the same playing field, even though they are a fraction of the size. This means that the products he offers are on par with those of bigger firms.

While it helped to have the existing clients his father’s business was servicing, he was also developing his own reputation and bringing in his own clients, which was made easier by his connections with his rugby club. “All the guys playing rugby were amateur players, and they all had their own businesses.” So they became early clients and relationships spread from there, relying on word-of-mouth referrals to grow.

Bell says the business concentrates 100 percent on servicing clients, spending no time on looking for new clients. At the moment all clients come from word-of-mouth referrals, and this pretty much sums up Bell’s marketing practices.

In fact, he’s never spent a cent on advertising, concentrating on building the brand through other ways, such as his stints on talkback radio programs and spots on television (such as on Mornings With Kerri-Anne). Although he says he doesn’t chase the attention, being on the radio, on television, and on BRW’s radar (Bell Partners has been the named the most successful accounting firm five years running, ahead of the likes of PricewaterhouseCoopers, Ernst & Young) means a lot in terms of recognition, as well as being a free branding tool. “It’s cost-free marketing and we get tremendous branding for entering these kinds of things and winning them.”