New Clients, Inc., an international client acquisition, practice management, and accounting practice sales firm, functions as a family-run organization, infused with the ethics of founder Bruce Clark's martial arts training. Committed to upholding honesty, integrity, and responsiveness throughout its work, New Clients, Inc. helps accountants buy and sell their practices, market their services, and grow their business within the U.S. and internationally.
New Clients, Inc. creates a webpage for its accounting practice clients on their website and helps them identify their strengths, selling points, types of customers, and profit margins. The consulting firm then turns to its database to spread the word about the practice, keeping in mind the target market. After receiving responses, New Clients, Inc. then focuses on respondents' pre-qualification and creating confidentiality agreements before connecting them with clients.
Having run the firm for close to 40 years, Clark credits longtime relationships with former clients as being an integral contributor to the firm's continued success. Turning to his clients is his first step after receiving a new listing. "I've been with a lot of my clients from their early days, so I know that we're always going to help each other out," says Clark. "If you give something of value to someone, you may not even have to actively ask for something in return."
New Clients, Inc. has sustained these long-term relationships with clients by continually staying in touch, sharing news about their training seminars, motivational suggestions, and tips on setting effective goals. "We've had clients who have been on our email threads for nearly three decades," Clark explains. "Actively keeping in touch with them is what has helped us maintain long-term professional relationships."
New Clients, Inc.'s story begins with Clark's father, a self-taught accountant who established a bookkeeping service in the 1960s. Joining the firm in the 1970s, Clark spent 14 years learning the ropes of the accounting business from his father. "I learned from the ground up and had the opportunity to immerse myself in it," he recalls.
In 1979, a pivotal policy change allowed accountants to market their services. Clark noticed that accountants were slow and struggling to really harness the benefits of this change. Under the watchful eye of his father, Clark founded New Clients, Inc., using his sales background to bridge this gap and help accountants market themselves. "With what I'd learned, I had the tools necessary to design a training program to teach them how to attract business, develop leads, sell, close, and set goals," says Clark. Clark also credits his wife, Kathy, with helping him steer the company through good times and bad times over the past 39 years.
Today, the tradition of handing over the torch carries on with Clark's son, Christopher. Having studied film, Christopher initially pursued a career in acting before turning his attention to his father's firm. History then repeated itself, with Christopher learning about the accounting practice sales industry from the ground up.
"Christopher started in sales, selling marketing programs to accountants, before progressing to client support," Clark says. "He would write for the newsletter that we used to run, and then we eventually trained him in the practice sales section of the business."
Clark trains three times a week in martial arts. A fifth-degree black belt, Clark regularly applies the lessons of martial arts in his business practice. "In my 35 years of martial arts training, what I've learned is that discipline is a significant key to success," says Clark. "You can have a nice job without it, but how far would you really be able to climb up the ladder?" Clark also credits his martial arts training with helping him stay committed to his business for so many years. "Martial arts has instilled in me the ability to practice perseverance and calm decision-making when times are tough, all while respecting ethics," he explains.
In an industry centered around numbers, Clark has brought the principles of family and martial arts training to establish New Clients, Inc.'s business footprint. Using discipline and trust, he continues to help accounting practitioners protect their life's work and plan their next chapter.
