Short answer
Accountancy firms should treat enquiry handling as an operating workflow: capture the enquiry, qualify it quickly, assign ownership, follow up with useful next steps, and keep client data inside approved systems.
What the calculator is showing
According to the 2025 Professional Services Client Journey Report by insight6, accountancy firms scoring below 80% on enquiry handling are materially less likely to convert opportunities. For a firm handling 100 enquiries a month, the model below uses a 98% at-risk enquiry rate, a 30% conversion drop and a £3,000 average client value. That is how the annual leakage figure reaches about £1.1m.
Where the leakage usually starts
The common failure is not that accountants do not care about new clients. It is that enquiries arrive during payroll runs, year-end work, VAT deadlines, tax season or partner review time. The email lands, nobody owns it, and the prospect waits. By the time someone replies, another firm has already made the first call.
Capture every enquiry in one place
Start by listing where enquiries arrive: web forms, direct email, referrals, phone calls, LinkedIn and local search. Each route needs a record, a timestamp, a source and an owner. If a potential client can arrive without becoming visible in a shared pipeline, the firm cannot manage response time.
Respond fast without giving rushed advice
The first response does not need to solve the tax or accounting issue. It needs to acknowledge the enquiry, confirm the next step, ask for safe high-level information and book the right conversation. Keep professional judgement with a person, especially where tax advice, company accounts or personal financial information is involved.
Set a follow-up rule
Many firms reply once and then lose momentum. Decide what happens after one hour, one day and three days. The workflow should show who follows up, what message is sent, when the enquiry is closed and what evidence is kept if the prospect does not respond.
Use automation where it reduces admin
AI and automation can classify the enquiry, draft a safe acknowledgement, route it to the right person, create a task and remind the owner. It should not invent advice, quote fees without approval or process client-confidential documents until governance is agreed.