How to Sell  Accounting Software

From a cold list to 20 qualified CEO leads in just 2 weeks

How to sell accounting and payroll software in today’s crowded B2B market comes down to cracking the code on senior decision‑makers. Attaché Software—now under The Access Group banner—learned this first‑hand while chasing growth in Australia’s aged‑care sector. The big hurdle? Cutting through the noise and landing a real conversation with CEOs and business managers who dodge cold calls and ignore the usual marketing fluff.

What unfolded next is a case study in strategic, story-driven content marketing—and how a non-traditional print newsletter helped secure 20 qualified leads from aged care CEOs, without spending a cent on cold calling or digital ads.

The Breakthrough: "Aged Care News" – A Trojan Horse Approach

Instead of another slick brochure or PDF download, we proposed something radically different: a four-page print newsletter, styled like a professional aged care industry publication, titled Aged Care News.

This wasn’t a brochure in disguise. It was:

• Written like a trade magazine, not a sales pitch.
• Filled with real stories and quotes from satisfied clients.
• Physically mailed to senior executives, bypassing digital filters.

The result? Within days, 20 aged care CEOs and general managers reached out directly to schedule product demos.

What Made the Strategy Work

1. It Looked and Felt Like Independent Media

Unlike sales brochures, Aged Care News was crafted to resemble a publication you’d expect on an executive’s desk. This meant:

• Credibility at first glance.
• No branding overload—just smart layout, strong headlines, and clean design.
• A format that gatekeepers didn’t block.

2. It Told Real Stories With Tangible Outcomes

One front-page headline read:
“Wage Costs Slashed by Over $15,000 in One Aged Care Facility”

This wasn’t marketing hype. It was a detailed account, told by the aged care client themselves, describing:

• Their initial challenges.
• Why they chose Attaché.
• The specific savings and operational improvements achieved.

Decision-makers saw themselves in these stories—and responded.

Testimonial from the Managing Director: Mike Rich Speaks

“Your newsletters have got through to the people we'd like to do business with. At this stage, we've received 20 new sales leads from one issue.”
— Mike Rich, Managing Director, Attaché Software

Mike didn’t just stop there.

“Instead of sending the usual sales brochures, we now have our own publication—Aged Care News. That has helped us stand out in a very crowded market.”

“The credibility of having respected aged care executives featured has proven more powerful than anything we could say ourselves.”

Going International: The New Zealand Success

The momentum didn't stop in Australia. Attaché’s head office shared the results with their New Zealand operations, prompting Brent Irvine, then Country Manager, to implement the same strategy.

What Brent Shared:

“We were preparing for the National Aged Care Conference in NZ. Your idea to convert the case study into a four-page newsletter was brilliant timing.”

“Because your publication doesn’t feel like a brochure, it’s getting read. More importantly, it’s opening doors and giving us a key point of difference.”

“Every software company has a brochure. We now have stories—and they get attention.”

Based on interviews with CEO's of Aged Care Villages we produced a number of print newsletters which Attache Software used to win business in Australia and New Zealand:

Testimonials from Attache Software’s Australian and New Zealand management teams

Beyond Aged Care: Scaling the Strategy to Small Business

Seeing the traction in aged care, Attaché didn’t stop there. They adapted the content strategy to target small businesses—a much broader but equally tough market.

By:

• Swapping out industry stories for those relevant to retail, trades, and hospitality,
• Updating headlines to reflect ROI in different business contexts,
• And maintaining the same non-promotional storytelling approach,

…they were able to generate new leads across sectors without increasing ad spend.

This method is now part of their long-term go-to-market strategy, proving that the approach is scalable and sustainable.

The Key to Success: Smart Positioning + Authentic Proof

This strategy is powerful because it blends two crucial elements:

Authentic Testimonials

Real quotes. Real savings. Real people. These aren’t abstract “solutions”—they’re peer-driven stories that resonate and remove doubt.

Non-Sales Format

It doesn’t look like a pitch. That’s what makes it work. From the fonts to the layout, everything screams “industry news”—not “sales collateral.”

What Software Companies Can Learn From This

If you’re selling accounting, payroll, ERP, or HR software, especially to sectors like:

• Healthcare
• Aged Care
• Education
• Hospitality
• Professional Services

…this strategy can be replicated.

You don’t need a flashy ad campaign.

You don’t need a 50-page eBook no one will read.

You need real client stories, structured like industry journalism, and delivered in a way that gets past the noise.

The Results in a Nutshell

• 20 qualified leads from one newsletter issue.
• Executive-level engagement—no cold calls required.
• Positioning as a trusted provider, not another software vendor.
• Tool that opened doors to conferences and closed deals.

Ready to Turn Your Client Stories Into a Lead-Generating Asset?

If you're sitting on case studies or success stories and unsure how to use them, consider this:

You don’t need to talk louder.
You need to be more credible.

By turning your client success into professionally written, non-sales newsletters or print publications, you can:

• Get past gatekeepers.
• Trigger interest from hard-to-reach buyers.
• Build brand authority in your niche.

We help B2B software companies turn their best success stories into marketing tools that get results—with no hard sell and no cold calling.