How tech helps us to rebuild our trusted advisor role
The tag ‘Trusted Advisor’ gets bandied around a lot. Without trying to be deliberately contentious, I often challenge its use. Undoubtedly, accountants were once the trusted advisor to their clients. When I came into the profession 44 years ago now, the older partners, especially, were seen by their clients as their trusted advisor, their ‘go to’ person on any issues, business, family or personal, that were troubling them. Without the filing deadlines of today, these clients were with their accountant primarily because they valued the relationship rather than the products.
This article was originally posted as a blog on the website All in Place
Richard Brewin explores how technology can actually be used to reignite the human connection we have with clients.
The tag ‘Trusted Advisor’ gets bandied around a lot. Without trying to be deliberately contentious, I often challenge its use. Undoubtedly, accountants were once the trusted advisor to their clients. When I came into the profession 44 years ago now, the older partners, especially, were seen by their clients as their trusted advisor, their ‘go to’ person on any issues, business, family or personal, that were troubling them. Without the filing deadlines of today, these clients were with their accountant primarily because they valued the relationship rather than the products.
Whilst clients today still trust their accountant, their behaviour often suggests that the relationship itself is not at the same level. Clients fail to communicate, share important news and issues, respond to the accountant’s advice and regularly ghost them. Not the behaviour of someone who sees the accountant as their ‘go to’ trusted advisor.
I can write at length about how self-assessment, Companies Acts, Financial Services Acts, marketeers and the culture of the 80s and 90s have turned us into a product-based profession rather than a relationship based one but what matters most is the opportunity we now have to reverse this.
The rise of the Human Firm
Another phrase that is becoming increasingly visible in this Digital Age is The Human Firm. Back in 2023, my friend and colleague, Will Farnell, wrote the book of that title. For some of us, the profession has always been about people, but it lost its way and Will’s theme, about joining the human revolution to create a scalable, client-centric team, engaging firms couldn’t be more timely.
The point not to miss here is that Will’s previous book, written in 2018, was entitled the Digital Firm. In other words, the Digital Firm and the Human Firm are not mutually exclusive. Quite the opposite, in fact. Building a digital firm creates the opportunity to create a scalable human firm.
This matters:
- Using tech effectively within our firms enables us to be more client-centric by delivering the time and the information for us to have more meaningful (and billable!) conversations with our clients.
- More meaningful conversations with our clients rebuilds our trusted advisor role.
- Being seen as a trusted advisor has the client valuing the relationship and not just the product, thus differentiating us from the automated and online competition and, as importantly, delivering the sort of client relationships that attracted many of us to the profession in the first place. In other words, making a real difference!
In short, we use the tech to enable us to expand and add greater value to our client relationships. We bring our professional expertise and build on the human attributes of care, understanding, trust and respect to make a real difference and highlight why we are worth the extra fees.
Where tech helps
When I’m assessing tech solutions, I’m looking not for the ones with all the bells and whistles but the ones that will enable the accountant to have those conversations that will make a real difference, to team members as well as clients. As an example, I love the All In Place approach of focusing on the personal balance sheet and not just the business balance sheet. Understand the client’s personal goals, challenges and concerns and seek solutions in the business and elsewhere to address these. That gets the client listening!
To achieve this happy marriage of digital and human, you should see your strategies for growth as two pronged:
- What tech are you currently utilising? Does this make a positive difference to your firm AND your clients?
- What tech can you use to drive more effective client conversations that will better position you as the trusted advisor?
Time to be more human by being more digital.
