Where would you place your firm right now?
Richard Brewin • December 11, 2020
Clients relationships matter.
They always have but now more than ever they are the measure by which clients engage, stay or go elsewhere.
Why now more than ever? I think that there are three critical influences:
- Clients are under pressure and so the level of support is being both tested and judged
- Competition is greater than it has ever been. Clients can now go to multiple sources for their accounting, tax and advisory needs
- Client expectations have changed, commercially and socially. They expect different and they expect more
How your firm responds to these circumstances and manages its clients expectations and needs will go a long way to determining your own success.
To this end, we have created the 5 levels of client management and service. Let’s go in reverse levels of glory:
- Bottom of the pile is ‘Failing Reactive’. Firms in this category are entirely reactive and slow to respond to go with it. They only do the work and respond to the demands that clients put in front of them and they are slow to turnaround both. Consequently there is little to no advisory or support and compliance takes for ever. There are far too many accounting firms in this category but their numbers dwindle as they themselves disappear.
- One step up and we have ‘Competent Reactive’. Firms in this category are, again, entirely reactive but at least they get on with it. The relationship is still driven by client delivery and request but service is recognised and turnarounds are reasonable. If we’re being honest then many accounting firms live here, albeit with frustrated principals.
- Next up is ‘Moments of Proactivity’. Firms in this category remain fundamentally reactive but occasionally have bursts of more proactive service. The problem is that it is neither cultural nor systemised and so it is rarely maintained. Bad habits drag behaviour backwards. These are firms who brand as proactive but know in their heart of hearts that it is by wish rather than record. This is probably the other most populated group with Step 2.
- Step 4 sees us close to the peak, truly ‘Proactive’ firms. Firms here have systemised their processes and behaviours to ensure that they consistently remain ahead of the game and are proactive at all times. They have proactivity embedded in their people and their culture. To be honest, Step 4 is the peak for most of us and an amazing one to reach. For most, it is certainly good enough, an aspiration in its own right.
- But, their remains a Step 5, only for the select few. Step 5 is for the ‘Aspirational’ firms, those that aspire to go beyond even complete proactivity. Firms who want to be cutting edge today and every tomorrow. Firms who want to be the absolute, undisputed best. It is a goal for some.
So I have two questions:
- Hand on heart, where would you place your firm right now?
- Having determined that, do you need and are you prepared to go to the next step?
If so, now would be a really good time to do something different to get yourself there!
Look at any accounting firm website and there is a fair chance that the word ‘proactive’ will be prominent. Ask some business owners and taxpayers whether they consider their accountant to be proactive. There is commonly a gap between the two, between the intent of the accountant and the expectations of the client.
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.
All accountants are the same! We’ve all heard it said. It’s nonsense, of course, but, when you are asked what it is that your firm does that differentiates it from other accounting firms, it can be a challenge to come up with something tangible. Accounting firms tend to offer similar services, that’s what makes them accounting firms. Differentiating from competitors based upon services provided is therefore an issue.