What keeps clients coming back and referring their friends to you?
(Nearly) every time we ask an accountant where their new business comes from there is a wry smile followed by the immortal phrase “it’s all about referrals”. So, we ask what they do that keeps the referrals coming and hear “It’s because we care, we go the extra mile”
“And do you charge for the extra mile?” And the usual answer is… “I wish!”
As we delve deeper into the discussion it emerges that these giveaways are to keep clients close in case they are tempted elsewhere. The accountant fears that by charging extra, it may push them into a competitor’s hands.
So, given that we help accountants to diversify into business advisory (consultancy we call it) we ask what they hoped for in approaching us. And the common reasons go like this:
“Because I want to:
Give my clients constructive advice that moves their businesses forward
Offer a service that other accountants can’t compete with
Increase billings by adding more value to my clients
Win more clients with a wider service offering
Defend against the demise of compliance work
Make my work more fun than just accountancy
Orientate my practice to think ‘whole business’ when dealing with clients”
And they add “I’m doing enough bits of all that already so I do see the potential, but without a professional framework around it I feel I’m flying blind.”
So, these hopes, and concerns all add up to the same thing…
the boss has decided that the product range must be increased…
…in order to sell more to existing clients and to create a wider appeal than accountancy, so as to win more new clients.
And the commitment (or dream) therefore is to…
…turn the practice into an all-round business advisory service that meets every need.
“But how,” they ask “can I do all that and be sure that I can match it with the same high quality of my accountancy service? After all, it’s taken me 20 years of training and practice to reach my present level of competence and the ability to supervise my team to do the same”
Which is a very good and sensible question.
Not one that bothers the many business managers of course, who go into consultancy, confident that the skills they learned in corporate life, will enable them to fix anything, and bring them a hefty fee.
Accountants can’t afford to be so blasé or expensive.
Unlike consultants they are focused on client continuity, nurturing of long-term relationships and ongoing compliance. So, adding business consultancy services needs careful consideration and planning because philosophically it’s the opposite of accountancy.
Whilst accountants deal accurately with what has already happened for the client, consultants focus on their (hopeful) future, developing actions aimed at improving performance any of:
Marketing
Customer service
Technology
Systems
People management
Financial control
…and being willing to accept the consequences when / if it doesn’t work.
This last one is a killer. Consultants are hardened to projects not playing out as intended and sparring with the client over payment and results. This is not the relationship an accountant wants or needs as it goes diametrically against the necessary trust and respect a client must feel when receiving advice about legal and regulatory compliance.
Although there is a middle ground that some accountants occupy by providing budgeting, cashflow forecasting and monthly management accounts. But then the same problem emerges when reviewing these when the client asks “so what actions can I take to reverse the trends you’re showing me?”
How does (can) an accountant bridge this divide to ethically and practically by add business consultancy with its speculative outcomes to the practice’s otherwise precise product offering?
Well, as ever when you don’t have an answer, start with research…but let’s make it easy by sharing what I have learned in 30 years of business consultancy.
Behave engagingly with business owners:
Finding out their hopes and concerns
Working out solutions that fit their character
Selling to them
Delivering actions with them
Making friends for life
Have processes for working with clients that:
Analyse a business
Identify its blocks to performance
Make corrective plans
Implement them for results
Use marketing techniques to:
Identify and assess competitor SWOTs
Define a USP
Build a prospect database
Create market awareness
Meet new business owners
Process and qualify enquiries
Pitch for business
“Fine, that’s good to know but I don’t see how to integrate it with my accountancy work to make a single offering that doesn’t confuse me, my clients, my team?”
The solution is to be a facilitator
Someone that gets alongside their clients emotionally to understand all their hopes and concerns and works with them to find and implement answers. Not taking responsibility for the outcomes personally but teaching the client how to use the processes that lead to their own solutions. Becoming the mentor who listens and shares helpful experiences and the coach who drives the implementation along with the client in the driving seat.
And that is how to become a full-service professional practice able to fluidly move between the following products as client needs dictate and here they are:
Statutory compliance - All the returns
Financial outsourcing - Bookkeeping / payroll / secretarial
Financial advisory - Budgeting / forecasting / management accounts
Business advisory - Whole business performance improvement
What next?