Sustainable Client Loyalty
To some of you it is Spring season.
To me it is spend-an-inordinate-amount-of-time-and-money-at-the-vet season.
The gentle beauty on the left, Shark, has a mutation (she hates when I use that word) in her MDR1 gene. This is a gene that keeps some medications from concentrating in the cells of her large muscle groups.* It’s an Aussie thing, happens in herding dogs quite a bit actually.
We didn’t know this early on enough and she had several exposures to the trigger medications* in her younger years. That means that she has occasional paralysis and nerve damage in her back end, making her somewhat fragile (she also hates when I use that word). These issues affect her especially in the Spring when all the free-to-roam neighbourhood dogs (it’s dog paradise here) have Spring fever and are playing especially hard with each other.
The goopy-eyed, enthusiastic one on the right, Tippet, has a death-by-coyote-wish and chases the pups back to their dens. And deer for miles. We** have a few hundred acres of trails behind our cabin so these can be long runs.
In these exploits 3 things sometimes happen:
Tippet hurts herself with a craw in her paw or sprained limb
She comes back bloody and battle-worn
She almost always brings Shark along for these adventures and Shark becomes hobbled
We need the usual, scheduled spring check-ups for rabies vaccines, heartworm tests and the like. Cha-ching…
We need the tick meds for Tippet (ticks - ewe, just ewe and we live in tick-central). Cha-ching…
We need emergency vet visits due to the girls’ antics. Cha-ching, cha-ching, cha-ching…
Wondering where I am going with this!?
I’m getting there…
Sometimes, not often, we can’t get the dogs into our (or is that their?) vet on an emergency basis.
Our vet is awesome - and busy. Apparently, he isn’t sitting around waiting for us to show up due to a canine escapade. So occasionally we have to take them elsewhere.
There is an emergency clinic but you have to wait in the clinic - upwards of 3 hours with the injured dog in tow. You cannot book ahead (which I guess makes sense…). The emerg clinic is what Dr. Kevin always recommends. But last week when Shark had a hot spot start to fester and was limping mightily all of a sudden, I decided to call around and see if I could get her in somewhere right away without putting her through the clinic wait.
I learned a lesson:
If someone in a very busy profession can take you right away, they may not be the best professional. There may have been a serendipitous cancellation but probably not.
And I realized how much Dr. Kevin does to create sustainable loyalty.
His front office apologized, put us on a cancellation list and mightily recommended a trusted alternative
He sends pets to specialists when he feels they would be better-taken care of
His office is clean and feels safe & warm
His team is always friendly and welcoming
He explains to the girls and me (not just me) what is going to transpire and why he is going to recommend meds, side effects and procedures
He makes sure we know the alternatives to his recommendations and the possible negative outcomes
He actually gets down on the floor with our dogs whenever possible rather than putting them up on the sterile metal table (which they hate)
Plus, his front office called us back to see how Shark was - even though we had gone elsewhere for her care!
He does what we, as accounting professionals, should be doing.
This is where I was going with this :-}
Refers to alternative, trusted professionals when the workload is too heavy
Refers to other professionals when there are needs better served elsewhere
Makes clients feel welcomed and respected
Makes everyone feel a part of the process
Communicates clearly in a language clients can understand
Explains the whys of how processes are being done
Provides alternative options to make fully informed decisions, including pitfalls of not choosing top processes
Has really cute animal pictures on office walls and gives out treats (we really, really should do this)
::I’m going out on a limb that getting down on the floor with our clients isn’t going to happen::
Take a few minutes to assess how you are creating client loyalty.
Work through what you are doing well and craft up ways to improve where you are falling down.
*Preventative measures create client loyalty. Dr. Kevin tests for the MDR1 gene mutation in affected breeds prior to prescribing the trigger meds. Our previous vet did not. Without it functioning properly, the meds concentrate in the large muscle groups, so a tick med that should paralyze a tick actually is so concentrated in their back end that it paralyzes the dog.
As accounting professionals we know about pitfalls that we can help our clients avoid - are you one of the ones who helps your clients get ahead of them?
Word of the week
Taken from the Urban Dictionary, which is a cool place to noodle through.
Sociable
- said in your head in a loud sing-songy voice
Logan Graf bared his financials on Twitter - well actually Youtube but I put his Twitter link in cause you should follow him there. This was a gutsy video. Divulging company financials is so hard even/especially for accounting professionals. Thanks @LoganGrafTax for showing those who may be afraid of going out on their own that it can work. Super shout on paid brain-pick meetings using a scheduler!
A simple security measure that is oft-overlooked. A thread posted by yours truly.
Here’s a heart warming story about loyalty and living in the moment.
I’m going to be over the moon happy next week cause I’m on a panel with some really cool kids! Eeek!
I’ll be at Accounting Web Live Summit, IRL, on a private island in San Diego with so many APIAs*** I have dearly missed!
I’m hosting a Workshop.
Setting Up Your Online Scheduler.
This is a free event, sponsored by Rewind!
I believe so mightily in their power, I really, really want to get everyone up and running in a scheduler and Rewind stepped up to make this a free event!
What’s Cooking?
Buy the best quality cooking vessels that you can.
They sear better
They cook more evenly
They clean up much easier
I personally have a Le Creuset problem… but luckily I roll through Yemassee, South Carolina - where there is a factory offsell - a few times a year so I’m not totally breaking the bank with my problem.
Buon appetito
Simply yours, Kellie :-}
::Shameless Call To Action::
I sell bookkeeping templates, standard operating process handbooks and client guides.
PS: The other vet office never called back to see how Shark was doing.
PPS: Our daughter named Shark, not us. She thought it was funny we live on a lake and could run around yelling “Shark”. Tippet is named after a fly fishing thingy.
**By “we” I mean the collective Township “we”. Not my husband and I “we”… If we could afford a few hundred acres, on a lake, an hour from Toronto - just wow!
***APIAs - Accounting Professionals I Admire
