“Dripping With Honey And Sprinkled With Cinnamon Sugar.”
Why was the donut shop robbed?
Because the thieves wanted to get their hands on the dough.
::Together With Financial Cents::
Redefining how accounting firms get work done.
I read this review description for a business, and it has stuck with me. It wasn’t for a bakery. Or a restaurant. It was for a women’s clothing store. It made me want to find the store just to see what was so glorious about the customer experience that it could draw a review so sweet and delicious.
It also made me think, “How can I get my clients to feel so great about working with us that they would leave an eloquent review like this.”
Realistically, this isn’t going to happen. For starters, none of Calmwaters clients are poets or writers, and the reality is no matter how much clients value us, no one will ever feel as good about accounting services as they do about buying baked goods or beautiful clothes in lovely scented shops. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do our darndest to make them feel a part of something that lifts their business and encourages their loyalty to us.
How do we do that? There are several ways to make your clients feel like you value them and give them a beautiful experience with you.
Anticipate their needs:
Proactively anticipate and address your clients' needs before they even ask. This demonstrates attentiveness and shows that you're invested in their satisfaction. This is not about the tracking of work. It’s about proactively letting them know things about their business.
This is an easy one for us as we have deep knowledge of the inner workings of their financials, giving us the unique ability to let them know the gories and glories that may be coming their way.
Build relationships, not just transactions:
Focus on building genuine relationships with your clients rather than simply treating them as revenue sources - or worse, pests to your systems. Invest time in getting to know them and understanding their goals and challenges.
I have experienced being a customer where I have been left feeling like a hindrance to the business and its processes rather than why they exist - mostly in restaurants. Be cognizant of this. We need processes and systems to run our firms and deliver great work for our clients, but ensure your clients know the whys of how you do things and don’t make them feel like they are in the way of your business.
Communicate clearly:
Communicate clearly and promptly, ensuring clients understand every step of the process. Transparency builds trust and fosters a positive relationship.
Get ahead of letting know client deadlines, timelines and where their work is sitting. Give them a way to understand where you are with their work, that they can track themselves or by shipping automated updates. So much great technology is available to us to do this, especially with accounting-specific practice management apps. Take advantage of it to make your clients feel included in your processes.
Consistency is key:
Strive for consistency in the quality of your services. Clients should always know what to expect from your business to build confidence and engagement.
Express gratitude:
Who doesn’t love hearing “you are a good dog”?
I have a client that was referred to me by an accounting firm. They are like a gift from the business heavens; I tell them every opportunity I get. I have another client who is a darling of a human and gets their schtuff to us like clockwork; I have it built into her end-of-month closing email that I appreciate how sweet she is, how well she collaborates with us, and that we love working with her.
Give grace and empathy:
Sometimes, clients simply can’t get their end of the work to you. You can’t own that but don’t chastise them like children. Treat them like the adults they are, and state the outcome of not being able to complete work for them due to their tardiness. If they will rarely get their stuff for you, and it’s chaos for your firm, consider re-homing them rather than resenting them.
Humanize the processes:
Treat each client as an individual, understanding their unique needs and preferences. Personalization shows that you value them as more than just another client.
Some firms may find this hard to scale if they want many of the easy-peasy (is it really ever easy-peasy?) cash-coding engagements, but for those looking for deeper relationships with value-added services, this is worth the effort.
We have a tech stack that we love, and for the most part, our clients do as well. What we choose for technology will never suit everyone, but you can modify the process to make them feel comfortable and confident in it. Calmwaters uses Financial Cents to remind clients of their tasks and get answers for transactions we don’t know about. But we have a client who doesn’t need reminders for her tasks - she is great at doing them. And her process for reviewing what transactions we need receipts for is unique to her and no lift for us. So, we took her automated reminders out of our process, providing her with a tailored experience.
Seek feedback and act on it:
Regularly gather feedback from clients and use it to improve your services. Showing that you value their input and are committed to improving enhances the client experience. It also gives you a great opportunity to showcase the great work you have done with them beyond compliance.
We have an annual re-engagement process that begins with a survey to see how they feel about working with us. My clients always complete the form, and we have learned so much from their feedback.
Warm welcomes:
Make every interaction a welcoming one, whether it's in-person, over the phone, or online.
This starts with a solid onboarding process and extends throughout the relationship. Many retail and customer service businesses have a standard greeting and goodbye that suits their business model. This is a simple system that firms could adopt, especially in email communications, to engage clients with genuine warmth and enthusiasm. Even chatbots and forms can be turned into a friendly experience using conditional logic and feeding the tech the type of interaction and language you want used to represent your firm.
These are thoughts that your firm can use to create rewarding client experiences. Clients may not feel your firm is as delightful as dripping honey and cinnamon sugar, but you can surely aim to get close to that sweetness.
And I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that having clients that embrace all you do with them starts with knowing who your 5-star client is. I am guessing that the boutique that garnered this review was not one that every shopper would love. You will not always be working with your perfect client, but start hashing out who they are so that the services you offer and how you deliver them align with the folks receiving them.
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Scaling New Heights - Boldly Go
June 16, 2024 9:00AM EST - June 19, 2024 5:00PM EST
Steering your practice over the coming years requires courage, direction, intentionality, and a healthy measure of grit. In other words, to embrace the future, accountants and bookkeepers must ‘boldly go!'
I am hosting three sessions:
Making Your Workflow App Work For You: Choosing and implementing a practice management app
Do You Google - Part One: Chrome Identities, Themes & Customization
Do You Google - Part Two: Discovering the efficiency of Google apps
Simply yours, Kellie :-}
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