Taking the time to find out about your customers' business can pay dividends. Greg Hayes says your inquiries will inevitably generate business for you and a helping hand to the client.
Why do we continue to under-service our clients and in the process give up many thousands dollars of revenue that could otherwise reflect a genuine win-win situation. Now you might say you're not talking about my practice or my clients. You may already think that your clients are fee sensitive and not prepared to sustain a higher level of fees. Certainly we know that some clients are becoming increasingly fee sensitive and there is some level of downward pressure on fees, particularly in the compliance area. I suspect the reality is for most of us that there are a percentage of our clients who look at accounting services and their primary focus is cost. From this group it is much tougher to generate additional fees. However, I equally suspect that there is probably somewhere between 10 per cent to 30 per cent of every client base who would readily pay more if we delivered information or advice that they valued.
One of the amazing parts of practice life is that every time you stop to talk to your clients about their business, their issues and their plans for the future work seems to follow.
Now I'm not talking about the quick chat you have when you meet to sign off their tax returns or complete a BAS. I'm talking about meeting with them for no purpose other than discussing how business is going and where they are up to. I try and have one of these meetings at least once or twice a year with our larger clients.
The clients appreciate the opportunity to talk about their business and to take some time to identify or discuss issues that are important to them. For them it is a real value add process. And having identified their issues they are then able to put in place a process, through us, to progress these issues. For us we achieve our primary objective that is to further cement our key client relationships and to be able to add value to their business. It is genuinely a true win-win situation.
There is a question that it leaves me with, though. What would happen if I did not have time for these meetings? Would we still flush out the issues and manage their resolution or would they have been left undone, in some cases with a growing problem developing. And would we manage to maintain the same level of client relationship, let alone an enhanced one? These are questions that can't be answered with any certainty.
It does remind you, though, of the risk of under-servicing your clients. Good clients who are prepared to pay your fees for work that is important to them should always be given premium service. We probably all have clients who are more problematic, more likely to complain about fees levels and are then slow in paying. Yet we continue to apply resources to them and sometimes overlook our better clients who appreciate what we do and are looking for us to take an advisory role with them.
Most accountants say they are not good at marketing and, as a result, client acquisition is not their greatest strength. If this is the case then what better reason could there be for ensuring that your key clients are well looked after.
Why go through the cost and pressure of new client acquisition when the work is there to be had from your existing clients. And the delivery of work to an existing client where a strong relationship is already established will always be more profitable and efficient than the early days of delivery to a new client.
To achieve this you simply need to carve out a few hours and work from client to client. Set up a meeting, just to catch up. Then start to find out what is happening in their business, what the issues are and where they are heading. You might be surprised by the result and your clients will really appreciate it.
Remember too, the downside. Clients who are under-serviced may start looking for other service providers. Don't let business walk out your door, simply because you haven't taken the time to care for them or because someone else has made them an offer you could have provided.
Any way you look at it, managing your key client relationships is essential to your firm.
