As an accountant, you work hard to ensure your work is accurate and client work is completed on time. But are you paying enough attention to the client experience? The way you communicate with clients and organize your work can have a significant impact on your clients and their perception of your firm.
These five small details may be hurting your client’s experience.
1. Lack of Communication
For many firms, client communication falls too far to the wayside as projects and deadlines start piling up. But slow or poor client communication can hurt your business and the client’s experience. Here are some tips on how to improve client communication:
- Be responsive to emails and calls. When you are slow to follow up, your clients may feel ignored or unimportant. Block off time each day to respond to emails and calls.
- Be proactive. Keep in touch with your clients throughout the year. Reach out ahead of tax season, and also when there are significant changes to tax law or if you’re offering new services that may benefit your clients.
- Follow up with prospects in a timely manner. Don’t wait to respond to an email or call. If you don’t move quickly, those prospects will almost certainly go to your competitors.
Make client communication a priority. Block time in your day to answer questions, follow up with prospects or return calls. Being more responsive will make your clients feel valued and increase the likelihood of them retaining your services.
2. Leaving Client Paperwork on Your Desk
Do you have a habit of leaving client paperwork out in the open on your desk? This habit may not seem like a big deal, but it leaves a poor impression and can pose a security risk.
If a prospect or client sees another client’s paperwork on your desk, they may worry that their own paperwork and confidential information will be left in the open. Being careless with client paperwork can make you seem untrustworthy, unprofessional and disorganized.
Accountants are expected to be organized and responsible with their clients’ sensitive information.
Furthermore, having client paperwork out on your desk is a security risk. Anyone passing through your office can gain access to your client’s information.
Keep your desk clean and clutter-free. Ensure that client paperwork is kept in a secure place and out of view.
3. Poor Time Management & Organization
Poor time management and disorganization can have a negative impact on the client’s experience and your reputation.
Are you:
- Missing or barely making your deadlines?
- Forgetting to send out reminders?
- Taking longer than necessary to complete projects?
These small details may be giving clients a bad impression of you and may damage their trust and confidence in your skills.
Find ways to improve your time management and organizational skills.
- Set reminders for deadlines.
- Use to-do lists to complete tasks promptly.
- Break bigger projects down into small stages to complete them more efficiently.
- Try the Pomodoro method to improve your time management.
- Use a CRM to keep clients and their projects or tasks organized.
When you are organized, on top of deadlines and completing projects efficiently, you come off as professional, competent and—most importantly—serious about your work. You care about what you do, and it shows.
4. Being Too Friendly
Clients want an accountant they feel comfortable with and can trust. Being personable and friendly can help you build trust, but it is crucial to maintain your professionalism. Yes, you know a lot about your clients. But you are not their friend. You are providing a service.
- Be professional in your written and verbal communication.
- Deliver on time, and don’t make promises you can’t keep.
- Don’t divulge too much information about your personal life.
- Always treat clients with respect.
It is okay to exchange pleasantries, but being too friendly can send mixed signals about your role. It’s important to draw that line and maintain a professional attitude when dealing with your clients.
5. Not Being a One-Stop-Shop
Many accountants are focused on tax-related services and little else. However, there is a good chance that your clients also need other financial services. As their accountant, you already have their trust and their financial information.
Offering a complete experience or acting as a one-stop-shop can help improve the client’s experience. At FFP, we help accountants achieve this by providing additional financial services that will benefit your clients, such as:
- Investment planning
- Estate tax planning
- Individual insurance and securities
- Mutual funds, etc.
By acting as a one-stop-shop, you can improve client satisfaction and loyalty while growing your firm.
These details may seem small, but they have a big impact on the client’s experience. Take the time to focus on these points to give your clients a more positive experience while growing your firm.
Joseph Graziano, CFP® is VP and Wealth Management Partner at FFP Wealth Management. He and the team at FFP help manage more than $2.4 billion in assets. For the past 28-plus years, FFP Wealth Management has partnered with accountants and financial planners to provide premium services to clients. If you have questions about adding financial planning services to your firm or the challenges above, you can contact him here.
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