Nottingham-based accountancy practice Coalesco walked away with the best small firm gong at the Practice Excellence Awards this year. Director Linda Frier caught up with Rachael Power to explain how delivering above board customer service is key to her firm’s success.
Frier is a sole practitioner, who bought a retiring accountants’ fee base five-and-a-half years ago and never looked back.
The firm has never gone through any major changes or rebranding, but the director of the all-female practice said they’ve always had a certain ‘edge’ on competitors.
“Our office is open plan and very purple and floral. Even our neighbour’s cat comes to hang out sometimes,” she said, describing the informal décor of their space.
Frier says her vision for her firm is shared by her team members, and has recruited as Coalesco grew organically due to client demand.
Central to her vision is the provision of a personal, excellent client service, being flexible, approachable and adaptable to clients’ needs.
“We try to make the experience of dealing with an accountant not one similar to visiting a dentist. I’ve heard this comparison from colleagues, friends and family and it shouldn’t be that way at all,” Frier said.
“All accountants have the same compliance work to do, but it’s how you deliver it that can make all the difference.”
As a number of measures to deliver good client service, Coalesco holds its own client feedback internal survey each year.
Frier says it consistently reaches 100% in this survey for friendliness and whether clients would recommend them to others.
In addition to being friendly, approachable and available to clients, the firm prides itself on “demystifying” accounts and keeping thing as simple for clients as possible.
“There is so little help and support out there for people with small businesses, so we try to provide as much help with simplifying their financials as possible.”
For example, when RTI first appeared on the scene, the firm ran a series of breakfast mornings and cheese and wine events to help explain the concept in a simple way to clients.
Other measures the firm takes to ensure its vision of great client service remains in place includes having service levels in place and being transparent about them.
“We have, for example, call waiting times and email answering times on our website, so clients know what to expect,” Frier siad.
“We also make sure we’re available for Saturday afternoon meetings and give clients the feeling we’re always around - always available.”
And as important as it is to be available for your clients, you’ve also got to be flexible to meet their needs.
Frier is a firm believer in cloud technology, and her firm is a Xero partner. But she says while it would be very convenient if all clients were to convert to doing accounts in the cloud, if clients are happily doing paper or desktop returns and have done so for years, then leave them to it.
“Cloud doesn’t gel with everyone’s way of doing things. If a client is timely and efficiently providing you with good paper accounts, for example, let them keep doing things that way. You’ve got to be flexible and keep things simple,” she said.
In terms of value added services, the firm holds free quarterly networking/learning events for all clients.
In addition, they’re also a member of the ACCA business finance advice service, Steve Pipe’s Accountants Changing the World initiative and offer complete business reviews for clients.
Frier also commends finding staff who recognise and share your visions and goals as a way of fulfilling your version of a successful firm.
“It’s difficult to find accountants that are people-friendly, but it’s becoming more the norm that they are. My team share my dreams and visions and that’s a very important thing to have.”
Another thing Frier and her team agree on is the concept of practice excellence - which is why they decided to enter AccountingWEB’s Practice Excellence Programme this year for the first time, and subsequently won.
