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Safeguard Clients With Customer Service Strategy

9th Nov 2016
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It’s not enough to just do what you do anymore…

It used to be the case that completing jobs on time to a good standard was all that was needed to keep clients happy.
This is still true – to some extent.
Completing quality work on time is still vitally important.
But it’s not enough.

With increasing competition from different ends of the industry, we need to work much harder to safeguard our clients and strengthen our relationships.

And how can we do that? Through customer service strategy.

But before we look at how customer service strategy can strengthen client relationships, it’s important to understand the two different types of connections we have with our clients.

TC’s vs. RC’s

In what we do as accountants, there are two types of connections we make with our clients.
Transactional Connections and Relational Connections.

A Transactional Connection is when I call you up and we discuss your accounts. Or I call you up and I have a query about your tax. Or you come and see me at the end of the year and we review your finances. Those are all Transactional Connections. This is related to what we do for a living.

When it comes to building, maintaining or improving a relationship, Transactional Connections add very little value and very little bonding to our relationship.

On the other hand, we have Relational Connections. These have almost nothing to do with the work that we do. They are fundamentally different from Transactional Connections. These happen when we meet up for lunch. When you come to my birthday bash. When we go to the cricket grounds together. These are purely social and relational.

Relational Connections add massive value and massive bonding to our relationship, which actually improves our Transactional Connection as well.

A Hypothetical Example

So we start out with a honeymoon relationship that is ten out of ten on day one.

Over the next three years we certainly have Transactional Connections, but sometimes very limited Relational Connections.

Gravity will automatically set in, and from the client’s perspective, that ‘ten out of ten’ will start dropping down —

Nine…
Eight…
Seven… six… five…

…and even less, if you let it.

Over time it gets comfortable, but it also gets a bit dull and boring.

And then we have our KPMG (or whichever competitor) coming into the marketplace, and I guess what starts happening is a bit like having an affair.

You see, those competitors come in with a ‘zero out of ten’ relationship to start with. But then something happens. There is an excitement. A buzz. A newness. It is fresh and sparkling. They had such a good seminar. Or the email they sent with the latest news is so very interesting.

And very quickly they are able to push their zero towards a three, and then a five… and with a last-ditch attempt they somehow manage to push their new, exciting, full-of-promises relationship to a six out of ten.
The problem we are faced with at that point in time?

In the client’s eyes you are a five and your competitors are a six.

And the universe starts wobbling a bit.

And guess what your next client conversation is going to be like?

‘Phil, my wife has a brother. And the brother has an accountant. And this guy is really cheap. And I don’t want to do this, but…’

Or any one of 101 versions of that story.

Relational Connections (Customer Service) Strengthens Client Relationships

Let’s just make sure we are clear on one thing first:

Relational Connections are all the touches that happen outside of Transactional Connections that cause your clients to sit up and say, ‘Wow — these people are really different. I’m impressed. This is great!’

Or think of it this way:

Transactional Connections are what we do.
Relational Connections are what we do to get them to that ‘Wow!’

If Transactional Connections are done wrong, and we have a low Relational-Connections number, that is when we lose clients.

When Relational Connections are high, and Transactional Connections still happen, clients will be much more forgiving and will continue staying with us.

Therefore, Relational Connections are the glue that holds it all together.

The good news is that there are two very simple systems that will make you almost 100% immune to attack from most of your competitors, especially the big ones.

We accept and assume that the Transactional Connections happen — after all, if they did not, your clients would be super unhappy! It is the Relational Connections that we need to focus on and ensure that they are definitely in place.

Two ‘Must Have’ Systems

The following two systems, if we don’t have them in place yet, need to be implemented immediately. If we have them in place, then we need to fine-tune them to ensure they work perfectly.

System 1 – New Client Onboarding System

System 2 – Customer Service System

Once you have these two systems firmly in place and fine-tuned to perfection, your client relationships will be strengthened to the point that no competitor would stand a chance.

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Man of Kent
By Kent accountant
09th Nov 2016 21:40

...eh...?!?

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