How to successfully lead your team into the advisory space

By now you’ve heard all about why advisory is so important to embrace, but there’s not nearly as much information out there to help you achieve it. When you’re not sure where to start, there is a solution that works for firms of almost every size.

Who should lead the charge?

We’d recommend selecting two or three team members to head up the change. This will minimise disruption for the majority of the firm. Also, if only one person was heading up the change and they left, the whole operation will be compromised.

Choose staff with people skills. Advisory is much more forward-facing than traditional compliance work, so it’s key to select people on your team who can connect with clients. Because it’s a different focus, the core people need to be willing to learn and have a broad knowledge of different industries.

Always keep your focus on clients

While focusing on your clients may seem obvious, it’s not all about the data here. We’ve spoken to a multitude of accounting professionals who have successfully implemented advisory, and some don’t even bring up accounts in their first client meetings. When you’re onboarding a new client, ask them about their professional and personal goals. They’re in business because they care about their companies but your clients are also working to maintain their personal lives.

Let’s say you have a client who wants to spend more time at home with their family. They’ll need to know what to work on to ensure standards and revenue don’t slip. Create goals that tie into all facets of their lives - that’s how you’ll really make a difference for clients. We recommend asking as many questions about the business in question as you can. The more you know, the better you can plan a path for the client.

Pitch your new services right

Create an elevator pitch, leading with what you can do to help clients. Think growth, forecasting, and better decision-making. What some firms forget when rolling out their new services is that clients don’t know what they don’t know. Articulate your benefits and USP to clients quickly and concisely and leave them wanting to know more.

Now you’ve hooked your clients’ attention, give them a quick business health check, displaying areas they need to improve. This gives them a taste for what they’re missing out on.

The first steps in practice

We believe in advisory so much we made our very own CPD-accredited certification course to help you master it. Since we launched it last year, firms are able to upskill to advisory with ease. This year we’ve redesigned the course to make it more accessible to accountants of any level. We’ve split Futrli Advisory Certification into four core modules, which include:

Foundation level - perfect for people new to Futrli and advisory, this part of certification helps you get in the mindset needed for changing the way you work.

Forecasting level - we help you master forecasting, from a basic level right up to advanced.

Reporting level - similar to forecasting, you’ll learn everything you need to know about reporting in Futrli.

Practice level - great for firm partners, this part of certification guides you to best practice when it comes to roll out, pricing and more.

How to juggle your services

We’re not saying compliance is over - far from it, in fact. What we are saying is you need to trust software available on the market to take over this task, as your time is better spent elsewhere. One thing tech can never do is replicate your knowledge of businesses and industries. Your value is in your knowledge, so make sure you spend your working time advising and let automation do the manual labour.