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Practice Excellence: Client service firm of the year

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20th Jul 2016
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A new category to this year’s awards, the client service firm prize gets to heart of what Practice Excellence is all about – successful firms employing a range of strategies to listen and respond to their clients’ needs.

In one of this year’s most fiercely contested categories, the judges were looking for real passion about client care from entrants, and real evidence to support it.

It is easy for firms to make grand statements about what they plan to do, but what mattered to the judges were the results – client retention, feedback or growth rates, for example. Many of the higher quality entries also included case studies, not just testimonials.

Key trends

This year saw an increase in the use of client survey technology. While many firms adopted the net promoter score (NPS) approach favoured by more than two thirds of Fortune 1000 companies there was a wide variation of results, with some entrants seemingly plucking an NPS score out of air without context.

There was also an increasing trend for firms to be choosy and pick clients that meet certain specifications.

The big question the awards judges wrestled with was: how many are running an accountancy business versus an accountancy practice? Is it better to work with a smaller and less complex structure for a smaller average fee, or focus on providing quality service to a small number of high-paying clients?

The judges also found that the customer care level of smaller practitioners was, in general, much higher than medium firms.

Larger firms with more overheads and costs needed a higher average fee to make the company profitable, but were also able to provide high quality customer service by recruiting a larger number of employees and dedicated client managers. While this is not a black and white issue, if a firm finds itself caught in the middle it can be challenging to make money.

It is worth noting that the judges did examine each entry proportionally to ensure that the biggest firm did not automatically succeed due to having a bigger team or charging higher fees.

Shortlist

The judges had a hard task of whittling the entrants down to a shortlist of three. While unfortunately there can only be one winner, before the results are announced in October AccountingWEB will be returning to all these firms to find out more about what they’re doing well in the client service world.

Coalesco Certified Accountants

The judges were impressed by the Nottinghamshire firm’s passion for client service, use of IT (including blogs, social media and seminars) and high quality evidence of impact through client surveys and case studies.

Coalesco showed proactivity in getting feedback and testimonials, and unpacked their numbers with detailed explanations.

Demonstrating a strong growth rate of 22.6% and an increasing yield of contribution from each fee year-on-year, the judges felt that the firm was a must for this year’s shortlist.

Tayabali & White

The judges felt that Tayabali and White was a strong entry, demonstrating a clear commitment to client care, with a good mission statement, ethos and testimonials.

The Cambridgeshire firm impressed the judges with a robust growth in fees of 28.5%, 99% client retention and 100% client survey results.

The firm’s ‘private accounting’ model based on private banks involves taking on the right clients, building strong relationships and creating trust, and the firm’s communication strategy was evidenced by high client service scores.

Sobell Rhodes

The London-based firm’s commitment to “start where others finish” is an admirable one, but it was the delivery of this strapline which persuaded the judges to include Sobell Rhodes on the shortlist.

A strong application was supplemented with detailed information, including a breakdown of the tools used to deliver quality client service, and the firm showed clear processes and a strong ethos when it came to customer care.

The firm’s application was backed up by 230 testimonials, a high growth rate, an NPS score of 83%, a good client retention rate and high internal client service scores.

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