Client satisfaction: What accountants can learn from Hula Hoops

Paul Shrimpling of Remarkable Practice explains why firms that make a blatant promise to prospective and existing clients at the outset have the competitive edge.

It is possible to keep existing clients, retain the fees and continue to win new work by listening to Hula Hoops – it’s easy when you know how.

On a cold day last December, I was sat on a train opposite a lady eating a large packet of Hula Hoops. On the back of the packet in the top left hand corner, it read: ‘Our promise to you’. While Hula Hoops is happy to make a blatant promise to its customers, accountants and other professional service firms avoid it. They prefer to make their promises subtle, implied or at best gentle. When asked why they do this, the usual responses are:

• Isn’t it obvious what accountants promise?
• Being subtle is more suited to who we are and what we do as accountants.
• Why would we make a rod for our own back?

I have heard all these responses (and many more) and appreciate the reasoning, but the fact remains that they are all rubbish. The opinion that matters the most is that of the client. When a client is weighing up whether to stay with their existing accountant or employ your firm, they are not looking for subtlety. They don’t want implied or gentle insinuations of what you can do for them. Their priority is to make the best decisions for themselves and their business, and to do that they need overt, blatantly obvious promises they can trust, with no ambiguity.

To secure the business, it is your job to give them concrete promises, rock solid benefits and sound reasons to choose you, rather than stay where they are or choose another firm that is courting them, and this requires action. Make crystal clear commitments. By making blatant promises, you make it easier for prospects to buy from you and easier for existing clients to stay with you.

Examples
Putting together a blatant promise isn’t as easy as it sounds. For example, here’s a subtle promise that initially appears concrete:

"We're chartered accountants with a commitment to high quality work and a proactive approach to your personal and business needs".

It sounds good, but it also sounds like so many other firms’ so-called promises and therefore it’s rendered bland. It’s also meaningless to a business owner because they typically have a limited idea of what constitutes 'high-quality work' from an accountant. Another problem with this statement is that it is unclear what the word ‘proactive’ means in this context. The client doesn’t have time to work out what this implies.

Below is an example of a blatant promise that works:

"You will receive your draft accounts no later than 21 days after you submit all your relevant books and records. Just one day late and we'll complete the work but you won’t be charged for it".

Here is another:

“If any other accountant can clearly demonstrate that you can save more tax than we save you, then we’ll pay you the difference”.

However difficult they might be, these two blatant promises make it so much easier for a business owner to choose you or stay with you. Before you rail against such outlandish commitments, be aware that the first promise is real – I know two firms that use it. I’m also helping two other firms launch the second promise on their local market place.

Benefits
Clearly it will take some level of internal reorganisation to fulfil such blatant promises and this is not easy. I accept it is hard and time consuming and requires a great effort, but this is a good thing for four main reasons:

• It is so far removed from where most firms are that it gives you an immediate and powerful competitive advantage.
• It means that you must become a remarkable firm to carry this off and you'll become worthy of notice as a consequence.
• It can provide a sustainable competitive advantage - it's very hard to copy because it requires substantial commitment, effort and energy to make it real.
• You will give your existing clients and other industry contacts great reasons to talk about you and generate a fabulous flow of referrals that will grow your firm to new heights.

Hula Hoops make a blatant promise – isn’t it time accountants started doing the same?

Paul Shrimpling
www.remarkablepractice.com
Paul Shrimpling is managing director of Remarkable Practice and author of a white paper entitled ‘The 7 big mistakes that accountants make that costs them a fortune in lost sales, lost profits and lost personal cash’.