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What clients (really) want has changed

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1st Oct 2012
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I recently happened to be looking back at my blog posts on AccountingWEB, and stumbled across a post I wrote 18 months ago - What clients (really) want; which set me thinking, explains Heather Townsend.

In that time I’ve noticed a shift in the mindset of accountants regarding social media. More and more partners in firms (large and small) are telling me that to still be in the game, you now have to be on social media. Does this shift in the mindset of accountants equate to a shift in what clients (really) want as well?

As I noticed 18 months ago in my article, at a very simple level, what every client wants is very fairly similar and this hasn’t changed. 

Once you look beyond the basics of what clients really want, I believe that there has been a fundamental shift in what clients actually want from their professional adviser. If you are going to truly delight your client, it’s not enough to deliver on the basics. Of course, there is nothing inherently wrong in just delivering on the basics, but if you want to mine your current client base for referrals, retain your clients, then you need to be delivering extraordinary client service.

Let me explain: In the last five years the market place for accountancy services has become significantly more crowded. As with every recession or difficult trading conditions, every firm starts to look outside of its traditional marketplace for an easier port in the economic storm. Clients are not stupid, they are meeting your competitors regularly whether in person or online, and seeing how hungry they are for their business. This means to retain and grow by referral from your existing client base, (and avoid getting into a price war) you now need to deliver more than just the basics of good client service.

In my view clients are getting more demanding and choosy in what type of service, and what fee level, they want from their accountant. For example, in response to what clients really want, the budget accounting service has grown rapidly. You only have to look at the success of Elaine Clark’s Cheap Accounting.co.uk, Mazuma and the proliferation of copycat online accounting and budget accounting services to see how the marketplace for accountancy services has changed. When I needed to change my accountant just over 18 months ago, I was only prepared to consider accountants who offered Xero to their clients. Was I a fussy client? (Well, maybe yes). I could afford to be choosy and fussy, because I was spoilt for choice on picking an accountant. I am not an isolated case, this is just another example of how the internet is giving clients the means to choose any accountant, not just a local accountant or the one their mate recommends. Interestingly when I was judging the British Accountancy Awards 2012, the firms which really stood out, and were achieving recession busting growth and profitability were all ones which had niched themselves, decided to become an expert in something, and were prepared to tailor their client proposition to what their client’s really wanted.

Which means we then return to the loaded question posed at the beginning of this article. How do you deliver what clients really want, particularly now the basics of good client service are no longer good enough? In my opinion, you need to regularly go beyond the scope of the client engagement, niche yourself, and be proactive. You may ask, what does this really mean in practice, rather than just being a line of marketing-ease which you have on your website? After all, I don’t think that I have read an accountant’s website or brochure that doesn’t claim to be pro-active.

For example:

  • Do you regularly help your client to win new business by giving them referrals and making timely and valuable introductions for them?
  • Do you and all of the clients’ account team aim to achieve ‘trusted adviser’ status?
  • Have you specialised in a niche so you really and truly understand your client’s world?
  • Are you switching to fixed or capped fees billing so clients don’t worry about whether the clock is on during a conversation?
  • Are you actively encouraging all of the client’s account team to build relationships with their opposite number at the client?
  • Are you regularly talking to your clients about ways they can save money or operate more effectively?
  • Do you have regular account team meetings where you share your combined knowledge about the client, in order to deliver a better service?

What are your views? In your opinion, do you have to now deliver more than the basics to retain your clients and generate referrals from them?

Heather Townsend helps professionals become the ‘Go-To’ expert. She is the co-author of ‘How to make partner and still have a life’, and the author of the award-winning and best-selling book on networking, ‘The FT Guide To Business Networking’. Heather blogs regularly at Partnership Potential, ‘How to make partner and still have a life’ and Joined Up Networking.

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