A new way forward for your practice or more of the “same old same old”

We’ve all been there haven’t we. A first meeting with a potential new client sitting opposite us (pre covid) with their various files or documents and we’ve been delving into their business and how it’s working covering all the usual stuff about profits and their existing Accountants standard fare no doubt.

We’ve established how much they are currently paying and what they are looking for because obviously their existing accountant isn’t meeting their needs else why would they be sitting opposite. We most likely already have a rough idea of the value to the practice as and when we get them signed up because we don’t miss out many do we?

What we are finding out is what they want from us we are finding out what we can provide for them and the detail will follow at a later meeting or in the post of via email.

We are basically finding out how we do what the previous accountant did only better or just as importantly what they didn’t do that we can now do. When the meeting is over do we have any idea where the owner is aiming to be in a year or two? Do we know how many hours a week they work in the business rather than the salary and dividends regime adopted? Do we know what actually motivates them to go to work in the business every day? Do we know how old their children are and indeed if they have any?

When we’ve finished the interview do we go onto auto pilot and get the quote and standard letters templates fired up and sorted? Do we allocate the client to a staff member and make sure we record the potential fee income for our records? Do we focus on the “same old same old” and then later wonder why our practice isn’t growing in the way we want?

In this interview how long are we silent and listening? How long do we spend getting under the skin of the client to see what they are trying to achieve?

If we truly understand the client then we can be sure that we provide exactly what they need and when they need it but more to the point we can help them achieve their goals and also their family. Staff are capable of handing the day to day they can use the templates and set up the necessary systems but you have the chance to make your practice an integral part of their future success and that is incredibly fulfilling both personally and financially unless of course all you want to do is be exactly like the soon to be outgoing accountant only charging a tad more for the “same old same old”

Get the latest news direct to your inbox

Sign up to our mailing list to receive weekly bulletins on all of the latest accounting news.

"*" indicates required fields

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.