The Big Mistake CPAs Make in Client Service

How to find new success by shifting your firm’s focus from service-centric silos to client-centric goal-setting.

by Rick Telberg

Most accounting firms believe they provide pretty good client service. And most of them are probably right.

But there are other firms that strive to deliver more than just satisfactory service. They are seeking to go a step further, something beyond merely satisfying clients, something akin to wowing clients. Perhaps they know what Bain & Co. consultant Fred Reichheld discovered in 1995: Even among clients who say they are perfectly “satisfied,” half will change providers anyway. Clearly, customer satisfaction is not enough. Something more is needed.

To be sure, more accountants today are focused on pushing fresh tax returns out the door than on esoteric discussions of client service. But it’s exactly when you have the client’s most ardent attention that you have a real opportunity to vault past mere satisfaction.

Osborne

Most firms are service centric, meaning they focus on the services they provide, i.e. tax, assurance or estate planning. But in too many firms, that means the client becomes fixed in one silo. In other words, if they came in as a tax client, the tax department probably “owns” them. Of course, if the client needs an audit, the tax department “refers” them to the audit department.

To completely embrace the client, Edi Osborne of MentorPlus in Carmel Valley, Calif., is telling CPA firms to “stop looking at the client through your services and instead start looking at the client like a client. They have all sorts of needs and desires, challenges and goals. And it’s not all about finance.”

You may already know Osborne from her work with the AICPA — a few years ago — bringing performance-management techniques to CPA firms. Today she’s not saying that taxes and accounting aren’t important, but she is saying CPAs have an under-leveraged opportunity to work with clients to improve operations, strategy, processes and even hiring.

“Everything in business comes down to numbers. That’s how you run a business,” she says. “It’s just not all measured in dollars.”

Many key performance indicators are familiar to accountants, such as receivables days outstanding, inventory turns or return on equity. But accountants can also help clients “drill down to what’s important, to what drives those KPIs (key performance indicators),” Osborne says. Accountants can ask, what are the behaviors and processes that drive the KPIs? They can help clients connect the employee or customer actions that determine the KPI outcomes.

For instance, are orders getting out late because of data entry errors? An accountant informed in process management can tell. And an accountant can bring a fresh perspective.

In one case, an ambulance company was trying to accelerate its collections. “You’d think that getting the billing out fast would do the trick,” Osborne says. “But that wasn’t the problem. In fact, faster billing actually delayed collections.” The reason? The bills were going to the patient’s address. Not only was the patient in the hospital and not picking up their mail, but the patient wasn’t even the linchpin in getting paid. It was the hospital. So the ambulance company started billing the hospital instead and collections improved.

In a service-centric approach, the tax accountant or the audit partner may never have asked the questions that led to finding the right problem. But with a client-centric philosophy, any accountant working on the account could be observing, listening, questioning and analyzing.

In the end, the approach can lead to greater revenue per client at higher fees with better margins. It may sound like rainmaking, but it’s not about rainmaking. It’s about understanding the client as a whole, not just as numbers in a spreadsheet. With some basic skills and tools, Osborne says, “anyone can be a rainmaker. You don’t need to be a superstar.”

NOW IT’S YOUR TURN: What’s the secret to delighting clients? E-mail me with your comments, ideas, rants, raves or questions.

Copyright 2010 AICPA.


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Posted at March 22, 2010
Filed Under BSG [CPA TRENDLINES] | 3 Comments

Comments

3 Responses to “The Big Mistake CPAs Make in Client Service”

  1. Ed Wielage on March 22nd, 2010 10:27 pm

    When I was in practice at the end of the year end engagement I would prepare a multi-year analysis of the client’s key financial ratios. After we discussed the tax returns and financial statements I would give them the ratio analysis. It was always the thing they took the most interest in and prompted the most discussion. Granted I didn’t get paid for it, but it was my way of giving them something a little extra and I think it created goodwill.

  2. Martha Harris Myron CPA/PFS on March 23rd, 2010 9:16 am

    What you are really talking about is the holistic comprehensive approach……. every CPA should consider the PFS course of study so that every financial decision encompasses the client’s entire financial profile.

    The PFS program enhances the mindset of big picture assessment and comprehensive solution thought process in all aspects of financial services, even if the CPA does not wish to change his/her practice model.

    When you are proactive in client review (say tax review) by anticipating issues/problems, suggesting solutions, helping the client decide on the best course of action and then providing the end service co-ordination and implementation, there is only one advisor the client will call – You!

    We CPA’s tend to be far too modest in understanding the depth and breadth of our knowledge base. If you don’t tell clients what you can do for them, how will they know that you are the best!

    I am a bit biased as you can see, now serving on the AICPA PFP Conference Steering Committee for the second year. Am passionately dedicated to promoting the CPA as the best advisor out there.

  3. Jeri Quinn on August 25th, 2010 11:58 am

    I can’t agree with you more. Gallup polls show that client loyalty is all about connectivity, personal relationships, seeing the client as a unique individual with needs, wants, families, emotions, highs and lows. The client centric mentality is central to firm leadership. That means that client focus runs through the business plan, it shapes the org chart, it gives the staff a focus to the work processes throughout every task the firm does at every level. It’s an attitude that every staff person internalizes because leadership is leading the organization to prioritize that. Another tenet of Fred Reichheld is that client loyalty and staff loyalty go hand in hand. They rise and fall together. In the client loyalty work I do with my clients we focus on a conscious growth toward a more emotionally intelligent organization, capable of creating great relationships with internal and external clients.

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