client service

Aynsley Damery: Adding Value Is the Only Way to Stay in Business

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Rethink the 80:20 rule, because the 80% are likely stealing from you.

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The Disruptors
With Liz Farr for CPA Trendlines

Aynsley Damery wants accountants to think more deeply about their work. The CEO for Clarity said we need to think about what clients want and deliver it to them, but as simple as that sounds, the problem is he doesn’t “think many accountants truly understand what their clients are looking for.” Clients who have started their own businesses are looking for a combination of “money, time and freedom.” However, Damery said, we’re selling them dashboards, KPIs and cash flow forecasting without explaining why that’s important and what that’s going to do for them. “Clients are looking for an advisor who’s going to listen to me, understand my hopes, my fears, my vision, what the challenges are, and be able to be there to support me,” Damery said.

MORE: Erik Solbakken: Yes, You Can Work Less and Make More | Donny Shimamoto: Future Firm Growth Requires a Mindshift | Jennifer Wilson: Empower Young Workers to Build the Firm Everyone Loves | Mike Whitmire: Re-Think Your Hiring and Training Practices | Hector Garcia: Success Strategies of a Quickbooks YouTube Superstar | Blake Oliver: Why Tax Work Yearns To Be Free| Private Equity Explodes in U.K. | Brannon Poe: The Status Quo Must Go  | Accounting Nerds, Unlock Your Super Powers  | Disruptor: Jason Statts Shakes Up the Status Quo | Think Small to Think Big with Matt Wilkinson | When Financial Statements Go Extinct with Corey Schmidt | Can Geraldine Carter Save Accountants from Themselves? | Re-Inventing Accounting with Tyler Anderson

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“Our clients don’t understand numbers, yet we give them plans with the numbers, and … it doesn’t help,” he said. Instead, Damery said CPAs need to help them understand what they need to do “to make a difference and move their business forward. And that’s not about giving them the answers. That’s about asking the right questions.”

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20 Ways to Deliver Wow! Every Day

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Word "WOW!"Amaze clients with 8 ways to add real value and 12 ways to delight clients.

By Rob Nixon

I have been telling accountants to be proactive and add value ever since I started working with you in May 1994.

MORE ON STRATEGY: Keep a Watchful Eye on Clients | Why Clients Really Stay | 8 Ways to Build Team Engagement | How to Create 4 New Billable Hours per Day | Do You Know What Clients Want? | Is Your Business By Design or Default? | The World Is Flat | The Profession Disrupted: Compliance Commoditized
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If you are going to remain relevant you are going to have to be proactive and add value. That means the level of WOW needs to improve.
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How to Create 4 New Billable Hours per Day

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You have more capacity than you think.

By Rob Nixon
Panalitix

I am going to show you how to free up to 4 hours per accountant per day of new capacity – without hiring any more accountants. 

MORE ON STRATEGY:  Don’t Let Technology Make You Dumber  |  Do You Know What Clients Want?  |  What It Means to Be a Real-Time Accountant | 12 Predictions on the Future of Accounting | Will the Internet Replace CPAs? | The Profession Disrupted: Compliance Commoditized
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Catch Rob live and in-person: CPA Trendlines readers can save $50 on Firm of Now events with the discount code “TRENDS” at firmofnow.com.

I’ll use the example of a sole practitioner with accountants. You can multiply the math out for your size firm. You’ll see that by implementing just three strategies you can free up to 4 hours per accountant per day – maybe more. With five accountants that’s 100 hours per week, or 4,500 hours+ per year.

If you have an average hourly rate of just $150 that’s $675,000 of new capacity. You could re-fill the capacity or downsize your team. Have I got your attention yet?

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14 Ways to Leverage Client Data for New Billings

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Chart of client interest in KPITop of the list? Cash flow forecasting.

By Rob Nixon

As you become a real-time accountant, one of the key steps is to strongly recommend that your clients migrate across to a cloud accounting solution. That’ll take 12 to 36 months to systematically help your clients change.

MORE ON STRATEGY: Don’t Let Technology Make You Dumber | Do You Know What Clients Want?  | What It Means to Be a Real-Time Accountant | Are Your Goals Big Enough? | Is Your Business By Design or Default? | 12 Predictions on the Future of Accounting | Finding New Opportunity in Compliance Services | The World Is Flat | Will the Internet Replace CPAs? | How Offshoring Is Shaking Up Accounting | The Profession Disrupted: Compliance Commoditized
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Let’s assume you have done that. You have spent the time training them. You have helped them to get good data in, so good data can come out.
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11 Questions to Ask Every Tax Client

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Question marksAn easy way to introduce clients to additional services.

By Ed Mendlowitz
How to Build a Stronger Tax Practice

Many times we have important preliminary discussions when we obtain a client’s tax information.

MORE ON MARKETING: Why CPAs Are Suited to Financial Planning | Tax Projections: How and Why | How to Raise Client Awareness of Services
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Skilled interviewing, or effective follow-up techniques, can make these into an additional engagement.

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