Understanding a client intimately isn’t just a matter of knowing their financials. Every business wants to make money and be successful, but that's far from their only motivation. People start particular companies for particular reasons, ranging from a desire to serve their community to environmental concerns and beyond. In addition to these core components of who companies are, owners each possess a collection of values and principles that they hold near and dear to their hearts. As an accountant, especially one that seeks to become a trusted advisor, it’s on you to learn about these values. 

Here’s an example of how it works on a practical level. Let’s say you have a client who is going through a crunch and needs to make spending cuts, as many businesses are doing right now… If you know that this client strongly believes in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) as a foundational aspect of their company, you aren’t going to advise them to cut DEI programs to save a few bucks. Instead, you’re going to look to other creative places where spending can be limited. In doing so, you demonstrate to your client that you not only know their business on a financial level, you know who they are as people. Bonds like these—based on more than simple business-to-business transactions—last longer than superficial ones. 

Find balance in your advisory

Of course, you cannot let personal understanding cloud your judgement when it comes to offering consultation services to your clients. Done right, relational accounting will provide more clarity to your analytical work, not less. Advisory services are about using your intimate knowledge of a business in order to offer guidance that provides them a framework for greater success. To achieve this goal, you’d be wise to use all of the sources of information at your disposal. 

The trick comes in allocating the right level of importance to each piece of the puzzle. If a company’s narrative, the story it wants to tell about itself to customers and team members, is out of whack with its data, then the client is probably in need of a serious redirect. A business shouldn’t make decisions based on its values alone, but it shouldn’t compromise its values in the sake of dollars and cents, either. As an advisor attuned to relational accounting, you’ll be better able to find harmony between all aspects of a business. 

The best advisory firms are those that are willing to turn over every stone in order to uncover the fullest, most detailed picture of their clients. Sometimes, in the effort to do this, we can lose the forest for the trees. I’m not saying you should ignore minute data points, because you definitely shouldn’t, but you also need to keep those data points in context of the big picture. 

Building client relationships grounded in trust

In my recent interview with Scott Wiley, the president and CEO of the Ohio Society of CPAs, he talks about his life and career as a CPA and the importance of building client relationships based on trust. He believes that with increased accounting technology, we will have more opportunities to elevate our services to create long-lasting client relationships. Click here to here to listen to the interview. 

The Cherished Advisory Services Practice Roadmap Course & LoveMyClients 5-Day Challenge

If you are in Advisory Services and would like to learn more about my Cherished Advisory Services Practice Roadmap online course, sign up here. To get a taste for what you’ll experience in my course, you can also join my LoveMyClients 5-Day Challenge from Sept. 20-24. Space is limited so sign up now at: www.businessbalancebliss.com/courses/lovemyclients.