4 Ways to Ensure Your Client Advisory Services Practice Thrives

In many client advisory services firms, an engagement letter is signed, the client is assigned to an accountant, and then it’s time to bring in the next client. We often don’t think about every touchpoint that clients will, or should, encounter in the firm so that they get the full brand experience that reaches beyond one accounting professional.

In the current business environment, we are in, clients do not stay with a firm just because they have always been a client. A once-happy client’s needs may change and may find themselves needing to find services elsewhere with a firm that thinks of client service delivery differently, This can leave you with a time investment that didn’t return long-term potential revenue, and potential loss of referrals of family members, friends, and their colleagues.

How do you strengthen your relationship with your clients so it can grow and flourish long into the future? How can you become what I call a “Cherished Advisor” — someone your client so highly value that they can’t imagine not seeking your advice when making key business decisions?

Here are four ways to make sure you’re building long-term, prosperous advisory relationships:

1. Ask, listen, observe.

This comes back to the idea of outside-in thinking. If you don’t have a deep understanding of your clients’ needs and goals, you might make incorrect assumptions about what they want without ever actually stopping to ask. Rather than only having this discussion internally, make sure to do the research and ask your clients what they want from their relationship with you. You may be surprised by the answers you get. During this stage, you are asking open-ended questions so you can learn as much as possible. Seek to understand what they want, and why they want it. This will help you with designing the right offerings and experience.

Then ask your internal team why they think your customers love working with you and then compare the answers to the answers you received from your clients to understand where the gaps are. The other side of my own business life is that I own a yoga studio. When designing customer experience there are many parallels with client-accountant relationships. Often, the teachers in my studio request to offer certain types of classes on the schedule. However, if people don't show up for them, the classes won't be successful. So before we decide to offer new classes, we send surveys and also engage with our most loyal customers in our private Facebook group we set up to communicate with our customers. We use these different tools to get their feedback on class formats and schedules. We then listen intently to what the customer wants and decide if we can move in that direction if there is enough interest. We also observe their actual behavior. They may ask for a class and fail to show up. We watch and observe to determine the reason that might occur.

It is not different in an accounting practice. As you develop new offerings, new ways of utilizing technology, and delivering your services, keep an open communication line with your team and your clients to determine what is working and not working. Observing your client’s behaviors as you work together can help you recognize patterns, innovate, and develop a customer service strategy to help match your clients’ goals and differentiate your firm from others.

2. Assign a leader and use teamwork

Managing the customer relationship should not be a one-person show. The responsibility belongs to everyone in your organization. The most effective customer experience is one by which your entire team stands behind it and your clients feel comfortable that there is always a place to go for their needs. How you approach customer service can become a differentiating factor between you and your competitor, as well as, a part of your culture where each person in your company is involved in its success in some way.

If every client is assigned to one person, it’s very hard to monitor client experience consistency and whether you are delivering on the promises you made during the sales and prospecting process. Creating a team effort can ensure that different team members in your firm are responsible for different parts of the experience.

At my yoga studio, our team spends a lot of time making sure every touchpoint with a customer is a caring experience, from our interactions on social media to the front desk staff to the teachers. To make this a team effort, I assign different people on my staff to lead different initiatives and programs in the studio so they can be an expert on that part of the brand experience. The customer service team members are responsible for communicating information they hear from customers to the rest of the team to ensure we deliver what the clients want and create customer happiness. Because everyone has a part in it, the staff is invested in innovating and improving that experience on a continuous basis and self-monitor each other to ensure we deliver.

In accounting practice, you can do the same. Decide who is responsible for the day to day work, who is responsible for client questions and help desk, who ensures work is getting completed by deadlines set, and who ensures the client is receiving a real-time analysis of what is happening in their business so they can be proactive v. reactive with the financial results. Use this in your practice to instill confidence in your clients that no matter who they speak to on your team, they will always have a consistent, positive experience, and know someone is there to help.

3. Make Net Promoter Score your guiding light.

How do you keep tabs on how your clients view your services? Many times I hear that firms do surveys, ask their clients on a 1:1 basis, or figure because they stay a client they are happy. However; the measure of client happiness is loyalty and if they would refer you to someone else.

One of the premier tools you can use to measure this is Net Promoter Score (NPS). NPS creates a quantifiable way for you to determine the likelihood clients would recommend your services to others. The score is calculated by how customers answer the question - “Would you recommend our services to a friend, family member, or colleague?”

They are asked to select a number from 0 - 10 on how likely they are to recommend you. There are only a couple more questions, such as, “If you didn’t rank us a 9 or 10, what could we do to earn that in the future?” and “If you did rank us a 9 or 10, what did we do to earn that rating?”

These questions take a client 5-10 minutes tops to answer but can give you valuable unfiltered feedback. It will help outline possible flaws in the customer service your firm is proving that they might not otherwise communicate to you. It also allows you to uncover what things you should continue to do and are valued. You can use the results to create benchmark and actionable goals of how you can improve your NPS score the following year. It provides a concrete way for your whole team to be involved with the process and how each individual can make a meaningful impact on the overall results.

4. Keep client experiences exciting.

Communication goes both ways. If your team is not excited about your services, your customer won't be either. Having regular touchpoints with your team - whether that is weekly or monthly, is an important part of keeping a focus on the client experience. Brainstorming ideas with your team of ways to innovate and make your clients feel special can be a fun way for your team to feel a part of decisions made in the firm.

In my yoga studio, I meet with the leaders of different programs to brainstorm what is going well — and not so well — at least once a month. We also create new ways to engage customers and get them engaged with the yoga community. When they are a part of the creation of ideas, that enthusiasm carries over to the customer during interactions in person. When your clients see and hear how energetic you and your team are about your services, they are much more inclined to join you and most importantly, recommend you to others.

Providing excellent customer service is perhaps the hardest part of any business growth strategy. But by having a customer service experience plan in place that works from the outside in, where you listen, observe, lead, and use effective communication tools, you'll be in a good position to secure customers who are happy, loyal, and complimentary about your services. A little effort in the right places can make all the difference in whether your clients stick around or find someone who will listen a little better to their needs.