Make sure clients have a peak perception of your accountancy firm
Before we visit the lessons of high-altitude mountaineering, let’s start by stating the blindingly obvious: Your client’s willingness to stay loyal to your accountancy firm, to continue paying you, to refer you and to buy more from you is determined by the perceived value they get from you and your firm.
This may be obvious. But value is a relative term. Value is determined by comparison with other purchases, or with possible purchases.
Comparisons with what exactly?
- Compare the value of annual accounts presented 6 months or more after the year end with… the value of quarterly reports a week or two after the quarter end.
- Compare an annual bookkeeping tidy-up of a desktop accounts file, involving lots of time-consuming, hassle-heavy queries, journals and searches for missing receipts and invoices with… weekly bookkeeping updates and minimum interruption before quarterly financial reports a few days after the quarter-end.
One service stands out, head and shoulders above the other. If the price for the two services is similar, the perceived value for the well-timed quarterly reporting will be much higher than for the ancient history of your annual accounts service.
Even if quarterly reporting is more expensive than annual reporting (and it should be), it could well be seen as being of higher value by most of your clients.
Quarterly reporting is an opportunity to earn more because you’re delivering more value.
But what is the definition of value?
At a recent QuickBooks conference in San Jose, California, Ron Baker (The Value Pricing guru and founder of Verasage) made a profound observation: “Value is not a number, it’s a feeling”
The stronger your client feels about the work you do with them, the greater the value they experience – as long as the feelings are positive of course!
So, what do you do to give your business-owner clients a more emotionally-packed experience because of the work you do together?
Quarterly reporting is an option
Quarterly reporting is one option for you and your firm and with Making Tax Digital just around the corner it’s an opportunity that’s coming like a train and one to grasp now.
Ignore, avoid or simply ‘wait-and-see’ what happens is not a good option. It’s not a good option if your competition is on the case. The Cairngorms prove that
“cannot
be bothered” is not an option!!!
Accountants can’t risk a “I can’t be bothered with MTD and quarterly reporting” approach – it could kill their firm.
Earlier in February I did a winter mountaineering course, three days with a professional high-altitude guide. I need to brush up on my ice axe, crampon and rope skills before I climb Mount Elbrus (Russia) in August – it’s 18,500 feet, 6 times the height of Snowdon in North Wales!
Our experienced mountain guide gave us some sage advice:
“At such altitude it’s too risky to think ‘you can’t be bothered’.”
You can’t be bothered to put on your high-altitude gloves,; Can’t be bothered to have a pee; Can’t be bothered to take off a layer so you don’t overheat, all usually result in a very dangerous, possibly life or limb threatening situation. Approach the unavoidable shift to MTD and quarterly reporting with a “can’t be bothered” approach and you risk the life and limb of your firm. For the accountancy profession MTD is not something to ignore but one to welcome.
Time to step up to higher-value
You and your firm need to make a decision about the level of (perceived) value you want to deliver to your clients. Your business owners’ expectations about quarterly reporting, monthly reporting, weekly reporting and even daily reporting is changing. Over the next 12-24 months your business owner clients are going to get more demanding. The UK government’s Making Tax Digital (MTD) initiative is making quarterly reporting non-negotiable.
What an opportunity you and your firm have!
But even without MTD, almost all your business clients have a mobile phone and a computer. Your clients already are, or will be, making more of the readily available cloud accounting products and apps. So, you either choose to be at the forefront of the adoption of cloud accounting and quarterly reporting, or behind it.And if you want to maintain or grow your fees, profits and capital value you’ll want to be at the forefront of this change. Providing well-timed data processing and quarterly reporting will be the bare minimum your clients will need and expect from you.
Clients resist higher prices
Chances are you’ll be doing more work and will need to charge higher fees. Chances are your clients will resist higher prices. So, it pays to share higher-value options for clients to compare with your new, but necessary, quarterly reporting service.
Have you yet thought seriously about improving the perceived value your clients experience?
Paul Shrimpling is presenting at Accountex on the research findings of his soon-to-be-published book – The Business Growth Accountant. You’ll hear in Paul’s presentation what other firms are doing to improve their value offering, and how you can do the same. Paul will talk about two small firms with 16 and 26 clients and average fees of £26000 and £35000. Clearly at this level of fee the clients perceive very high value. Check out Paul’s presentation and why not pre-order a copy of Paul’s book here www.paulshrimpling.com
