client-centric cpa? it’s not just numbers

helping a retailer client by looking beyond accounting.

[editor’s note: we’ve been asking accountants what “client-centric” means to them. here’s one of the many pithy answers we’re getting. send yours to editor@www.g005e.com, or use comments.]

by june ball, cpa
owner, north star accounting

many of my business clients are new and very small.  they know their own industry, but don’t know who to turn to for things like branding, marketing, signage, health care and business insurance, etc.

i keep what i call a “referral rolodex” in my office.  say a client needs some signs made.  i will retrieve from my rolodex some cards of reputable sign shops in the area that i know well.  i make sure the client knows that i know the owners, but by giving them the cards, i am not endorsing any of them.  it’s a way i help my clients find good, reputable people they can depend on.

i meet with my business clients about once a quarter to go over their numbers and see if there are any trends developing.  many times business owners get caught up in day to day activities and don’t take the time to step back.  we sit down and look at ratios and discuss the problems they are encountering.  then we work to problem solve.

one example, i have a retail client with a shop in a strip mall.  her business was breaking even.  slowly she was building a good reputation.  but, all of a sudden, her sales started shrinking.  she wasn’t getting many “drive by” clients.  it was like people forgot where she was.

we recognized two problems that needed fixed:

1) her sign matched the color of the header of the mall where the merchant signage is displayed, and

2) the out lots of the strip mall had new store fronts, blocking her visibility.

since her lease was almost up, she looked for a new location where there was a strip mall with no out lots.  after the move, her sales started to climb back to where they were and now, she’s beyond breakeven; she’s becoming quite profitable.  it was a case where the answer wasn’t in the numbers, but in the environment.

those are my examples of client centric service.

posted on august 13, 2010