eight steps to take.
by penny breslin
it’s not just the numbers
moving from compliance to reliance services is not an easy task. if you are feeling a bit overwhelmed at this point, that’s okay. however, the joy of offering back office support (bos) services and working closely with clients to help them meet their goals is well worth the effort. having a strong team, clear procedures and technology that works for you are the building blocks that allow you to succeed in this endeavor.
more: make cybersecurity a client service option | how to safeguard client information | three demos: pricing your value add | procedures require regular revisiting | why federated search matters | tips for getting clients started on bos | the best tech for your team and clients | marketing? know your goals first | eight things to stop doing now
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the next layer is the clients – meeting with them, working with them and setting up the procedures to ensure that you are truly their advisor. when you carefully select your clients, take the time to understand their needs and goals, and hold them to a paperless work environment, both your team and clients will reap the rewards.
client operations manual
the client operations manual is made up of all the checklists you have created with the client. include the service level agreement (sla) and the required schedule of work. include all contact information for your team, as well as the contact information for any third-party software the client will use with you in the course of the work. this is what we put in our onenote.
from onenote, the manual can be exported to word and reformatted for the client, or you can teach them how to open onenote within their office 365 if they have that particular application package. the technical support of options like an asp and third-party apps should be clearly stated. you need to be prepared if you want to take on the onus of supporting these third parties. many of the minor questions clients will have should be part of the training and included in the initial setup fees; however, it is vital that the client knows who to call for what type of issue.
because of the sensitive nature of the information in the operations manual, do not email items like this or reports to your client without proper levels of encryption.
a suggested table of contents is as follows:
- service level agreement
- sla checklist
- required source documents
- schedule of work
- access urls and logins for your programs
- contact list of your cfo team
- technical support contact information
create this manual in word (or on google drive) and add a task in your workflow to update this once a month. if anything has changed, send an updated version to your client. the original should be printed and left with the client, as it gives a higher perceived value.
updates can be sent to the client for downloading from the portal. have the client retrieve them from the portal you have created for sharing.
action plan
now time for action!
here’s an outline of an action plan, which you can adapt and edit to suit your unique practice and circumstances.
| action step | person responsible | date |
| convene a meeting with your team members to decide if you want to offer bos services. | ||
| convene a meeting with your team to evaluate and discuss your clients (see group exercise in pick your favorite clients). | ||
| decide who you want to invite to join your bos team and what roles they will fill. | ||
| assess your technology: look at hardware (do you need a tablet, scanner?) and software (move into the cloud, update programs, etc.). ensure that you have the appropriate security measures in place. | ||
| establish procedures: decide what program you will use to manage documents, establish naming conventions, etc. | ||
| work up some pricing comparisons for the clients you want to start with (see why bos calls for flat rates). | ||
| arrange a meeting with one of the clients to discuss your new bos services (don’t forget to bring along the pricing comparisons!). | ||
| once you have a bos client, begin building your client operations manual. |