{"id":50597,"date":"2016-12-19t05:00:35","date_gmt":"2016-12-19t10:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/48e130086c.nxcli.net\/?p=50597"},"modified":"2020-06-03t17:15:37","modified_gmt":"2020-06-03t21:15:37","slug":"communicate-until-it-hurts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/\/www.g005e.com\/2016\/12\/19\/communicate-until-it-hurts\/","title":{"rendered":"communicate until it hurts"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"businessman<\/a>call your clients, and don’t charge them for calling you.<\/strong><\/p>\n

by rob nixon<\/i><\/p>\n

if a client pays you a high fee do you communicate with them more? absolutely, you say.<\/p>\n

more on strategy:<\/b> 8 ways to build team engagement<\/a> | how to create 4 new billable hours per day<\/a> | do you know what clients want? <\/a>\u00a0| is your business by design or default?<\/a> | the world is flat<\/a> | the profession disrupted: compliance commoditized<\/a>
\n\"goprocpa.com\"exclusively for pro members. <\/span><\/strong>log in here<\/a> or 2022世界杯足球排名 today<\/a>.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

should you wait for them to pay you more before you communicate with them? or should you communicate with them more before they pay you more? i think the latter should apply.
\n<\/p>\n

if you increase the level of communication then you\u2019ll increase the level of trust. if you increase the level of trust you\u2019ll increase the level of relationship. if you increase the level of relationship you\u2019ll increase the level of fee per client. if you increase the level of fee per client you\u2019ll increase the referral rate. if you increase the referral rate you\u2019ll increase the happiness level. if you increase the happiness level then everything is sorted!<\/p>\n

it all starts with increasing the level of communication. how much communication and in what format is the key. after years working with accounting firms and their clients i have worked out that the diagram below is the ultimate communication schedule. it should be applied to all clients you want to keep.<\/p>\n

\"nixon_communicationschedule\"<\/a>there are four parts to this schedule.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. an annual general meeting<\/li>\n
  2. visits to see how they are going<\/li>\n
  3. phone calls and sporadic communication<\/li>\n
  4. not charging for “attendance” communication<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    the annual general meeting<\/strong><\/p>\n

    every year you finalize the annual accounts for your client. what is your process at this point? is it all of those inane “sign here” stickers with little or no explanation? do you send out the draft accounts for signing?<\/p>\n

    my guess is that the majority of your clients get a substandard explanation of the previous year\u2019s financial performance. as a business client i have two main questions at year end:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. how much tax do i have to pay and why and<\/li>\n
    2. where did the money go?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      if you are glossing over this then you are missing out on loads of opportunities. you are missing out on great customer service and potential revenue opportunities for you.<\/p>\n

      i recommend that you have an agm process<\/strong>. this happens once per year. of course all of the signing needs to take place but more importantly explanation needs to take place.<\/p>\n

      when it comes to #clientsunderstandingwhatyouhavedone, typically the reports that come out of your tax preparation software are not that great. if you just send it to us then we don\u2019t understand it. it\u2019s full of numbers and words that confuse us.<\/p>\n

      the accountants we work with are using a different process. they are adding a business performance review, which is a three-part historical review of the clients\u2019 financial affairs in one easy-to-view screen. they are using our panalitix (www.panalitix.com<\/a>) software to do this.<\/p>\n

      the business performance review is a conversation starter. it shows trends, issues and opportunities in critical areas of a business. it is designed to be simple so the clients can see what is going on. it is presented on a screen (the bigger the better) and of course you can print it out. you can do some financial modeling and “what if”-based analysis. it typically results in the clients saying “how do we fix it” \u2013 or words to that effect.<\/p>\n

      the objective of this meeting is to<\/p>\n