Episode 102: Mark Walker Resources - humanisethenumbers.online

Guest Details

Connect with Mark

LinkedIn: Mark Walker
Website: https://www.vfd-pro.com/

View Episode Page Here

https://humanisethenumbers.online/episode-102-mark-walker-vfd-pro/

Promo Video Link

Short intro video for this podcast episode

https://vimeo.com/906275876/26aec6d0f0?share=copy

Episode introduction copy

The key question – how do you and your firm make a difference? – makes a difference itself in the conversations you have with your team members as you try to ensure that they are connected to the real meaning behind what you're doing.

Actually making a difference and then finding a way to communicate that will also help you connect with potential recruits so that they're more likely to join your firm rather than another, ultimately making a difference to your current business owner clients, as well as to prospective clients.

If these prospective clients are able to see that you can really make a difference to them and to their business, they’re obviously more likely to want to work with you and your firm.

In this podcast with Mark Walker of VFD Pro, Mark unpacks his experience as a senior financial professional, including his time as a board-level finance officer at Carnival Cruises and his work with The Co-Op, as well as with a number of SMEs.

He has built a product, a tool, that has shown him, his client accountancy firms and their clients how they can make a difference by becoming better connected. Yes, there is a conversation around the future of their business, and yes, around the finances, but there is also one to be had around the business as a whole, leading to a stronger relationship.

https://humanisethenumbers.online/episode-102-mark-walker-vfd-pro/

Tweets For This Episode

1. Listen to this Humanise The Numbers podcast with Mark Walker of VFD Pro as he discusses the importance of starting at the end.

2. Listen to this Humanise The Numbers podcast with Mark Walker of VFD Pro as he explores the concept of 'So What?'

3. Listen to this Humanise The Numbers podcast with Mark Walker of VFD Pro as he uses an analogy of a snake when it comes to the way an accountant needs to think of client businesses.

https://humanisethenumbers.online/episode-102-mark-walker-vfd-pro/

LinkedIn Posts For This Episode

1. Listen in to this Humanise The Numbers podcast with Mark Walker of VFD Pro as he talks about the importance of accountants helping their business owner clients really understand the numbers of their business.

Help your client 'know their number'. But how do they know what the right number is? When working with any clients, Mark thinks you should always start at the end.

Mark asks the question 'what's the number you want to have to live the rest of your life the way you want to live it without the fear of running out of money?'

When you make the numbers mean something to your client, this invokes an emotional response which will help the client understand what the numbers mean to their own future and that of their business.

2. Listen in to this Humanise The Numbers podcast with Mark Walker of VFD Pro. Mark talks about why accountants needs to help their business owner clients and why they should care about their numbers.

Mark uses the analogy of client businesses being like snakes – the head knows where it's going but the body is all over the place. Your job as an accountant is to use the client's numbers to control the body of the snake.

3. Listen in to this Humanise The Numbers podcast with Mark Walker of VFD Pro as he discusses the phrase 'Know, Like, Trust' and how it pertains to the relationship an accountant can have with a client.

When you have regular conversations with your clients, they get to know you. The more they get to know you, they more they get to like you. And when they know you and like you, they will trust you. When your clients can trust you, you will be the person they come to for each big decision they want to make in their business.

4. Listen to this Humanise The Numbers podcast with Mark Walker of VFD Pro as Mark talks about education and the role it has to play in the accounting profession. When a client understands the importance of having accurate and up-to-date accounts, they will understand the difference these numbers can make to the decisions they make in their business. Mark also discusses the risk-benefit to the education piece. It's not just the financial elements that matter to clients, but non-financial elements as well, and accountants are best placed to advise clients, especially from a risk perspective.

He calls accountants 'guardians of the risk' for a client's business.

Listen here:

https://humanisethenumbers.online/episode-102-mark-walker-vfd-pro/

Embed Code For This Episode

Soundbite for this episode

Here is a soundbite of the interview with Mark Walker