‘When your clients feel at home, they tend to want to stay at home.’ That's a statement made by James Butterworth, a tech and advisory specialist from the VIP team at Croner-i. During our podcast discussion, I was surprised by how this conversation moved to a place where we discussed how a better understanding of the client and what they want (as well as tax law and the way you manage your clients' tax affairs) is what ultimately humanises the numbers. This is a fascinating conversation with James, essentially confirming that the better you are at being curious about what's in the best interests of your clients, the more likely you are to build stronger relationships that ensure that clients stay with you. If it's a prospect, they are more likely to join your firm because you take a proactive approach to your clients’ tax affairs, using the support of a specialist. This is far from a sales pitch – it's more a ‘what can you do in general practice to make more of tax when working with your clients?’ It was an unexpected, enjoyable and valuable conversation with James. Please scroll down this podcast’s episode page for the contact information for James and for the additional, downloadable resource mentioned in the podcast. |
The Solution:
I think many practices could actually charge more for accounts prep, bookkeeping and for tax compliance work, if they were offering gold-star tax consultancy work.
People would want the accountant that could deal with those difficult life decisions, for example, a business exit, succession planning, inheritance tax or giving shares to a key employee, and would want to understand what the consequences of these fundamental things are.
They are big choices that people have to make, and they affect pretty much every business. If you're an accountancy practice that can offer all of that, people don't mind paying a bit more for their accounts and their tax returns.
SHOW NOTES
Connect with James
Connect with Paul
Resources relating to this podcast:
During this podcast, Paul and James discuss the importance of understanding the goals and lifelong dreams of your clients by fact-finding. When you ask your clients where they have been and where they want to go, you will better understand them. This can sometimes mean challenging them on certain issues, as well as explaining, not only the features and benefits of some scenarios, but also the drawbacks.
Challenging your clients increases your value to them.
As Neil Rackman (founder of a world-renowned sales training company) says:
“...It (a customer relationship) is a reward that the salesperson earns by creating customer value. If you help customers think differently and bring them new ideas – which is what the ‘Challenger’ rep does – then you earn the right to a relationship.”
If you want to discover more about how to challenge your clients and why this will build your value in their eyes, then please click the button below to read the Business Breakthrough report 'Challenging Clients in Your Firm'.
