The Solution:
I think as a profession, accountants can get very hung up about some of the descriptions and labels, whether that's customer or client.
For example, I was having a discussion earlier in the week about advisory and what advisory actually means. We complicate those descriptions sometimes by saying, advisory means this or advisory means that.
Sometimes it's very hard for us to explain this to clients. Advisory in its essence means I'm just taking some of your information and I'm actually getting more involved and engaged within your business.
If I turned to somebody and said "do you do due diligence?” they would say “definitely not”.
But if I turned around to them and asked if they provided advice on access to finance, different product lines for a particular client and what they should be doing as a strategy going forward, they would say “yes, actually I do some of that”.
So, you are doing a form of due diligence on product lines, you're just not doing it in that traditional sense of doing due diligence on an acquisition of a company.
Sometimes we can create our own confusion by complicating it with labels within our own marketplace.
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Resources relating to this podcast:
In this podcast Paul and Glenn talk a great deal about questions.
Not being afraid to ask questions, the questions that no one else will ask.
As an accountant, you are in the privileged position of being that business owner’s most trusted advisor, so having regular, robust conversations about that client’s business is of paramount importance.
But how do you ask the right questions? How do you develop those raw question skills and how do you ensure your team develops them too.
Glenn suggests that you are nosey! If you care, are committed and curious about your client’s business then you cannot go wrong.
In this business breakthrough report, you will discover how to ask the right questions and become your client’s empathetic ally by showing genuine concern for your client’s business in the meetings you have with them.
Click the button on the right-hand side to read the ‘Client Value Counts’ report and also the button below to access the 'Ask Better Questions' report and master the art of asking the right questions at the right time.
