Consutants’ Corner

With the automation of many client interactions, do clients still expect a personal relationship with their accounting firm?

“Excellence is not just an expectation but a demand from clients in their accountant-client relationships, and this underscores the importance of establishing a deeper connection. Enduring client relationships are built on talent and trust, and these cornerstone principles enable accountants to have meaningful conversations that allow them to gain insights into the intricacies of clients' businesses, goals and dreams. Central to cultivating trust is prioritizing the client experience — how the client perceives their interactions with the firm through its people, processes and technology. Growing firms intentionally implement smart CX strategies to achieve greater profitability and retention.”

Judy Bodenhamer
Client Experience Group jbodenhamer@clienteg.com

“Content marketing is not a substitute for personal interactions with clients; rather, content marketing and personal interactions complement one another. Both need to be part of an advisor's plan. Sending thought leadership to clients consistently helps provide value and keeps the advisor top of mind. The client relationship is then elevated through genuine conversations. Quite often, thought leadership content serves as a catalyst for having those personal conversations with clients. In fact, content marketing helps educate clients and sets the advisor up for a very productive client conversation.”

Don Breckenridge, Jr. and Jamie Miller
Marketing By Numbers don@marketingbynumbers.io

“Clients want and need a trusted personal relationship with their CPA. Clients share personal financial information, hopes and fears with their CPAs. Even firms that automate some of their client work benefit from relationships by delivering more advisory services. Personal, however, doesn’t necessarily mean in-person. Today's landscape provides in-person and remote relationship-building opportunities. Used intentionally, online tools such as Teams, Zoom, email, and social media offer CPAs the ability to create and nurture relationships regardless of physical location. The same tenets of relationship building apply — authenticity, rapport building, asking questions and genuinely caring about the other person, regardless of how the relationship develops.”

Carrie Steffen
The Whetstone Group carrie@thewhetstonegroup.com

Interviews by Eileen Monesson