‘Partnering with Accountants’ by Scott Charlton
In this second instalment of a special three part series, guest contributor Scott Charlton provides some insights about how to make an accountant much more at ease in dealing with you. These insights are an extract from Scott’s recently released book, Partnering with Accountants.
Quick summary: To give accountants confidence about referring their clients to you, address their deeply held concerns.
In the previous article in this series, we looked at how to help accountants get to know more about you and your capabilities. However it is unlikely that accountants will be swayed by this alone. They want to know that you are going to be a valuable collaborative partner. This article discusses what else you will need to cover before accountants will feel comfortable in working with you.
A central theme of this part of the process is demonstrating that you understand their concerns and what you have done to address these issues.
Essentially, accountants want to know that when the going gets tough, you won’t cut and run. Remember – whilst the clients are new to you, in many instances they represent highly valuable, long standing business relationships to the accountant. Little wonder they will naturally be cautious about referring their clients to you.
The Due Diligence checklist referred to in the previous article is based around deliverables – your fee schedule, personal profile, papers you’ve written, website etc. What this doesn’t cover is your approach to business and working with clients. Hence, there is a second document, which I recommend providing to the accountant immediately after you have stepped him/her through the Due Diligence checklist.
This second document is called Our approach to working with accountants and contains a set of commitments which accountants will appreciate. These include taking responsibility for the advice you provide, keeping the accountant informed regarding clients referred and reinforcing the central role that the accountant plays in the financial life of his/her clients.
Click here to see an example set of commitments.
In a similar vein to the previous checklist, it is recommended that you alter these commitments to suit the way you want to work with the accountant and reflect the way you like to express yourself. After all, when you are sitting across the desk from an accountant, you need to own these commitments!
This particularly applies to the final point regarding your views on sharing income, a topic discussed in more detail in Chapter 9.1 of Partnering with Accountants. Suffice to say that if your choice is not to share income, then this document provides a very positive context in which you can express such a policy.
Here’s a sample script in terms of introducing this document, after the accountant has digested the Due Diligence checklist.
Accountant (looking thoughtful and putting the Due Diligence Checklist to one side): Thanks for that. I’ll have a look at it and get back to you.
(As a point to note, never leave meetings on the basis of the accountant getting back to you because they get busy doing other things.)
You: Great. I think you’ll find that quite helpful. However, I venture to say that there are still some issues that you will need to satisfy yourself about. Would I be correct in saying that you’ve had some not so great experiences with other advisers in the past?
Accountant: That’s an understatement.
You: Like you, we derive most of our income from looking after our clients over the long term. What this means is that you can be confident that we’re not going to leave you with a problem. We’ve put this together in the form of a set of commitments for any clients you refer to us. (Hand over the document.)
At this point you will go through and discuss each item. Happily, many fears and concerns that accountants will have are addressed by this set of commitments.
In due course, the accountant will verify that you actually live up to these commitments. For now though, the very fact that you have raised the issues is a strong indicator that you are capable of delivering. This is likely to be enough to warrant giving you some test cases (an issue addressed elsewhere in Partnering with Accountants) which represents a significant advance in your relationship.
Action
- Review the checklist and amend to suit as appropriate
- In particular ensure that the document reflects your views on sharing income
- Role play the process of introducing the document and discussing it with the accountant
That concludes the second of our three part series on fast tracking a relationship with an accountant. The final part of the series will help you to identify areas by which you can truly add value to the accountant. Going through this process will not actively foster more referrals, it will greatly enhance your ongoing relationship.
To receive a free copy of Scott’s latest book, be one of the first five readers to email: scottcharlton.partnering@gmail.com, with “Partnering with Accountants” in the subject header.
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Formerly an accountant in practice, Scott Charlton is a business coach who works with both accountants and financial planners. Scott is the author of Partnering with Accountants, a guide to the ultimate referral destination.