‘Partnering with Accountants’ by Scott Charlton
In this third instalment of a special three part series, guest contributor Scott Charlton provides some insights about how to enhance your relationships with accountants. These insights are an extract from Scott’s recently released book, Partnering with Accountants.
Quick summary: Involve the accountants in identifying how best to assist them in developing a more valuable business and enhanced client relationships.
In this article, we conclude the three-part system to develop accounting relationships with a process which will enable you to tailor a package of benefits that the accountant will appreciate when he/she starts working with you.
Let’s face it. There is only so much time and resource that you can devote to enhancing an accounting relationship. It’s therefore better to concentrate on doing one or two things well than adopting a scattergun approach. Equally, there’s no point in (say) going to a lot of trouble running a monthly training session for an accountant’s team when the accountant would prefer your assistance in running a client seminar.
So the third aspect of this trilogy is a checklist of areas for an accountant to indicate where his/her firm would appreciate some assistance. This checklist will enable you to concentrate on areas that each particular firm of accountants will value. Feel free to add or subtract from this list as you see fit. Naturally, you should have the resources to deliver each item.
It will certainly assist in this aspect of the conversation if you can direct it towards addressing issues that the accountant may have volunteered up to this point. For example, if the accountant is looking for business growth but is clueless with marketing, applying your experience in this area is likely to be far more valuable than (say) providing a share of your revenue.
Click here for a menu of potential ways in which you might assist accountants.
It should be noted that at any point during the conversation covered by this and the previous two articles, proceedings could be interrupted by a question about income splitting. You can virtually expect this if you are presenting to a group of accountants i.e. someone who hasn’t said much will interject right in the middle of you talking about something else. This checklist provides an excellent means of countering this question. Here’s a sample script.
Accountant: So what’s my share if I refer clients to you?
You: It’s not our policy to share our income with referrers. Instead, we look to add value in other ways. Our experience is that committing resources to your firm will ultimately be more beneficial for you and be more sustainable for us. As to what those resources could and should be, we’d value your input. This checklist [hand the document over] includes a range of suggestions. It would be very helpful if you indicated which would be of most value.
Naturally, if an accountant indicates quite a number of items would be of interest, you need to engage in a discussion about priorities. This is a great conversation to have, enabling you to set expectations that the relationship will be ongoing e.g.
You: That’s great. What I’d suggest is that we start with [X and Y]. We can introduce [Z] later on. Then at the end of the first year we can sit down to together and map out a plan for Years 2 and 3. How does that sound?
The net result should be a small list of agreed initiatives that you program into your marketing activities. In turn, this will give you the opportunity to interact with accountants in ways they will truly appreciate.
Action
- Review the checklist and amend to suit
- Ensure that the document reflects initiatives you are willing and able to provide
- Role play the process of introducing the document and discussing it with the accountant
That’s the final instalment of our three part series on fast tracking a relationship with an accountant. Now that you’ve put your best forward and got the accountant’s attention, it’s time to prepare for the inevitable test cases – a subject which is addressed elsewhere in Partnering with Accountants. Good luck with your collaborative endeavours!
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.