"My Accountant takes 6 weeks to respond", "I can't seem to get an email back from my Accountant" and "I've tried calling my Accountant for 3 weeks now" are phrases we hear all too often when dealing with potential new clients. For this reason, Accountants and Customer Service are rarely mentioned in the same sentence. But shouldn't they be? After all, this is a highly sought after service, a very competitive sector and bares a great deal of importance for our clients. Lets face it, this is their businesses, their livelihoods, their money!
We are aware Practices become very busy, particularly during tax return/filing season, but the fundamentals of Customer Service must remain. A loss in client faith and trust will ultimately result in losing them to a much more responsive, service-oriented Practice. The cost of this may prove to be a lot more than a quick email/call to let a client know you will get back to them at the earliest opportunity. Perhaps even outsourcing your Service operations could prove to be more viable than the potential of losing clients due to poor service.
As the world of Accounting constantly evolves and changes, the role of the Accountant has become much more of an advisory role. Things such as the recent implementation of MTD (Making Tax Digital) and IR35 (Off-Payroll Working) could have an impact on our clients and reassuring them and making any necessary changes/adaptations are imperative when gaining client trust and acting Professionally.
Just remember - To keep a customer demands as much skill as gaining one.