Could better client communication generate more fees?

Most accountancy practices would like to generate more advisory work from their existing clients. The difficulty is often not a shortage of opportunities but identifying those opportunities at the right time.

A client may be considering buying a property, taking on an employee, purchasing a new vehicle, selling their business or changing the way they extract profits from their company. Unless they tell their accountant what they are planning, valuable opportunities to provide advice can easily be missed.

Regular client communication can help bridge that gap.

Clients do not always know when they need advice

Accountants understand the tax and financial implications of business decisions. Clients, generally, do not.

A business owner may therefore make a decision without appreciating that there was an opportunity to obtain advice beforehand. By the time the accountant discovers what has happened, perhaps when preparing the annual accounts, it may be too late to recommend a better course of action.

Regular newsletters, tax updates and business articles can prompt clients to think about issues before they act.

Each communication creates another opportunity for the client to say: “This applies to me. Can we talk about it?”

Staying visible also strengthens relationships

There is another benefit.

Many clients have relatively little direct contact with their accountant during the year. If most communication concerns accounts, tax returns, information requests and tax payments, it is easy for the relationship to become focused almost entirely on compliance.

Useful information arriving changes that perception.

It reminds clients that their accountant understands the wider issues affecting businesses and individuals. Instead of being seen simply as someone who deals with HMRC and Companies House, the accountant can become a regular source of useful business and financial information.

That can improve client retention as well as generate additional work.