Exceptional times call for exceptional actions.
People want reassurance and communication during these uncertain times.
Be there for your clients and staff and a major way to do this to be available and be responsive – return emails and phone calls, but do so in a logical manner otherwise your firm will become chaotic
Actions
- Send proactive communication to your staff on office protocols – eg template – Office Policies – managing corona virus
- Send proactive communication to your client base on your office working status and recommended communication channels – eg template – Office status and communication channels
- Talk with your team and put a process in place as to where traffic will be directed for what clients and who is the appropriate person to respond to it.
- Make sure you call all of your A and B Class clients first to address any concerns and ensure they know your best methods of contact during this period
- Put a communication policy in place for all staff to return calls/emails within the same day or the latest the very next morning.
- Make the best use of technology, use of your calendar and book appointments with clients. A lot of firms use https://calendly.com/ to avoid “phone hockey”. Back and forth trying to organize meeting times can be a huge waste of everyone’s time. Either control your day or let it control you. Use Calendly (the free version will work for now) to help with this.
You obviously need to communicate with your team regularly and keep them informed. Make sure they understand the situation and potentially how things may develop over the coming weeks. You should definitely communicate with your customers as well.
It’s definitely advisable that you be proactive with customers. Once they’ve made a decision not to come, it’s hard to convince them otherwise. So get on the front foot and delay those fears that they may have.
With suppliers, it’s important to keep them informed too. If you can’t pay for whatever reason, people are generally quite accommodating if you’re open and honest so it is all about being proactive with the communication with your networks. It could be your partners that you have, other people that you work with or people outside of your supply network.
P.S. Whenever you’re ready… here are 4 ways we can help you grow your Accounting or Bookkeeping business:
1. Grab a free copy of our book – Accountants 20-Hour Workweek
It’s the blueprint to structure, staff and scale your firm whilst dramatically reducing your work hours. — Click Here
2. Join the Wize WaterCooler and connect with other Accountants who are scaling too
It’s our new Facebook community where business-minded Accountants and Bookkeepers learn to build a firm that runs without them. — Click Here
3. Join our new WizePulse Implementation Program
We’re putting together a new mentoring case study group this month. If you’d like to get the plan, tools and advice from the Wize Mentors to scale your firm… just send us a message with the word “Pulse” – Click Here
4. Work with the Wize Guys privately
If you’d like to work directly with the Wize Mentor team to take you from stuck to scale…just send us a message with the word “Growth”… tell us a little about your firm and what you’d like help with, and we’ll get you all the details! – Click Here