Leadership is not about “being right” it’s about the right result.
So what is the “right result?”
Having lots of clients referring you to their friends is the highest compliment and the best ROI one can get.
In some cases, there is a small cost but the ROI is still far greater if you focus on the “right result” and not “being right”.
Namely putting the business’s interest ahead of your own because if the business is successful it can then take care of you and so many others such as clients, creditors, and shareholders. All must win.
For example:
You may have a dispute with a client. The client claims you have taken too long to prepare their tax return. The facts show that the client took forever to come back with answers to questions and this delayed the completion of their return. However, the client refuses to accept your reason and blames you directly and asks for a discount.
Clearly, the facts show you are “right” so do you stick to your guns and refuse to give a 10% discount (namely $150, assume invoice is $1,500) or do you focus on the “Right Result” for the business? Putting the interest of the business ahead of your own pride/ego.
If you are “Result-oriented” and focus on the interest of the business rather than your own pride, giving them the discount is an easy decision because a happy client will go out there and tell 10 other people (a free salesman) but an unhappy client will go out of their way to tell 100 people and in today’s internet world they can potentially get on a forum (such as the clients of “Renovate for Profit” ) and disparage you and this can cost you tens of thousands of dollars in reputation and lost clients.
A good businessman/woman knows it’s much more economical to concede the $150. In fact, a full refund of the $1,500 would still be cheaper.
Example 2:
ASIC issues a fine to your client for late notification of change of address of the Director.
The client was late in telling which triggered the fine. The client is extremely upset and insists you pay for this penalty. The fine is $180 as an example.
You are clearly in the right.
So what should you do?
The client’s bill each year is $3,500 and the lifetime value of a client on average is 5 years.
Total fees from this client over 5 years is $17,500.
The Leader who is focussed on the “right result” and puts the business ahead of his/her own ego/pride makes an easy decision to pay the $180 fine and retain the $17,500.
The poor “leader” who is focussed on being “Right” (putting his/her own pride/ego ahead of the interest of the business) will typically refuse to concede the $180 fine but run the risk of losing $17,500.
Being a good leader begins with a sense of increasing the pie (win for all) and not getting themselves a larger slice of the pie (at expense of someone else being left with a smaller slice).
A good leader also knows “to pick their battles”. Winning the battle (save $180) and losing the war (loss of $17,500) is not the mark of a good businessman/woman.
I hope this helps because it’s your leadership, management of your team and clients and your interpersonal skills and attitude which will determine your success and not your technical tax skills.
And the best measure of whether you are leading/managing well is whether your statistics are trending up or trending down.
Feel free to share this with your team if appropriate.
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