Speaker 1: 0:05

Welcome back everybody and welcome to Accountants 2.0. Today is step nine in your journey to become a new age accountant onboarding clients. And today, with me, as always, is Ted Williamson, president of Accountants 2.0, and myself, steve Perpich. And I have no title whatsoever. No, I'm client acquisitions for accounting firms and bookkeeping. So today, ted, onboarding clients Right off the bat. Your first thought.

Speaker 2: 0:41

It's like the most important part of getting a client and keeping a client. It is like, if you need to nail onboarding, um, in order for you to to start off your relationship right, sometimes, sometimes, even if you have a rush of rough relationship, as you go, that onboarding will, they'll remember that. They'll remember how easy it was and how they know your relationship can be. Even if at some point you make a mistake, um, then they'll remember that. They'll remember how easy it was and how they know your relationship can be. Even if at some point you make a mistake, um, then they'll remember that. So getting that right makes a lot of sense, uh, making them feel some sort of way. It's, uh, it really, it really helps and, uh, it really helps.

Speaker 1: 1:22

Oh yes, coming from a fantastic high-performing closer like myself, I can close anything, it doesn't matter what niche you're in, but that's great. But if the next step is not executed perfectly, then it destroys me. It destroys the sales professional, because I got you through the journey, sold the client, a prospect on the idea, I did all my homework to make sure that we're aligned with them. And then if the next step, which is the onboarding journey after the close of contractor proposal, is not managed as great as I do my sales efforts, yeah, there's just no point. And the number one thing I always really, really want to focus on is what is a platform or a method to to do the steps for onboarding? They got to be tight and it's got to be exact and I think you would agree with that and systematized.

Speaker 2: 2:25

Like it has to be exact and I think you would agree with that um, and systematized, like, yeah, it has to be, yeah, it has to. You know, if you system, if you take, you know, take the time and the effort to work through all of that, you know it's going to be well thought out and the client's going to feel that and they're going to understand that it was well thought out and and you're going to have a lot less hiccups if you do all that preparatory work to get that onboarding experience just right.

Speaker 1: 2:52

Um, that's super, super important now it depends on the operational um niche that you're selling for, also like, for example, um for accounting services that that involve, like heavy bookkeeping. There are products and platforms out there that are set up by default to handle that onboarding checklist process once it's defined. For example, I'm experienced with Financial Sense and I find it excellent because it's the single point of contact, it's portal-oriented, it manages a single form of communication with the, with the client, during the onboarding process and it's self-auditing so that you know where you are, especially if you're asking, there's an ask to the client to provide information. The communication, the format and receipt of that information has to be noted so that, a if they're delaying, there's a polite follow-up and, b that it's done, that you know that they did it. You don't ask again and they're saying I already sent that and then again the seeds of doubt of their decision to do business with you kind of paint or set the tone for the rest of the relationship.

Speaker 2: 4:03

You don't want buyer's remorse?

Speaker 1: 4:05

No, not at that point, not during onboarding. At least wait a quarter before they have buyer's remorse, come on, yeah, you don't want to do it right off the bat. So, getting onto that, having a systematized onboarding platform whether it's an extension of your operational system or it's a dedicated system like a subsystem, before you hand it over to your operations has to be managed and in that is what you're providing, there should be a unified or consistent single method of transferring files and documents. Either you know whether you're using a Dropbox, google Drive, a really good email chain, or a platform like Financial Sense or what's another platform.

Speaker 2: 4:54

Like Carbon or TaxDome or Accountancy Manager there's all kinds of them when they have like folders and setups where it's secure.

Speaker 1: 5:04

Again, these can be sensitive documents and you want to make sure that they're housed in a common area so that your staff can get at them in a consistent manner. If there's multiple members of the team, especially so. Then it gets back to the content of this onboarding. It should always begin with a really personalized and verbose detail welcome package. So once they sign up, you should have a package saying what's next and that's right off the bat, like it should be marked. It's actually a marketing piece. It should have your look, be professional, be well branded, welcoming them aboard initially, giving them a one point of contact that they have any questions so they don't wonder. So it's like ask anything, contact, and then maybe a list saying this is what's about to happen and maybe even a timeline. And that's what we provide. We give people a good idea of what's about to happen and maybe even a timeline, and that's what we provide.

Speaker 2: 5:56

We give people a good idea of what's about to come absolutely they need, they need to understand and need to manage the expectations um of of, because. So one thing like if you don't have a very nailed down, you don't communicate very well. Clients get a little bit, a little bit crabby when they just signed on with you and they're like why are you having me do all this? Especially if they're a new entrepreneur. They're like why are you having me do all this stuff? That's what I hired you for. I was like, well, we can't get into your you know IRS or CRA accounts and things that you need to give us access to, to all of these different, um, you know legal accounts or, or, uh, to all of these different legal accounts or the ability to do work on your behalf, all these things. So bookkeeping is a little bit easier because you're essentially just doing the books and then just shipping it off to the accountant or tax professional, unless you're doing payroll as well.

Speaker 1: 6:52

Yeah, but even then, there's access points, there's bank connections, unless you're doing payroll as well, but yeah, but even then yeah there's, there's access points, there's bank connections, there's, yeah, yeah, access to uh, irs or cra portals, things like that. But yeah, a bookkeeper would be a little lighter because they're they're providing a a set piece service, whereas the accountant has to really dig you know, yeah, so.

Speaker 2: 7:09

So I mean you have to manage the expectations, you have to let them know what's coming, but you have to also tell them why so? Because you don't want them to be upset like why did I sign up with you and all of a sudden, all this stuff's happening? I have to do all this work and get and get in place, like because this is an important arrangement that we have going on you and we can't do everything. You are in charge of your company and you're in charge of all this stuff. I need access to all of that in order for me to do what I need to do for you.

Speaker 2: 7:39

Um, and and that's just as, as you all know, um, that's that's kind of the way it is. They have to work for us, for us to work for them, for them, for that, for it to then be very easy and accurate after that point. It takes a little bit of time, even after onboarding, right for um, where they have to do a little bit of work, and then, and then it becomes, you know, second nature. They just are not in second nature. It just becomes, you know, um out of sight, out of mind. They get their quarterly meet or monthly meet up with with you and then and then that's all they have to worry about after the fact. But that onboarding is super important to get them to that point and and to manage those expectations and make sure that they're going to be happy ongoing.

Speaker 1: 8:19

And part of the pre-sale as well. It's up to, again, the representative who's moving them towards proposal. Whether it's your own firm and you're small or you have a dedicated sales staff, they should kind of give a little bit of pre-warning of what the commitment is before the proposal is signed. In other words, you know once, and maybe even give them a heads up, you know the onboarding is going to involve us, you know getting a lot of connections, a lot of permissions, a lot of, a lot of passwords, a lot of. So it's not just sign here and we're just wave a magic wand and we're going to provide you perfect accounting service, advisory and bookkeeping. So give them that pre-warning. But yeah, and also that's part of vetting the client, If they're resistant to that, they shouldn't be signing proposals, or you shouldn't be putting proposals in front of them. You should qualify the client a little more as well. But if it's poorly executed after, after the fact, that's not awesome.

Speaker 2: 9:20

So well, and you know what, and actually onboarding you brought. You brought up a good point. That's actually a good opportunity for you to vet that client even. I mean sure they have the expectation managed by the sales process within the sales process, um. But after the fact, if, when you get them into onboarding, um, and if they're very resistant to your process, you say, hey, I, we, we built it this way because this works best, and if they're like, well, we've got to do everything my way, that's probably not the client for you, right? That's probably not the one you want to go if you're fighting them in that very, very beginning steps unless you want to offer a time and materials retainer once they're uh yeah, but you can't but, but, but, but uh, regardless of how much you charge them, you can't connect.

Speaker 2: 10:05

You know their bank accounts and things like that well, yeah, that would be a hard stop right there yeah, the only thing you could really do is do your research on them, uh, in order to figure out all the specific industry, their amount of partners. Yes, of course.

Speaker 1: 10:22

One of the things too. With regards to communication, you could have a single portal, single method, single area for document management, but we are in the 21st century. Any of your processes for onboarding should be mobile friendly. You shouldn't be segmenting your communications. In other words, if it's email only and that's all you got, okay, that's not optimal because they're going to have questions. You should have a unified communication system as possible so that when people can use text or you can send text statuses to them as well as email status. And again, clients that aren't willing to operate that way. Again, part of your vetting process If people aren't working on multiple channels of communication, even though it's a single portal, a single process, you're going to have issues in the future dealing with a client at that level and you'll have to manage the expectation. If you're willing to deal with that, fine, but it's going to be very set piece, not dynamic and not responsive, because you're just depending on email, okay, well, or portal notifications. So, again, 21st century, you really got to consider that.

Speaker 1: 11:31

And clients, especially smaller clients, they are text-based people, many of them are.

Speaker 1: 11:36

They don't want to wait on a phone call and a lot of them don't like to use the phone, especially as millennials are really moving into the heavier entrepreneurial space and younger Gen Z. They're text-based people and phone-based people, so they're going to text you their questions. You've got to be able to field that text that's go to a central communication and then that's to be brokered and responded, not only as a text it should have a backup as an email as well, and then that way you got all your bases covered. That gives a huge level of confidence in the client, even if you don't know what you're going to do for them with whatever the question is. And you're going to do for them with whatever the question is and you're going to get back to them. That instant response is huge because the story we hear over and over again is yep, you send a message to your accountant and, oh yeah, you got to wait like almost a quarter to hear from them again. Not, that's not awesome, you got to well.

Speaker 2: 12:27

I mean not just that, even in the sales process or the onboarding process especially, you need to have good communication because you're going to lose that perfect client because they didn't get you know. Responsiveness I mean that's another. We could almost have a whole podcast on accountant industry or legal industry. Responsiveness to client communications right, because that is probably one of the biggest things I hear from clients is is that that communication is broken and that's a lot of times why they're shopping around, because they feel it's our specialty too.

Speaker 1: 13:03

It does. Yeah Well, that's why we built a responsive model.

Speaker 2: 13:06

Yeah Well, that's why we built this, that's why we actually built a client portal before all of this and and in order, because we knew that that communication was really the key part of that relationship with your client and to retain them. But we ended up. We didn't end up going with that. Instead, we built Accounts 2.0, the way it is now so, which you have learned to love and respect and will be.

Speaker 1: 13:29

A20 Connect. We got everything text, phone, email.

Speaker 2: 13:34

I'm surprised, it doesn't have telepathy we got everything text phone email.

Speaker 1: 13:37

I'm surprised it doesn't have telepathy, so it's got every protocol. No, no, like we can communicate on any channel almost simultaneously with our infrastructure. And then we try to bring that best practice and advice to everybody we communicate with, because clients want instant response. They expect it.

Speaker 2: 13:52

Yeah, the only thing we don't do, we don't do the practice management part of it. So, that is really the key to providing services and to having a unified relationship with your client. What we've built is the front end of your firm and you still need that practice management piece.

Speaker 1: 14:12

Absolutely, yeah absolutely, absolutely, yeah, absolutely, um, we, uh. One of the best practices we recommend is automatic workflows where things are repetitive, because that saves you time. If you're always saying we'll get back to you manually uh and and a, you may not get back to the manually because that response has to be classified, recorded, responded to and then set in a queue for you to actually respond to thoughtfully.

Speaker 2: 14:54

So it's always recommended. You can be busy or you could forget.

Speaker 1: 14:58

Oh well, you may not forget, but it gets pushed in the queue because 15 other requests are going to get on top of that and everything is more important than the previous request. It doesn't matter what, it is right Everything's always more important. Everything's a crisis.

Speaker 2: 15:11

Some things robots do better than people. Yep Getting back to you.

Speaker 1: 15:13

Yep Robots do better than people Yep getting back to you Yep, and if the channel is known, it could respond and ask for certain elements of information to help the process long before, to save a human operator from dealing with it. All those things we'd love to talk about kind of follows us consistently. You'll find that in Accounts 2.0, we're always talking about automation, efficiency and response, both operationally and from.

Speaker 2: 15:43

Yeah, so I made a couple of notes. I know that we are actually going off of. We are talking about step nine, yeah, so in the 11 steps to becoming a new agent, accountant, mm-hmm 11 steps to becoming an Inuit accountant.

Speaker 2: 15:58

So in here in all of step nine I want to iterate, being very good at the onboarding process and when you do something well in your communication. So, for example, in a couple different spots in this, if you read step nine, you'll see certain things like providing a personalized welcome package, which you just talked about. Um, I actually made a note that at that point you are going, you want to maybe get a feeler from the client, like, get a like, have a survey or something like that, and see where they're at at that moment, to see if they're happy. When they are, uh, when, whenever you get a positive response from a client, what you should be doing is uh, can you guess it steve when you get a positive response from the client yes acknowledge it yeah, ask for a review.

Speaker 2: 16:50

So you should always be asking like so, because I I found that I got really in in the practice that that I sold. Um, I got a lot of positive responses, especially so all the time because we had a good service. But in the beginning aspect of it, because we really systematized that onboarding process, um, we got a lot of very good positive responses about that and and a chunk of our, our five-star reviews well, we had all five stars views except for one spammer but so a big chunk of those reviews was from the onboarding process and the way that we dealt with clients in the beginning of the relationship. We want to make sure because things can happen where there could be human error in the future or something like that. So if you nail down the onboarding process and you and all your points of contact with them, you get a feel for how they are, whether it be through a survey or through just asking them, and if they say, hey, part of your onboarding process on your operational side is ask for the review always ask for the review.

Speaker 2: 17:55

So I mean there should be multiple points.

Speaker 2: 17:57

If they haven't given you yeah, if they don't give you a review at the point of the welcome package, when you're completed, the onboarding, uh, ask, ask how they're doing, because you, regardless of a review, you still want to know, um, because you need to know if you need to make edits and and and fix the process and stuff and, at the end of it, get a review.

Speaker 2: 18:17

You should go through the onboarding process and get a review immediately within that process, unless they say like, hey, you know what, we haven't really started working together. I'd like to give it to you later. That's fine, obviously, but if you don't ask for one in this whole process, you're doing something wrong because you should be trying to do that. So, so, part of that, you can automate the review request through A20 Connect, of course. So, but regardless of that, definitely get a feel for it, because you need to know if you need to make edits. You need to understand if you're doing a good job, because obviously we want to do a good job for these people. So I just wanted to make that note that it's important to see where they're at, see where you need to make fixes and to get a review.

Speaker 1: 19:03

All right, well, ted, thanks for those insights. I think we're going to make this a two-parter. The next step 9B will be once you got them on board. How do you keep them? Because you know you've already got a great first impression. The onboarding process is perfect. But then the next step is keeping them on.

Speaker 2: 19:23

That is super important. Obviously we don't. We don't just bring them on just to to collect their onboarding fees and and we like that lifetime value client we want to make sure we're building relationships and and we're providing really good service.

Speaker 1: 19:43

So don't give any secrets away. Wait for step nine B. So that's it for today Again, I'm Steve Purvich. This is Accountants 2.0. Like follow? Join our groups on all the social media channels, ones that are important.

Speaker 2: 19:59

You can check out our website. You can find a podcast there. You can find the blogs there. You can find everything there. Um, we have a whole, a whole bunch of resources for you. Uh, there as well, um, and share it with other people like get other other people in the industry on board and we can, because we all work together, uh, to make sure that that we're all doing. We're all doing well growing, getting clients on board too.

Speaker 1: 20:25

So, uh, yeah, that's so again this is steve purpage and ted williamson, the counts 2.0. Have a great day and see you next time.

Speaker 2: 20:34

See you next time.