We Don’t Talk Any More!

May 17, 2019

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It’s a fact of the age we live in and how society operates today, that channels of communication are wide and varied. They range from good old-fashioned face to face conversations or telephone calls, through to email or social media or even via a headset linking people together whilst gaming!

As a result, we find that the art of conversation or open communications has the potential to be underused or totally neglected.

We recently conducted a short survey with one of the questions being about communication. The result of this was staggering with 83% of our respondents admitting they didn’t have good communications with their Accountant.

Communication is key

It sounds obvious doesn’t it?

But the number of clients that come across to Troy Accounting because they just want better communication suggests it isn’t all that obvious after all !!

Which is the best way of communicating?

  • Every individual has their preferred way of communicating; whether telephone call, email or gaming headset (ok – we draw the line there, but perhaps a Skype call?). Personally, I prefer face to face conversations, but it’s not all about me!!
  • If a client feels more comfortable with a telephone conversation or doesn’t have much time on their hands so prefers email to answer in their own time, then we will respect that where possible and communicate accordingly.

How regular is the communication?

  • How regular do you want it to be? The point is that there is no right or wrong answer here, but there must be communication. As an accountant, it would be all too easy to communicate with a client once a year when they need their accounts or tax return filing. After all, we only need the accounting records to do the work and then it’s job done! Right?

Wrong!!

  • When the client is given a set of accounts showing they were loss-making last year, or a tax calculation which must be paid to HMRC imminently but with no cash to pay it, it’s too late !
  • With regular communication (whether weekly, monthly, quarterly) between an accountant and their client, these types of nasty surprises could be avoided.

Collaboration

the situation of two or more people working together to create or achieve the same thing

Cambridge English DictionaryWhat more can I say? The very definition of “collaboration” is what we stand for at Troy Accounting. It’s all about the relationship and working together with our clients to achieve their goals and aspirations for the business.

To emphasise what I said earlier, communication is the most critical part of collaboration. We want to understand your vision for the business so we can support you and help you ignite success, whatever success looks like for you and your business.

It’s your vision for success and that’s what matters, and that’s what we’ll help you achieve.

Open relationship

We’re not here to hide things from you or trick you into thinking that accounting is a “dark art” or bamboozle you with technical terms. Unfortunately, there are people out there who do that, but it leaves the client feeling belittled, bewildered and vulnerable.

I don’t know the first thing about computers when they go wrong, or what to do when the flashy warning sign appears on my dashboard, or when I injure myself at the gym – I ask the experts and I don’t want to be made to feel daft when I do ask!!

The point is that no question is a stupid question because you don’t know what you don’t know.

And you should also be able to ask when you need to ask.

We believe that your relationship with us should be one that’s open, comfortable, honest and trusting. A client should be able to ask anything (within reason!) and we believe in taking the time to listen and truly hear them.

The conclusion to this blog?

LET’S TALK!

#ignitesuccess


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