Make Corporate Transitions Easier with Client Management Software for Accountants
Expanding any small business often means merging with another firm in order to cover costs of the expansion and gain employees that already have the experience to do well. When it comes to making partnerships with corporate firms or companies, your clients may start to get nervous that they won’t receive the same attention that they always have. The word “corporate” denotes a culture where clients are numbers on a form for people who are used to dealing with a small business one-on-one and face-to-face most of the time. Reassure them and make the corporate transition easier by using client management software for accountants to keep track of necessary information and ensure that no client feels like they’re getting less than they deserve.
Reaffirm Client Relationships
Corporate transitions are not something that usually happens overnight so there’s a good chance that you’ll have a lot of time before the client knows about the transition at all. Use that time to build up the relationship further and reaffirm the trust that’s already been established. Client management software for accountants helps with this by ensuring that the information you need is always at your fingertips. You don’t have to be in the office if the software you’re using allows you to access information from a mobile device while still keeping it secure. These tools allow accountants to meet with clients whenever necessary but without ever worrying they won’t have the documents they need to provide service.
Build Up Employee Relationships
Clients aren’t the only ones that may become uneasy during a transition. Employees, even top performing accountants, can feel nervous when things are changing. These people are the face of your firm for the clients so any uneasiness that they show can come off to clients as instability. This is one reason why it’s just as important to build up employee relationships as it is to reaffirm client relationships. Another reason is that they helped you build your business and without them the growth you’re experiencing with a corporate transition wouldn’t be possible.
Client management software for accountants allows you to track the progress of accountants to see if this problem is coming up at all. You’ll be able to see if people that are usually your best performers are slacking due to worry or stress. Use this information to pull those employees aside and have a one-on-one conversation about their part in the company and how much they are valued.
Show Your Appreciation
Let employees and clients know how much you care with incentives or gifts that remind them they’re part of your team and aren’t going anywhere. Corporate transition makes people most uneasy when they believe that they might become lost in the large numbers of clients and employees that are about to be a part of your firm.
Show appreciation for clients by sending them a personalized gift after a merge happens to let them know that you still and always will appreciate their business. You can also send a postcard from your new office to let them know where it is instead of letting them find out on their own or even call them directly to give them this information. When it comes to employees, the best way to ease a corporate transition is to celebrate it. Let them know what benefits they can expect from the business expanding or even throw a party celebrating the new status of your firm and the accomplishments that everyone has made.
Embrace the Transition
Celebrations are one way to show appreciation and make sure that the transition is positive but you should also embrace the change in every other way. Don’t ever walk around acting like a merger or corporate transition is not what you wanted. Even if the changes are not everything you hoped for, putting a negative spin on things will only bring down the energy and mood of everyone else at your firm and make the transition much more difficult. Use client management software for accountants to keep things in order, motivate employees with encouraging messages, and make sure that things are still running the way you need them to.
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