What Holiday Shopping Can Teach Us About Running an Accounting Firm

Summary

• • Be a Coach

• • Foster Loyalty

• • Study Your Purchases 

Related Resources 

• • 9 Tips to Significantly Boost Accounting Client Retention

• • Questions to Get Your Firm Ready for 2023

• • How to Raise Rates on Current Clients

We’re back with another solocast! In this episode, David Cristello, founder and CEO of Jetpack Workflow reminds us of the importance of staying a student during the holiday season. 

This time of the year is crazy. On the personal front, you’re purchasing and navigating a lot of different buying experiences. You’re also factoring in changes that may be happening in 2023 as well. 

You’ll also start to think about these things for your business. During this time, it’s important to stay a student of your buying experiences by keeping in mind what’s working and what’s not. 

Be a Coach

For example, if you’re purchasing airline tickets, keep tabs on the experience. 

• • Is it hard to make a purchase? 

• • Are there too many upsells or are there just enough upsells to add value? 

• • Do you understand what to do after you purchase the ticket? 

• • If you’re navigating a new airport, do they recognize that and maybe help you kind of navigate through it? 

• • Do they give you discounts? 

• • Do they give you options?

These all play a factor in your overall buying experience.

As you continue through the rest of Q4, you may be thinking of joining new communities or groups or meeting with coaches, mentors, and consultants. Think about the onboarding process of these experiences. 

David said he recently joined an online community and the onboarding process was seamless. Signing up was effortless, there was a welcome email with instructions going forward, a one-click sign-in process, and an automatic message from the founders. David replied and received more information about the community, a timeline, what he needed to be prepared for, what he should expect, and an overview of the value he can get from the community. 

This entire onboarding process built David’s trust and by the end of it, he was ready to recommend the group to friends. 

You can take this example and relate it to your firm. Do you provide an experience whereby a client would recommend other clients, even before the first service is delivered, just by the care, attention, packaging, positioning, and communication of where they’re at in the onboarding process?

Rely on your experiences to learn how to coach your clients through your processes.

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Foster Loyalty

Focusing on building loyalty is another key. You likely have a place you go for a holiday tradition. Maybe it’s a place to see holiday lights, go snowboarding, go to a lodge or a cabin, or whatever else. At some point, you were probably disappointed by the experience. 

The experience decays because there is an assumption of loyalty, and as a consumer, you start to notice and become unsatisfied. Chipped paint, trash in the parking lot, less exciting features, etc. 

Also, it’s not uncommon for these experiences to raise prices each year. If you’re enjoying it year-over-year and they are adding new things, great, you’re happy to pay more. However, if the experience stays the same or decreases in value, you won’t want to continue paying and you’ll search for a better option. 

So, how does this apply to your firm? 

• • Where is there rust in your firm? 

• • Where is the decay? 

• • Where is the paint chipped? 

• • Where is your firm not meeting and exceeding customer/client expectations? 

One of the cool things about this industry is that you should have clients for life, but you have to invest in them to keep them. It’s a mistake to assume things will always stay the same because as your clients and their needs evolve, your firm has to evolve as well. 

The services you provided last year may need to be improved so your clients don’t find a competitor who meets their needs better this year. You have to facilitate new ways to maintain their loyalty and keep them engaged with your services. 

You have to make them happy to pay more. 

Study Your Purchases

Overall, you’ll be making a lot of purchases this holiday season. Use it as an opportunity to remain a student and be reflective on experiences that either wow you or leave you deflated and questioning whether you made the right decision.

Keep your head in the game, take notes, and use these reflections as a great springboard into 2023.

As always, if you have questions, comments, or feedback, email me at david@jetpackworkflow.com. If you enjoy these solocasts, leave a review! This helps us get the word out!