July 7, 2005 |
Posted By Patrick J. Lamb |
0 Comments |
Service Lessons From The World Of Accounting
Michelle Golden, President of Golden Marketing, recently made a post to her blog, Golden Practices, about what A-Level clients like and don't like about their CPAs. Read the entire post here. I was drawn to a couple of the comments the CEOs made:
- Be there when we need you. A great example is when my accountant was on vacation but was able to be reached and even came in, off the beach in his shorts, to the attorney's office to help us finalize a critical deal.
- I feel like my firm sees me as a "nobody." I just can't get good service. My firm checks in with my CFO who thinks things are fine but I'm going to fire my firm in the next few weeks because they aren't meeting MY needs. I may go back to a sole practitioner.
- I don't really have anything to say when you ask if my firm has ever done anything "above and beyond."
- I don't appreciate when a firm acts like they can be all things to all people.
- Ultimately, know my business and me personally.
- Don't answer a question with "it depends." Instead, put yourself in my shoes and answer the question!
- I know I'm under-served because my financial advisor keeps pointing out certain needs and the services I should be getting. I may be small but I'll pay for quality.
- Continuity of staff is pretty important. We don't want different people every year.
- The devil is in the details. Remember that I don't know what you know.
But I was really struck by these comments:
- How can you measure my satisfaction? If I'm happy, I refer a LOT of business.
- Another panelist agrees this is the best way to know if you are doing a good job.
- The occasional survey is okay, but I may be too busy to fill it out.
- An in-person survey is good.
- Come see me and ask me.
Its hard to ask for a critical evaluation, but it is so worth it. And yet year after year, one publication after another publishes statistics showing the very few law firms do surveys of their clients, let alone in-person surveys. The same surveys show GCs really want those surveys to be conducted. When will law firms learn that in this area, for them, 2+2=5?
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