This last year has been a stressful year for many of us. Not only have we had to worry about our health and the health of our loved ones, but many of us have lost our in-person connection with our clients, colleagues, and teams as we sheltered in place during the pandemic.
As we start to see the light at the end of the tunnel, it’s time to reconnect, create and reinforce meaningful, long-term relationships with your clients, business leaders, and teams, in order to become a Cherished Advisor - a highly valued strategic business partner whom your clients want at the table when making key business decisions.
The cornerstone of becoming a Cherished Advisor is in communication. Improving your communication skills will lay the foundation for better connections with your team and clients, and build a culture resilient enough to withstand future technological advancements and curveballs in the profession.
As with any art, our communication skills need to be practiced.
To learn more about Becoming a Cherished Advisor, join Amy Vetter and David Leary in their CPE webinar on May 25th with the Insightful Accountant, sponsored by Melio. Register here.
Though not all professionals possess communication skills naturally, everyone can develop them, with dedication and practice. But what does the term “communication skills” mean in the context of the accounting realm? We can break it down into five elements:
- Leadership - the ability to provide a level of experience that gives people comfort and demonstrates significant value for your clients. This can also be applied to your employees or teammates, as you guide them by example and share your knowledge. By demonstrating your expertise, you’re providing your clients comfort in knowing that they have the right team in place, and they can rely on you.
- Project management - the ability to initiate, plan, execute, control, and complete plans in order to help your clients achieve their goals. Project management is the complete end-to-end experience - all the touchpoints you provide your clients. This includes who and how you interact with each client to meet their needs and ensure each project deadline is met. By making the entire process clear, you’re increasing your clients’ trust in your ability to deliver at any given point.
- Responsiveness - establishing protocols that send a clear message to your clients that they are important, and never letting distractions get in the way of your communication with them. It means setting a standard response time for returning phone calls and messages as a guideline for anyone on your team. It doesn’t mean it has to be you, it could be you assigning certain staff to different types of inquiries or finding ways to automate some of the answers to repetitive questions you receive through a CRM. Even when you don’t have an answer to every inquiry or problem right away, it’s important to communicate that you are working on it, and will provide them with an answer within a clear time-frame.
- Problem-solving - thinking on your feet, assessing problems, and developing a well-thought-out solution. But it’s also handling communication with transparency. Practicing how to respond to questions you are unsure of, or where the answer to the question bears adverse implications on your client, without feeling like you are letting someone down is important. Take your clients through the process with transparency, while sharing all the relevant information with them.
- Collaboration - is the ability to approach a task with mutual respect in a way that best achieves your client’ goals. Often, your clients or team-members will have a different viewpoint from your own. Learning how to find a place in the middle, an acceptable area in which to compromise, is a crucial soft skill. When people feel heard, and you are able to move them forward in a positive way, both parties win.
Whatever you do, remember that while technology makes processes easier, the opportunity to become a Cherished Advisor is what will differentiate you in the future from other accountants, and the path is through establishing your communication skills.
To learn more about Becoming a Cherished Advisor, join Amy Vetter and David Leary in their CPE webinar on May 25th with the Insightful Accountant, sponsored by Melio. Register here.