A brief outline of Our Services
Finance & Business Seminars
A selection of 2-3 day intensive financial & business seminar courses, covering 12 topics, with locations offered Worldwide. From introductory courses, to senior management level. Also available as in-house training.
Accountancy & Finance Job Board
A specialist Accountancy and Finance job board, offering the latest vacancies throughout the UK, spanning 20 industry categories.
A specialist Accountancy and Finance job board, offering the latest vacancies throughout the UK, spanning 20 industry categories.
Financial Industry News Provider
Links to 8 seperate financial news channels and information providers, offering a covered view of laterst industry changes and global events,
Links to 8 seperate financial news channels and information providers, offering a covered view of laterst industry changes and global events,
ACCA Study Materials
Authors and Publishers of affordable ACCA Study Materials provided to students globally in electronic format for a more cost-effective method of learning.
Authors and Publishers of affordable ACCA Study Materials provided to students globally in electronic format for a more cost-effective method of learning.
ACCA Forum - Business & Finance
An active forum for discussion with like-minded peers in the industry, to network ideas, questions and problems.
An active forum for discussion with like-minded peers in the industry, to network ideas, questions and problems.
What do Accountancy Clients and Employers want?
Interview clients of personal service firms (such as accountancy firms), and ask, “Why do you continue to work with your personal account manager and even the firm in general?”
You assume you know their answer. It’s skill. People like to work with skilled people.
Judging from accountancy services, prospects must love skill. Time and again, ads and brochures stress the company’s “commitment to excellence.” Surely, clients seek the most skilled firms and employers need the most skilled worker, and retain them as long as they continue to demonstrate their talent.
But they don’t. That is not the reason most clients continue to work with services, nor is it the reason they continue to work with you as an individual. Skill is their minimum requirement, and they assume many people can meet it.
Instead, their answer is one word. You hear this word from clients and employers more than all their other words combined.
The word is comfort.
Hearing this answer can dishearten the staff in these companies. They want to believe, and often do, that they are the best. But overwhelming evidence shows that clients do not choose the “best firm” or employers do not choose the “best person”. If they did, one firm or one person in every industry would own monopoly.
Among other reasons, clients and employers never feel convinced, even after long study, that they have all the information they need to decide who might be best. They have heard some firms referred to as leaders, for example, but a smattering of colleagues and friends have made them question that. They have not even interviewed all the possible contenders for the title of “best”.
They cannot conclusively decide who is the best. That’s the same problem you as an ordinary individual face almost every week.
Your never feel certain which is the best coffee machine, life insurance provider, sandwich, lawyer, gardener, or the best thousand of choices you make in your lifetime.
You do not make the best choice. You do not maximize, as experts on decision-making insist. Instead, you “satisfice”. You choose what makes you feel good. Or to repeat it again, you make the comfortable choice. Almost everyone with whom you come in contact makes that choice, too. (Just like your potential future employer). How many times have you ordered the same item from a take-away menu rather than trying something new? (Just because you feel comfortable with your choice.)
Consider the words you use when you make such a choice. How do you explain you choices? You do not. Your words are not words of reasoning; they are emotional.
“It just felt right.”
For that reason, it’s worth resisting the advice “First, qualify the lead,” or “Identify their hot buttons,” or any number of other recommended first things. Instead, before you do anything else, make the other person comfortable. (I will discuss the variety of steps in my later articles)
By Ali Ahmad for TonySurridge.co.uk 19/5/2010
