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Thank you for your support of ESS BIZTOOLS and ESSBIZGRANTS.
“Client Mentoring and Coaching” contains a series of articles to assist your accountancy business to “educate” your client/prospects on the type of services, particularly relating to business advisory/commercial services that your firm can offer.
You could ask why was “Client Mentoring and Coaching” developed?
A ESS BIZTOOLS’ member rang one afternoon and indicated that he had a prospect (that he had been trying to attract to his firm for the last five years) coming to see him in two hours. This prospect was one of the leading business persons in that member’s community. Our member indicated that he wanted to be able to convince his prospect that his accountancy firm was different to others in the marketplace and he wanted to know which of the papers within ESS BIZTOOLS would we recommend that he show to the prospect.
Peter Towers mentioned about six papers within ESS BIZTOOLS. The member then said “thank you very much, but can I make a suggestion - why don’t you package this into a product package so that next time, when I have someone coming in that is looking at starting a business, I do not have to ring you again and ask your advice on which papers I should hand to the them”.
We thought this was a very good suggestion (we are always open to members’ suggestions) and we proceeded to implement the “Client Mentoring and Coaching Package”.
Incidentally, our member secured the prospect as a client! We like to think that our papers contributed to that success!
The product package for “Client Mentoring and Coaching” contains thirteen modules.
- Within a module there are a number of “series” which we recommend that you send intact to your client/prospect on a weekly or fortnightly basis. This will depend on your client and how quick you think they might read this material.
- Within each series there is a templated email/letter that we recommend you forward with each series to your client so they understand why they are receiving the material. Obviously, you can edit the email/letter template if you wish.
- Within each series there is a survey form relating to the articles included within that series. Your client/prospect will be invited to complete the survey form and return it to you. If you start receiving survey forms back from clients who have indicated that they are not happy with any of the articles, can you please let us know urgently, so that we can look at reviewing those articles.
- We recommend that a few days after a series is forwarded to a client/prospect that a member of your team telephones the client to enquire as to whether they have received the material and whether they have had the opportunity to read the articles at this stage and what did they think of the articles. In particular, your team member should be enquiring whether your client/prospect wishes to have a meeting with one of your accounting team to discuss the material as it might relate to their business.
Unashamedly, this material is being packaged in this way with the recommendation that you forward the articles to your clients as a promotional tool to send a clear signal to your client/prospect that your accountancy firm is committed to supplying a broader range of professional services to your clients then just taxation work.
Our view is that the “Client Mentoring and Coaching Package” is to assist you in the marketing of your services to your clients. If you wish to charge for this material you can do so, that is your decision, and there is no further payment needed to be made to ESS BIZTOOLS as a royalty payment if you charge for these services to your clients.
We suggest that you utilise “Client Mentoring and Coaching Packages” to market the services that you are offering to your clients/prospects. We suggest you identify the clients who would be potentially interested in the individual services and forward those packages to those clients. The important thing is that there is follow-up to have further discussions with the client/prospect to determine whether they are prepared to pay you to provide the type of services detailed in the information sent to them.
We suggest that you conduct staff training on the utilisation of “Client Mentoring and Coaching” so that all of your accounting team are familiar with the packages and understand the uses if the packages.
We suggest that you keep a record within the client’s file of the packages that have been forwarded to them so that, when conversations are being held with the client, details of the “Client Mentoring and Coaching Packages” that have already been forwarded to the client are readily available.
Why not click onto “Client Mentoring and Coaching” now and review the material that is available to assist you to “educate” your clients and prospects!
If you have any comments on any aspect of this material or suggestions for further products to be covered within “Client Mentoring And Coaching”, please do not hesitate to contact us by email or telephone 1800 232 088.
Have a great day!
ESS BIZTOOLS has prepared a number of 'modules' that cover situations faced by your small and medium sized business clients and prospects.
Included within each 'module' is a list of papers that could be 'branded' with your firm's details and sent to clients and prospects. We have grouped the papers into relevant series and suggest that these be sent out a week or two apart to allow the client to absorb the material gradually.
Click on the relevant topic below to display the content and a link to download the material.
Here is an example of how ESS BIZTOOLS Client Mentoring & Coaching Procedures works:
A client telephones you, asks your advice regarding setting up a small business and wants to know what issues they should be aware of in the planning stages. You make an appointment with them to come in and discuss the matter further. You download Purchasing or Commencing a Business Procedure, 'brand' the documents and send them each series a week apart.
THE RESULT
The client will feel that you are proactive in your field and will be impressed by the prompt service. The 'branded' material that you send gives them something tangible that is informative and encourages your client to seek further services from your firm.