It never ceases to amaze me how much value accountants can add to their clients (and themselves) if only they are willing to take the time to have a conversation with their clients to better understand their aspirations and the vision they have for their business. This is a classic case in point. I recently recorded an interview with Rachel Ray who, at one time,was a team member in Results Accountants’ Systems and Principa. Rachel was a fantastic Practice Development Adviser and ended up running RAS’s Australian Business and she helped start Principa in the UK. During her time with us she help many of our clients turn their practices around and had deep understanding understanding of what we refer to as the 18 leverage points and our other business performance improvement strategies.
After leaving Principa, Rachel created a home cleaning business called Bright and Beautiful which she now franchises throughout the UK. She now has 43 franchises in place and is adding an average of one every month. In the interview we talked about many things but one of those was the role her first accountant could have played when she started the business and how her current accountant, who took the time to listen to her, has been able to create and capture value from the relationship.
You can listen to the interview I did with her by going to www.mpmpod.com/podcasts/ but the main purpose in this post is to share with you an unexpected benefit one of our US members experienced when he sat down with a prospective client and suggested that they listen to the interview together before he had even heard it. Talk about courageous. This is the email he sent me which I am sharing with his permission …
I just met with a great prospect who is looking to grow her cleaning business. We set the appointment last week. My plan was to present a variation of the initial consultation. That is, until I received an email yesterday morning from Joanna announcing the podcast with Rachel Ray. I didn’t have a chance to listen to the podcast before our meeting this morning but I read the summary description. Rather than take her through the initial consultation, I decided to spend our time listening to your interview with Rachel. Not only did she discover a new way to look at her business, it was perfect to describe how we could work together to really grow her business. Long story short… After listening to and discussing the podcast, she promised to provide a check for a Planning Session. We’ll see.