Improve Client Communication

How you communicate with your clients can make or break your accounting practice.  

Communication is key to business success, but it can be challenging to navigate. Do it poorly, and you risk losing clients and tarnishing your practice’s reputation. When done right though, strong client communication processes bring many benefits, like increased client engagement, referrals, and overall client satisfaction. 

SmartVault recently led a panel webinar with accountants to share actionable advice that’ll help accounting practices improve client communication. The panelists included Eriona Bajrakurtaj from Majors Accounts, James Twigger from Accounting 4 Everything, and Sarah Jones from MoneyPad. 

You can read a summary of the conversation below. Click here to watch the full webinar on-demand. 

What Did You Learn About Client Communication During the Pandemic?

“When the pandemic started,” Sarah began,” [business and client communication] completely changed because suddenly we had to communicate to every client at once.” MoneyPad started sending group emails and hosting webinars, but it wasn’t enough to keep clients engaged, so they created a client-only social media group that enabled employees and clients to interact with each other. “This gave us a way of feeling connected with our clients even though we weren’t seeing them [in person],” she said.

Business owners were worried about whether their companies would survive. “They needed us more than ever, but they couldn’t come to see us [because of the lockdowns],” Eriona recalled. “Being able to pivot to make sure that they still had access to us was super important and really key in the success of our practice and of our clients.” 

One of the keys was making sure clients stayed updated as news changed. “Sometimes there were changes being made on a daily basis,” she said. “Ensuring [clients] knew what was applicable to them was really important to keep [our] relationship.”

How Does Accounting Technology Help with Client Communication?

When Sarah and her team implemented SmartVault, they took the initiative to reorganize and restructure their internal documentation and processes. “Everything’s on the cloud and integrated as much as we can,” she said. 

And it’s easy to find the documents they need when they need them. This makes it easier to collaborate and succeed, even when the team is working remotely. “Having this strong foundation and having all staff understand how to use [the SmartVault accounting platform] really helped us with efficiency, too,” she said. 

James agreed that cloud-based is the way to go. “I [want] to be able to work from anywhere in the world,” he shared. His practice had multiple components in his tech stack: a software for the accounts, one for storage, and another for e-signature. “It was a mess,” he said. “SmartVault gave us an opportunity to review our file structures” since it provides a centralized location where all documents can be securely organized and accessed. 

Why Should Accounting Practices Improve Their Client Communications?

“Client communication is key in order to grow,” Eriona shared. She calls her clients regularly, even if it’s just to say hello. This strengthens their relationship, increases client referrals, and gives Eriona an opportunity to see if her clients need additional support or services. “If we don’t have regular contact with our clients,” she said, “We won’t be able to continue a fruitful relationship [since] we will not know how we can help them.”

Accountants are super busy, she continued. “I’ve been there. We were your typical accounting practice, and honestly, it was just heads down and getting things done to meet deadlines. That was all we could do and all we had capacity for,” she remembered. 

Implementing a tech stack reduces mundane tasks and increases efficiency. “By introducing technology, we [freed] up that time for communication, and it makes a big difference in our client relationships,” Sarah agreed.

Learn More Best Practices from Accounting Professionals

Hear more advice in the full webinar, which you can watch anytime by clicking here.

Interested in improving client communication and your efficiency? Schedule a 15-minute demo with SmartVault to learn how. Over 1 million people trust SmartVault with their most sensitive documents. Built with bank level security, SmartVault’s single platform is the most secure way to store and share your documents.