10 signs meetings need to be top of your firm’s agenda for 2022

Here are 10 signs that your firm’s meetings may not be up to scratch:

• You feel price pressure from prospects and clients
• You feel forced to work with clients you don't like
• Time is wasted chasing clients for information and answering questions for free
• You can't afford to pay top salaries for the best people
• You are not taking enough out of the business to live the life you want
• Growth has slowed or stagnated
• You are working long hours
• You are worried about losing clients because your team can't build and manage client relationships as you'd like
• Your senior management team and partners are not on the same page as you
• You are frustrated that the same problems keep cropping up.

How many apply to you?

Accounting leaders often overlook the importance (and opportunity) of the humble meeting. It’s understandable; there’s a lot of noise in the market about new initiatives - leveraging the latest technology, digital marketing, moving into advisory, and supporting hybrid working.

Most of the noise is understandably made by the app providers, coaches, and consultants (in an attempt to accelerate transformation), and the technology and support are important but the foundations for change need to be rock solid otherwise progress will be painfully slow, frustrating, and costly.

The three foundations are:

• Inspiring leadership
• Effective management
• Strong client relationships

All three must be based on proven processes and supported with the right systems - together they are the ultimate key drivers of a successful firm. And, meetings are a fundamental part of making it happen; your firm’s strategy development sessions, team meetings, and 1-2-1s along with every prospect and client meeting. Each meeting has an impact on your results because they impact people and it's people that produce results.

The thing is, most firms don’t know how good (or bad) their meetings are. We can only compare our own performance against others, usually current or former colleagues. But, even if we believe our meetings are better than those, it doesn’t mean there isn't room for significant improvement.

Better meetings will solve all the issues you have:

• No price pressure, because you’ll be demonstrating more client value, and can price with confidence.
• No more nightmare clients, because your strategic meetings will create a plan to move away from them, your management meetings will make sure it happens and better client meetings will trigger more referrals
• No more wasted time, chasing clients and doing work for nothing because better client meetings are the key to better client management.
• Higher profits, because new initiatives will be executed better, increasing your team’s productivity so you will be able to afford to offer competitive salaries and take more out of the business.
• Faster growth, because clients will engage in new solutions and services, which will boost revenue and trigger high-quality client referrals.
• Less busy, because you will have better clients paying higher prices, served by a better team - all this means the business is less dependant on you.
• No more lost clients, because your client meetings will be process-driven with robust agendas and the team will be trained on how to run effective meetings.
• All on the same page, your strategic meetings will ensure your senior management team and partners are fully aligned with your vision and accountable for results.
• Less frustration, because your team will be more accountable, so issues will be dealt with quicker and will not reoccur.

The firms that are going to win are the ones that build on solid foundations and invest in the right digital tools that best fit their practice and their offering. Ensuring your firm's leadership and management are effective and building stronger client relationships takes effort, but using best meeting practices and meeting management software will help you.

Comment on this article, direct message me, or email [email protected] if you'd like to read our whitepaper 'Stop Wasting Time, Losing Money and Missing Opportunities By Having better Meetings' which includes 25 practical ways to improve your meetings.

If you've decided to improve your meetings and want a tool to support the initiative, find out how Agendali.com can support your journey towards better meetings, register for a free trial.