CX or XC?

How to Deliver a Great Customer Experience (CX) and Avoid Creating an Ex-Customer (XC)

With spring breaks happening across the U.S., I’m seeing a lot of trips to Disney on social media. That got me thinking. Walt Disney theme parks are celebrated for their enchanting customer experiences, and the company culture is committed to spreading "pixie dust," as cast members craft special moments for guests. Whether it’s simply a ‘magical moment’ or a fix to a visitor’s problem, they seem to always prioritize the experience in a way that leaves guests happier than when they arrived.

Conversely, at many other organizations, you’ll find the opposite experience: enduring 45 minutes on hold only to encounter a recorded message instructing you to call back later before abruptly disconnecting (often the hallmark of government agencies buried under automated processes). And think about other frustrating experiences like delays to promised services because repair personnel don’t arrive as scheduled.

Accounting firms are service-oriented. We engage with clients who are likely already bogged down by paperwork, daily business operations, bureaucratic entanglements, regulatory compliance, and personnel management. We need to make it as easy as possible for them to work with us. According to digital marketing leader Hubspot, businesses that prioritize customer experience enjoy higher growth rates (up to 1.7 times higher) with an even greater impact on lifetime customer value. That doesn’t even consider the impact on customer retention.

So, how can we, as accountants, ensure our clients' experiences are more akin to a visit to Disney than a call to the IRS or a trip to the DMV?

Diverse Communication Styles

Understanding your client’s communication preferences is crucial. Not everyone will communicate in the way you might want, so you have to adapt. Traditional accountants, often characterized as Conscientious (C) in the DISC behavioral model, excel with detailed communication. Accuracy and a fear of mistakes drive them, and they prefer to share exhaustive details of their work. However, many of our clients, typically small business owners with an entrepreneurial spirit, lean towards the Dominance (D) behavioral style. These clients want quick, concise answers. They might only respond to the first of six email queries, ignoring the rest. The Steadiness (S) and Influence (I) dimensions of the DISC model prioritize interpersonal interactions, and these clients might prefer a phone call over an email. It’s up to us to learn how our clients prefer to receive communication and to adapt accordingly.

Recognizing our clients' unique communication needs allows us to engage more effectively.?You might offer visuals to those high D’s in the form of a one page dashboard or scorecard, while offering a brief video for the S’s or I’s, and save that detailed spreadsheet for your fellow accounting clients.

Customer-Centric Focus

Putting clients first requires scrutinizing every interaction they have with us:

●???? Website Navigation: Evaluate the ease with which current and prospective clients can find the information they need. Make sure they can get to critical data in a maximum of two clicks.

●???? Telephone System and Processes: Consider the steps required to reach a live voice. Who answers the main line? Ensure someone is available during business hours.

●???? File Exchange Systems: Choose a user-friendly document management platform that streamlines onboarding, manages document requests, and creates a space for collaboration while keeping client data secure, like ShareFile for Accounting.

●???? Centralized Client Information: Store essential client details in a technology like ShareFile to monitor interactions across your organization rather than relying on hard-to-follow email chains.

●???? Proactivity: Maintain regular contact with clients, offering support and staying abreast of changes to mitigate tax-season stress. Regular contact can ensure that there are no year-end surprises for either of you.

●???? Client Education: Distribute essential information through training and articles to highlight the significance and impact of requested data on tax and business outcomes. For example, when clients understand why you need documentation around a business purchase, they are more likely to respond promptly.

From CX to Lasting Loyalty

Being able to convert a potentially negative customer experience into a positive one is crucial for retaining clients. By acknowledging and adjusting to communication preferences, improving accessibility, using technology for secure and efficient exchanges, fostering proactive outreach, and educating your clients, you can come closer to delivering a Disney-caliber client experience (hopefully without the sunburn or long lines they are seeing right now for spring break!). When it comes to accounting services, a great client experience shouldn’t be a second thought rather it's vital for converting casual clients into loyal brand advocates.

With happier clients by your side, your days can stop feeling like you are in the Haunted Mansion, and instead seem more like a sunny day, strolling through Cinderella’s Castle. Doesn’t that sound better?

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of ShareFile.? All opinions are mine and are based on my? knowledge of accountant and client needs and expectations.

About Geni Whitehouse, CPA.CITP, CSPM

Geni Whitehouse is a consultant to wineries in the Napa Valley through www.bdcocpa.com, is a co-founder of a bookkeeping company for wineries and is a keynote presenter, tech company consultant, and author.? She frequently works as a paid consultant for tech companies to create and share content about products that serve a unique need in her own business or that of her clients. She hopes to take her grandchildren to Disneyland sometime soon.