PART 2: How Accounting Firms Successfully Approach CX

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Selecting a CX Consulting Partner?

If you’re in an accounting firm and you’re interested in a client success or client experience (CX) program, read this article and the rest of this series—it’s long but chock full of checklists and things you may not be thinking about. If you’re responsible for making decisions about CX becoming a part of your firm’s culture and operations, this Part Two article is precisely for you.

{This is part two of a three-part series on CX in accounting firms.}?

Part One: The Accounting Firm Journey to Adopt CX

Part Two: Selecting the Perfect CX Partner

Part Three: Engaging with the CX Consultant

Background: as of this writing, we have worked with over 50 accounting firms in their client success, client feedback, and client experience programs. We want to share with you as much as we can about the things we’ve learned about making CX successful in accounting firms—CX program set-up, CX operations, hiring and working with CX consultants, outcome planning and measurement, and assuring CX management program success. There are a lot of lessons in this article, along with a lot of how-to’s. We intend to help more leaders inside of Accounting/Business Advisory firms find more success in their efforts in shorter time horizons.?

In this second part of the series, let’s delve deeper into Gayle‘s Research Process on CX Consulting Services.

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Initial Planning

Objective Setting: Gayle began by defining clear objectives for what her firm sought to achieve by bringing on a CX consulting firm. These objectives were shared in the RFP and were later elaborated on in the kick-off meeting with the CX consultant. Her stated objectives included:

• Identify the key opportunities that CX could provide the firm.
• Establish a strong CX strategy and roadmap to guide the firm’s CX efforts.
• Developing a process to journey map her top 10 prospect and client journeys.
• Using journey mapping outcomes, enhancing every client interaction by isolating and improving key client interactions with the firm.
• Better integrating processes for better service delivery.
• Establishing a closed-loop client feedback system that could gather critical client feedback and convert raw data into interpreted insights to improve the business.
• Improving overall client satisfaction rates across the firm’s client portfolio.
• Establishing key measures to help the firm understand where their CX management program was and were it needed to go.
• Clearly establish CX ROI she could use to support the ongoing CX effort.

Team Involvement: She formed a cross-functional team, including members from client services, IT, finance, HR, and Business Development, and Marketing, to bring diverse perspectives into the research process. She asked members of her cross-functional team to weigh in on the objectives to ensure the firm had the right guide rails to steer the effort in the right direction.

Information Gathering

Gayle was disciplined in seeking out the right information about CX and CX consulting firms with deep expertise. She engaged her broader team to assemble a research approach that would allow them to analyze as much relevant information as possible.

Industry Analysis: Gayle’s team conducted an extensive analysis of current trends and best practices in CX within the accounting and business advisory sector. She searched extensively for content on CX in professional services. She initially found that most thought leadership belonged to client feedback platform technology companies that sold high-end platforms. She felt that much of this data was biased toward one platform technology so she continued searching for service providers who may be more agnostic to technology and more focused on CX management program design and implementation.

Competitor Review: They also examined how competitor firms manage their CX, looking for gaps and opportunities for differentiation. Gayle recalled a few firms that had presented at a CXPS (CX for Professional Services) conference. She recalled hearing from Rehmann Associates, Pinion Global, and another firm (maybe Moss Adams) she could not readily recall. While these firms weren’t direct competitors in her market, they had gone through CX initiatives.

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Consulting Firm Research

Market Scan: The team compiled a list of CX consulting firms, especially those with a proven track record in accounting, financial services, and legal, to gain the broadest awareness of CX. Gayle wanted to make sure she wasn’t just looking at accounting firms. She wanted to see leading practices in other professional services industries as well.

She found two firms that were talking extensively about professional services CX. One was a technology provider, and the other was CX Pilots.

Service Offerings: They delved into the specific services these firms offer, such as customer journey mapping, digital transformation, and client feedback systems. She and her team noted that neither firm had abundant content to aid in their research, but she felt good that she at least found specialists. At this point, she knew it was time to reach out to these firms and start an initial dialog.

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Gathering Insights

Case Studies and Testimonials: Gayle emphasized reviewing detailed case studies and client testimonials to understand the real-world impact of the consulting firms' services. This was a process of separating the fluff from the substance. She found it odd that there were not very many case studies. One of the CX consultants had listed about 10 accounting firms they’d worked with, but there was only one case study, and it didn’t offer very much substance—it piqued her interest, so she jotted down a few notes to ask the firm about further details.

Industry Forums and Webinars: She and her team attended two accounting industry webinars where CX consulting services were discussed, gaining insights from thought leaders and peers. One of the webinars went into detail about how they counsel their accounting firm clients on the tricks behind ROI calculations for CX, which she found to be very exciting and helpful. In another webinar from the same consultancy, she found that they had a very unique way of differentiating CX in accounting and business advisory firms and how it was different from CX for other services firms due to the concentrated push toward advisory services. This firm seemed to get it. They jotted down a few notes about that for future discussion. She also printed out several copies of the webinar transcript and emailed it to the rest of her team. This was a plus and she was excited that she may have just found the right partner.

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Seeking Recommendations

Professional Network: Gayle leveraged her professional network, contacting peers and industry contacts for personal recommendations and experiences with CX consulting firms. She found this to be less helpful. Despite several rounds of outreach, she learned that few people had anything helpful to share. Upon reaching out to the AAM, she received an email several weeks later indicating that CX Pilots was a specialist in the field and they had done several speaking engagements for them in the past. She noted that.

Online Platforms: Utilizing LinkedIn and other professional platforms, she sought further opinions and reviews about various consulting firms. Again, she got very little helpful response beyond what she had already found in her research.

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Evaluating Thought Leadership

Content Review: The team reviewed published articles, whitepapers, and blogs by various CX consulting firms to assess their thought leadership and understanding of current challenges in CX. Most consultancies published very short and generic articles about all the professional services, which she found topically exciting but not very helpful.

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Preliminary Vendor Interaction

Initial Consultations: Gayle arranges brief introductory calls with three potential consulting firms to gauge their approach and compatibility with her firm’s needs. She developed a questionnaire and an Excel spreadsheet to capture the notes for future deliberation and scoring.

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Technology and Innovation Focus

Tech Integration: A key area of her research was understanding how these firms integrate technology to enhance CX, such as AI-driven analytics, CRM systems interoperability, and digital feedback tools.

Innovative Approaches: She looked for firms that demonstrated innovative approaches to CX, which could give her firm a competitive edge.

Request for Information (RFI): For firms that showed the most promise, she sent out an RFI to gather more structured and detailed information about their firms and capabilities. She realized that one of the most promising firms messaged back and claimed they did not participate in RFIs and RFP processes. Confused about this, she reached out to them to understand why and opted to collect detailed proposals from them and the two other firms and chose not to do the RFI process after all.?

Gayle’s research process was comprehensive, combining industry analysis, firsthand recommendations, thought leadership evaluation, and preliminary vendor interactions. This meticulous approach ensured that she and her team selected CX consulting services that aligned closely with her firm's objectives and would be suitable to exceed client expectations.

Qualifying Questions Used by Gayle to Evaluate CX Consultants

Gayle used a set of carefully crafted questions to evaluate and validate potential Client Experience (CX) consultants. These questions helped her gauge the consultants' expertise, approach, and alignment with her firm's needs. For the CX consulting firms she contacted, she sent an organized series of questions via email. Here are the key questions she used:

Understanding the Consultant’s Expertise and Experience

1. Can you provide case studies or examples of successful CX projects you have implemented, particularly in the accounting or financial services sector?
2. What are your credentials and experience in CX consulting?
3. How long has your firm been focused on CX solutions??

Approach and Methodology

1. What is your approach to assessing and redesigning the client journey, especially for a firm in our industry?
2. How do you integrate technology and digital tools to enhance the client experience?
3. Can you give specific examples?

Customization and Specific Solutions

1. How do you tailor your CX strategies to meet the specific needs of a business like ours?
2. What unique challenges and opportunities do you see in CX for a firm like ours and how would you address them??

Measuring Success and ROI

1. How do you measure the success of your CX strategies?
2. What key performance indicators (KPIs) do you focus on?
3. Can you demonstrate a clear return on investment (ROI) from your past CX consulting engagements??

Collaboration and Communication

1. How do you ensure alignment and collaboration with your clients throughout the CX improvement process?
2. What is your communication process during a project?
3. How often and through what means do you update clients?

Adaptability and Futureproofing

1. How do you ensure the CX strategies are adaptable and scalable for future growth and changes in the industry?
2. What is your approach to training and empowering a client's internal team to maintain and evolve CX initiatives?

Feedback and Continuous Improvement

1. How do you incorporate client and customer feedback into your CX improvement process?
2. What processes are in place for continuous improvement and staying ahead of CX trends??

Cost and Investment

1. What is your pricing model for CX consulting services?
2. Are there flexible options based on the scope of work?
3. Can you provide a clear breakdown of costs and what each aspect of your service entails??

These questions allowed Gayle to delve deeply into the consultants' capabilities and fit for her firm's specific needs and objectives in CX. They ensured she selected a partner who not only had the necessary expertise but also aligned with her firm's approach and values. Once Gayle worked through these questions, she then needed some rigor around how to take the answers and use them to make informed decisions.

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Using Vendor Responses in Gayle's Decision-Making Process

Gayle used the responses to her qualifying questions as a crucial part of her decision-making process. Here’s how she leveraged this information:

Analyzing Expertise and Experience

Case Studies Review: She examined the case studies for successful CX projects, especially those in her industry, to assess the consultant's ability to handle similar challenges and opportunities. She looked specifically at how they articulated the problems, solutions, and outcomes.

Experience Validation: The depth and relevance of experience in CX consulting were evaluated to ensure the consultant had a strong background and understanding of the sector. She recalled how one firm went into deep detail about the specific challenges in making CX work for the accounting sector. She noted that they spoke the language of accounting and they understood the commoditization pressures firms in this space feel.

Assessing Approach and Methodology

Methodology Alignment: Gayle looked for an approach that aligned with her firm's culture and client needs. She was looking specifically for each consultant’s ability to articulate a clear and effective strategy.?

Technology Integration: Responses regarding the integration of technology were assessed for innovation and practicality, ensuring they can effectively enhance client experiences and deal with some incumbent technologies.

Evaluating Customization and Specific Solutions

Tailored Strategies: She preferred one of the consultants who demonstrated a deep understanding of her firm’s unique needs and offered customized solutions rather than a one-size-fits-all approach. This firm spoke eloquently about the steps needed to ensure CX became a part of the firm’s cultural DNA. They went on to elaborate about the use of CX Ambassador cohorts to help deal with pushback within the firm’s leadership and accountants. At this point, Gayle was pretty sure she knew which consultant she preferred.?

Addressing Specific Challenges: How consultants plan to address specific challenges and leverage opportunities within their firm will significantly influence their decisions.

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Measuring Success and ROI

KPIs and Metrics: Gayle evaluated the proposed KPIs to ensure they were relevant and measurable. She looked for consultants who could provide tangible metrics for success. The firm she preferred went into detail about developing tiered metrics that should be introduced gradually as the firm began to develop its CX competencies. This made a lot of sense to her.?

ROI Evidence: Clear evidence of ROI from past engagements was crucial. She looked for consultants who could demonstrate a significant return on investment. She noted that the consultant she preferred was the same firm that had presented the detailed ROI of the CX webinar she had attended with her team in the previous few weeks.

?Collaboration and Communication

Collaborative Approach: Gayle analyzed the consultant’s willingness to work closely with her team and adapt to feedback. This was vital.?

Communication Process: A structured and transparent communication process was preferred for regular updates and seamless collaboration.

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Considering Adaptability and Futureproofing

Scalability: She looked for strategies that were scalable and adaptable, ensuring they remained effective as her firm grew and the industry evolved.?

Empowering Internal Teams: Gayle wanted to see consultants who would focus on training their team for ongoing CX initiatives. Those who did this scored higher in her evaluation.

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Feedback and Continuous Improvement

Feedback Integration: Gayle wanted to see how the consultants planned to incorporate client and customer feedback into the CX strategy—she knew this was crucial for continuous improvement.

Staying Ahead of Trends: Her choice leaned toward one consultant who demonstrated a proactive approach to evolving CX trends and practices. They suggested that in each of their status meetings, they spent the first five minutes going over CX trends in the accounting industry and lessons learned from working with other accounting firms.?

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Cost and Investment Analysis

Cost-Effectiveness: While cost was a factor, Gayle balanced it against the value and potential ROI the consulting service offered. She knew she had a budget she couldn’t exceed but she knew if the consultant was delivering successful outcomes, the relationship would grow.

Transparent Pricing: Clear and transparent breakdowns of costs and services helped her understand what she was investing in and provided a much-needed backdrop to leadership in justifying her decision to move forward.

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Confidence in Selecting a CX Consulting Firm

Gayle's confidence in selecting one consulting firm over another hinged on five key factors:

1. Alignment with Firm’s Vision and Needs: The consultant understands her firm’s vision and specific CX needs.
2. Proven Track Record: Demonstrated success in similar projects, particularly within her industry.
3. Innovative and Customized Solutions: The ability to provide innovative and tailored strategies.
4. Clear Communication and Collaborative Approach: An emphasis on partnership and effective communication throughout the project.
5. Strong ROI and Value Proposition: Evidence of substantial ROI and a compelling value proposition.?

By methodically evaluating these aspects, Gayle was ensured that her decision was well-informed, strategic, and most likely to yield the desired outcomes in enhancing client experience at her firm.?

This is part two of the three-part series on CX in accounting firms. This series is designed to help leaders in accounting/business advisory firms understand how to take full advantage of client experience management to improve business outcomes for their firms. We recommend you also read Part One and Part Three .

CX Pilots is a global leader in CX that helps accounting firms with client success and client experience management. We have worked extensively with three of the top four accounting firms and several dozen accounting/business advisory firms in North America in the past 15 years.?