How Accountants in Miami Increase Client Satisfaction. If you are an Accountant not focused on improving your level of client satisfaction, you should be. As I write this blog on Mother’s Day, the text is being sent 1 by 1 with good wishes.

This is true regardless of whether your clients are not thrilled with you as Accountants in Miami, or they think you are the greatest gift in their lives. The fact is your clients’ overall level of happiness with you is central to your ability to fend off competitors and grow your business rapidly.

Client satisfaction is very much on the minds of many Accountants in Miami. In my firm’s recent advisor survey, we learned that 71.4% of Accountants in Miami are “very or extremely concerned” about boosting client satisfaction. That matches with a similar study by the AICPA. This concern was one of the most important ones cited by Accountants in Miami – the only two concerns deemed more important were delivering high-quality products and services, and significantly growing assets.

There are, of course, numerous reasons for making client satisfaction a priority. We have long known, for example, that satisfaction breeds deep loyalty in clients. That loyalty, in turn, provides you with very tangible business benefits: Highly loyal clients gave Accountants in Miami far more assets on average than clients who were less satisfied, researchers have found. And the most loyal clients made nearly 12 introductions a year, on average, to new prospective clients, while less-satisfied clients made just 2.1 introductions on average.

WHAT MATTERS MOST TO ACCOUNTANTS IN MIAMI

Even though we find that while many Accountants in Miami are concerned with boosting satisfaction among their clients, they often do not know what to do to make it happen. To ensure thoroughly satisfied clients, first, understand exactly what clients need. The base of any great advisor-client relationship is the level of relationship satisfaction a client feels. The way clients feel about their overall relationship with you is more important than even the level of satisfaction they feel about your service and your investment performance.

In general, if clients are unhappy with an Accountant’s in Miami performance but pleased with their relationship with you, they will likely remain with you. A strong relationship will likewise help smooth out administrative bumps.

Relationship satisfaction requires strong, ongoing personal interactions between you and your clients. There are several drivers of high levels of client relationship satisfaction:

1. Hustle. The key to high marks here is reliability. When you make a promise, keep it, and keep it on time. Set a goal of providing perfect service, with plenty of attention to detail. Researchers have found that nearly two-thirds of very satisfied clients see their Accountants in Miami as being perfectionists, compared with less than 7% of very dissatisfied clients.
2. Avoid surprises. While clients dislike service failures, they dislike unpleasant surprises, even more, making it your job to prevent them as much as possible. To rate well with clients in this area, actively solicit opinions and perceptions – including negative ones – from your clients. While more than half (55.3%) of very satisfied clients felt their Accountants in Miami wanted to hear their complaints and feedback, a mere 6.5% of very dissatisfied clients felt this way.

Not only will this help you spot and head off major problems, but it will also clearly demonstrate your concern about service to your clients. In addition, whenever an external disaster occurs, you will do well to get in touch immediately with clients.

3. Warmth. Good manners are not enough: Virtually all clients, satisfied and dissatisfied, believe their Accountants in Miami are generally courteous. Affluent clients are looking for true emotional warmth. When asked if their Accountants are warm, 64.3% of highly satisfied clients said yes, while only one-quarter of dissatisfied clients had this response. Keep this in mind as you make your hiring decisions. If your staff needs help in this area (or you do), consider classes to help improve interpersonal skills.
4. Active communication. Your clients want to be kept informed not just about their portfolios and financial progress, but also about important changes at your firm and with your staff. Do not let your clients hear about personnel changes from competing Accountants in Miami – this is the type of negative surprise you want to avoid.

Very satisfied clients scored their Accountants in Miami well in this area, with 77.9% believing their advisors provide information promptly; 75.3% acknowledge their advisors’ efforts to give regular briefings. As can be expected, very dissatisfied clients scored their advisors poorly, with just 19.4% feel that they received timely information.

Given how important it is for affluent clients to be kept up to date, it would be wise to incorporate tools into your client database that help you flag any relevant situations and issues.

5. Listening skills. Affluent clients want Accountants who pay attention. Listening skills are therefore another important element in client satisfaction. Too often, Accountants believe they must educate their clients, as opposed to listening to their needs, fears, and wants. Your goal, as always, should be to learn more about your affluent clients, and listening is the way that you will do that. A significantly greater number of satisfied clients believed their advisors spent enough time listening. That said, customize your approach based on your client base – some of whom will prefer short, task-oriented meetings and others who may prefer drawn-out conversations where a range of financial and non-financial matters are discussed.
6. Client focus. Affluent clients generally care about having you focus on their needs. You must be able to convey the sense to each client that you are striving to understand his or her unique needs and provide individual solutions. Specifically, 75.7% of satisfied clients felt their Accountants in Miami made a significant effort to understand their unique needs, compared with only 25.8% of dissatisfied clients.

Your approach to being client-centric will depend largely on the types of clients you serve. For example, if you work with family steward types who care primarily about taking care of their loved ones, you will want to make sure to bring up key family members in your discussions (perhaps even getting them involved in your client meetings, where appropriate), and remember family occasions such as birthdays.