4 Steps to The Perfect Client Relationship

Kael Consulting are a forward-thinking accounting and business service in Port Elizabeth, South Africa.

Here are Kael’s four steps to creating sustainable relationships with clients, based on partnership, shared values and mutual understanding.

1. BUILD YOUR FOUNDATION FIRST

Before you start to think about bringing on a client, it’s crucial to get a solid foundation in place from which you can ‘fill in’ with clients. At Kael, our brand identity centres around tech and innovation. We look for like-minded clients who want efficient businesses, ones that want to drop redundant tasks like manual data entry and start making data-driven decisions for their business.

2. START WITH A CONVERSATION

We often give away consulting hours where we get to know the client. These sessions are designed to understand their strategy, and look for ideas, keywords and cues that show whether or not we’re on the same page. We are interviewing them as much as they are interviewing us. We want to make sure they are keen to adopt our technology and try out new efficient ways of working.

It’s a two-way relationship. If we aren’t a fit for whatever reason, we will refer them to someone else. By being upfront and parting amicably, we’ll both find the client-accountant relationships we’re looking for. We feel privileged to be entrusted with our clients’ businesses, just as we do our team. We pick clients with integrity and honesty.

Want to build a standout service? Download the checklist here or on-demand webinar here.

3. DON’T SAY YES TO EVERYONE

Particularly at the beginning, value sustainability over size or scale. We were very careful to not over-commit or stretch ourselves too thin, even while desperate for cash-flow. Instead, we focused on the form of the company before we began to fill it. For instance, we decided what services we were going to specialise in and the industries to get involved in, then learnt our boundaries. We needed to know what we could and could not deliver confidently - to understand where our strengths lie.

4. WHEN TALKING ABOUT TECHNOLOGY, FOCUS ON RESULTS.

In Port Elizabeth, business-owners tend to be quite resistant to technology. Many are used to desktop or manual processes. At Kael, we are process-driven. We look for technology that empowers and supports those processes. It’s not about the technology or the gadgets, rather it’s about doing what we set out to achieve for all parties - not only from an efficiency or compliance perspective.

Hear Neil Dickson, Managing Director, and Ryan Odendaal, Senior Accountant, explore 5 ways to build a stand-out service in 2019 in his on-demand webinar.