CPA Practice Advisor - 13

THE LEADERSHIP ADVISOR

How to Help Your Clients
Embrace the Virtual
FOR A PROFESSION that is literally centuries old, accounting tends to be full of early adopters.
AMY VETTER, CPA.CITP, CGMA

Mindful Technologist &
Keynote Speaker
@AmyVetterCPA

Because a fundamental aspect of our job is computational, it makes sense that we're some
of the first to reach for new and powerful tools that allow us to better serve our clients.
You were good at Excel before most of your friends, you knew what the cloud was before

Now, I'm not advocating that
you go out and hold classes on how
to use Zoom or get more from email,
though you should look up those
tips for yourself. Instead, what you
can do is to make your clients feel
as comfortable as possible with a
virtual experience. To facilitate this
comfort, you can create a cohesive
internal policy that allows for
flexibility in how you engage and
communicate with clients. Making
them feel secure and well served,
whether while using Zoom or Slack
or your online signature portal, is
as much about what you do as the
tech itself.
The first step to developing
a strategy is understanding that
every client is different. If you try
to adopt a unilateral one-size-fits-all

them, and you were more equipped to handle the transition to a work-from-home reality.
Unless you happen to only serve technology companies, the same likely can't be said for
your clients. If you're struggling to serve clients who aren't as adept at technology, it's up
to you to help them embrace the virtual.
approach, you and your clients are
both going to end up frustrated. If
somebody would rather talk on the
phone than meet over Zoom, that's
fine. You may have tech-savvy clients who want to leverage advanced
features such as Zoom annotations
or Google Sheets revisions. That's
great for them, but it doesn't have to
be the standard you hold all clients
to.
It's best to introduce new tech
tools and functionalities to clients
gradually. If you're meeting with
a client who's never used screen

share, for example, don't start by
asking them to share their screen.
Let people get used to the basic
operations of every platform before
building on it. Letting clients get
comfortable walking before they
begin to run, so to speak, will
create a much smoother experience overall. The client won't get
overwhelmed by a new technology,
and you won't find yourself having
to explain too much too soon.
When the opportunity presents
itself, introduce new features in a
way that makes your client realize
the potential of the
platform. We've all
become so accustomed
to tech that we can
forget that, at its very
base level, this stuff is
cool. Maybe you decide
to show up to a meeting with your clients'
office as your Zoom
background. If it makes
them smile, they're
going to be immediately more comfortable
talking to you over
video. It may seem
like a small detail, but
it can make a world of
difference. The same

OCTOBER 2020 ■

goes for the body language you use
during meetings. Make sure that
you are as welcoming and affable
as possible. If it looks like you're
dreading a videoconference, how
do you think your client is going to
feel?
It's also great to give people
options with regard to how they
reach you. When it comes to secure
operations like signatures, you are
limited in your options, but that's
not true of casual conversation.
In our personal lives, we all know
people who love group texts as well
as people who abhor them. Our
professional lives are no different.
Find the channels that resonate best
with each client and stick to them.
A good rule of thumb is to have one
text channel and one oral channel
per client, in addition to email and
written communication. That may
be text and Zoom for one client and
Slack and phone calls for another.
The better you tailor the method
to the message for each client, the
better your communication will be.
Getting clients on-board with
virtual is all about creating an
experience that makes them feel
cared for. If you can do that, the
barriers of space and screen will
disappear in no time. ■

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