Best practice process

Best practice process

Implementing best practice process is a clear pathway to achieve a great ROI from The Gap.

It is an important strategy for ALL firms, and particularly those who are:
  1. Experiencing high client growth (or looking to) 
  2. Suffering from scope stretch
  3. Wanting to deliver advisory services 
  4. Keen to develop their human resources to improve engagement and retention
  5. Trying to increase their average client spend
  6. Wanting to scale their firm in a sustainable way

What is best practice process?

Important info
Best practice proces s is an ongoing pursuit to be more efficient and impactful in how you engage and deliver your services to clients. 

Implementing best practice in your firm enables you to improve your internal systems, communication, engagement, output, and ultimately, your bottom line. It will also improve your overall client experience. 

Fundamentally, best practice in your firm starts with the business owners dedicating quality time to work on their own business. Unsurprisingly, this is exactly how  Gap members frame advisory services to their business clients. We've defined the trifecta of business advisory services as annual Business Planning, annual Cashflow Forecasting and ongoing accountability coaching. 

Freeing up capacity to do more meaningful work

Outsourcing compliance work

Note
Compliance work is a 'grudge purchase'; a legal requirement that adds little value to a client's business. Outsourcing some of your compliance work simply enables you to spend more time on higher-value work (higher value for you and your client). The opportunity cost of not outsourcing may be high in your firm.

When done well, outsourcing is an integral part of the most profitable and progressive accounting firms. Outsourcing well requires commitment and change in how you operate. You are effectively bringing onboard a new team or team member. The induction phase for any new team member requires discipline and patience to ensure you set them up for success. 

The five essentials to successful outsourcing

  1. Strong leadership. This includes clearly articulating why change is needed and the benefits (e.g. more capacity to support clients with advisory and growth opportunities for existing team members), a clear vision, a plan for the transition to successful outsourcing, and leading your team through the changes.
  2. Bring your team on the journey. You need your team - and an outsourcing champion - to ensure processes are in place to empower your people to succeed. This may include incentivising progress to minimise the natural human reflex to 'protect their own turf'. 
  3. Treat your remote team like your own. Like any team member, your remote team will crave connection and purpose and they will reward you with loyalty and hard work.  
  4. Set clear expectations, provide accountability, and give it time. With any change in your operations, it takes time for the value and benefit to be fully realised. 
  5. Keep improving your system. Your outsourcing partner should have clear processes developed with similar businesses in mind. Once in place, these should be refined continuously. Measure and reward progress.

KPIs to measure

  1. Job turn-around time
  2. Time spent in-house on outsourced jobs
  3. Annual recurring advisory revenue (as a result of your new capacity)

A basic outsourcing process

Step 1: Pre-pilot. Sample outsourcing (with no ongoing commitment).
Step 2: Pilot. Set up and complete pilot jobs.
Step 3: Pilot review. Review outsourcing capabilities and establish future work volume.
Step 4: Onboarding. Establish quality control procedures and meet the team.
Step5: Client management. Refine process and maximise outcomes. 

Tip
We recommend Connect Accounting as a trusted outsourcing partner. Check out their website or contact their team for more information.


Delegation and empowering your team

Delegation is a great way to free up your time to work on more valuable activities while empowering your team members to grow. 

The success of delegation requires a clear process, handover and patience during the transition. Don't delegate a task when you're under time pressure (unless you're prepared for the quality of output to reduce). It takes effort and time to hand over a task well, hence the reason many fail to proactively do this. However, the ‘it’s faster to do it myself’ mindset is a productivity trap. It often prevents the development of new and better methods.

Warning
Delegation must not be confused for abdication.  You are still ultimately responsible for the task. But 'responsibility' and ‘doing’ are not the same. 

Best practice delegation process:
  1. Assess the task, assign the right person, and support them to succeed to build trust and respect.
  2. Communicate clearly and specifically using language and methods that resonate with the individual. 
  3. Ask the team member to repeat back instructions to ensure they have clarity (this will be more efficient in the long run). 
  4. Set a clear timeframe for completion and request notification when the task is done.
  5. Review outcomes with the individual to improve the process and future outcomes.

The benefits of effective delegation:
  1. Recognise and utilise individual strengths
  2. Build loyalty in your team as you support their professional development
  3. Better leverage of your time
  4. Minimise dependency on you
  5. Encourage innovation and establish better ways of doing things
  6. Focus your time on forward-facing client conversations and deliverables
  7. Grow your monthly recurring revenue from advisory services

Important info
There is an opportunity cost of running the Annual Accounts Review (AAR) Meeting yourself. Delegate the AAR to the senior team member doing the work, so you can provide a valuable CCR.

Eliminating scope stretch

Scope stretch can be successfully managed and minimised, but only if we put in place some simple  processes and support our team to change behaviours that have become entrenched. Without some basic systems and training, scope stretch will continue to be a significant cost to many firms.

The three key reasons scope stretch occurs

  1. The client has not met your minimum presentation standards, causing additional work or rework.
  2. You recognise the need to provide an additional service that is not within the scope of your agreement.
  3. The client requests further work outside the scope of your service agreement.
Navigate Navigation panel >  Bridges > CCR > Re-engage > Guide to Minimising Scope Stretch to read more about how to address scope stretch in your firm. The Re-engage folder also contains scripts and resources to help your team carefully navigate these conversations to minimise write-offs and client friction.

Important info
Managing scope stretch requires clear communication of expectations and a discussion of what is out of scope prior to completing the work. Then, you can provide the client with options to move forward.

Offering a Quick Queries Service

A quick query is something that can be raised and resolved within ten minutes, whether over the phone, in an email, or during a face to face conversation. Including a Quick Queries Service for some or all of your clients will encourage stickier, more transparent relationships. 

Tip
Include a Quick Queries Service in your standard service plans (and price these accordingly). 

Benefits of a Quick Queries service

Advantages of providing the Quick Queries service include:
  1. Removing the barrier of a fee for a quick question
  2. Encouraging clients to involve you in their decision making, which builds trust and rapport
  3. Educating your clients as to what is free and what isn’t
  4. Identifying opportunities where clients can make more money or save tax
  5. Preventing clients from making mistakes with costly implications
  6. A high touch marketing opportunity

Positioning a service that falls outside of the Quick Queries service

Go to Navigation panel >  Bridges > CCR > Re-engage > Outline and Benefits - Quick Queries Service document .

Review the content in the CCR Re-engage folder and train your team on how to stop giving services away when they receive client queries. Use the simple scripts for different situations so your team can proactively navigate these potentially awkward conversations for a great client and firm outcome. 

Examples might include:

This is a technical issue and needs to be looked into further. If we don’t address the issue now, your business will be negatively impacted (explain how and quantify if possible). We’ll need to charge a fee of around (state price). Are you happy to proceed?
To ensure we give you the best advice, we need to carefully review the situation. Would you like us to put this in writing and base our fee on the time it takes?
This is a complex matter. To ensure we give you the right advice, we’ll need to spend adequate time reviewing this, and naturally, there will be a fee based on our time. We think the fee will be between (price) and (price). Are you happy for us to go ahead on this basis?

Walking the talk 

Tip
Our most successful Gap members only provide services they have used on their own business; including having their own business coach for accountability. 

Walking the talk enables you to authentically demonstrate the value of your business advisory offering. Using Gap services and systems on your own business not only helps you achieve best practice, but it also enables you to digest the process and fast-track your facilitation skills. Then, you can lead your clients on their journey, sharing your learnings and experiences along the way.

Establish your purpose, vision and Core Values

These are core components of a Business Plan that are critical to engaging your team and clients in your business advisory journey. 
  1. Defining your purpose (also referred to as your 'why') is critical for marketing and engaging your audience to work with you
  2. Clarifying your vision is key to achieving your business's 3-5 year plan and engaging your team in that endeavour
  3. Establishing your Core Values (and implementing them well) is potentially the single most impactful action you can take to improve your business's culture
Note
Developing your firm's Core Values and utilising them in your business is a powerful process. Many Gap firms prioritise providing this service to their clients after experiencing it themselves.

Develop (and regularly refer to) your annual Business Plan

Every business needs a Business Plan - especially yours. Follow our  Business Planning system to create your Business Plan. Exploring the process for delivering the annual Business Planning service will fast-track your facilitation skills. As part of this, clarify your service offering and pricing to ensure your team is consistent in your messaging and delivery. Check out our service  examples and descriptions within the bridge to help.

Ensure your organisation structure is sound

Reality test your Organisation Structure according to the 10 hats philosophy. Follow our system to ensure you have the right people responsible for the right areas in the business. Establish key resourcing gaps and clarify delegation opportunities to free up your time to spend time working on your business, rather than in it.  

Once your structure is clear, and your whole team has a great understanding of the 10 Hats or 10 Departments philosophy, ensure everyone has full clarity of their role within your organisation. This includes clear reporting lines and well-documented job descriptions, as well as ongoing accountability. 

Marketing your firm and services well

Accounting and bookkeeping firms need to market their offering just like any other business. The Gap Portal contains many marketing resources that reflect the value of your services and relationship to your client. Our platform also integrates with BOMA,  a digital marketing tool for accountants and bookkeepers, allowing The Gap and BOMA users to seamlessly deliver education marketing campaigns (utilising email and social media channels).

Education marketing is a great way to improve your marketing to get better brand awareness, lead generation and new client conversion.

Note
Unsure where to start? Speak with your  Member Success contact to make a plan.
Unplanned process improvement is wishful thinking. - Watts Humphrey
Tip
Check out our Capability building pathway to build on your process improvement learnings .

Disclaimer: 
Nothing in this article constitutes, or is meant to constitute, advice of any kind in relation to the actual pricing of services.  The Gap does not support or condone pricing discussions or collusion on price of any nature.  All pricing decisions must be made independently of competitors and in accordance with the law.  It is the responsibility of directors to ensure that their firm complies with local competition laws as prescribed by relevant governing bodies.

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