David Cristello, Founder and CEO, Jetpack Workflowsoftware for accounting and bookkeeping firms, and host of Growing Your Firm podcast.
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We’ve all heard (and seen) the negative impact of the “Great Termination”, but have you discovered its positive side yet? Looking back over the past two years gave me a new perspective on the shift in workers we’re seeing in the accounting industry and in business in general. While it’s never easy to lose a valued employee, have you ever considered that the employee relocation is an opportunity for your business to grow?
I have five ideas for you to consider:
1. Pump up your technology.
Use this time to review your technology stack and consider automation. This is something you may have left on the back burner when you were able to solve time constraints and workflow challenges with “butts in seats”. But even before the pandemic, I believe that world faded into the sunset. Smart companies need to think about which tasks they can automate. (Full disclosure: My company offers automated solutions, as do others.) Investing in an app or tool to automate tasks can help increase margins, free up employee time, and enable you to hire staff.
2. Consider the gig.
Look at hiring fractional employees versus full-time employees. Fractional roles may have been experimental before the pandemic, but now they’re here to stay as they emphasize flexibility as part of the employee experience. If you work with remote staff and have job openings, you might find just what you need from gig workers, onshore support, and freelance marketplaces like Toptal and Paro.
3. Seek wisdom from within.
Appreciate the employees you have by asking them for suggestions for improvement — and by taking steps to implement those changes. You get great ideas and build a stronger team camaraderie in the process. Collaboration can be as simple as scheduling 1-on-1 meetings or asking a third-party company to conduct “stay” interviews for you. I’ve had good results staying in touch with an app called Donut. It automatically connects you with other team members for a 20 minute chat. The premise is that it’s like having a donut or being with someone at the water cooler in the office, which can be especially useful in a remote environment.
4. View customer packages and prices.
While services and prices may not be directly related to revenue, they may very well be. Low cost, hourly customers can be a drag on the entire business, as they often put more demands and strain on relationships. Now is the time to sell your underperforming customers and review your packages to make sure you deliver strong results at a fair price.
5. Increase redundancy.
In so many companies, customers build a relationship with one person. Now is the time to make sure there is redundancy. This is important not only in case someone leaves, but also as a customer management best practice.
Here’s how: Identify a team member to train on each client; ask that person to attend a few customer conversations so they can be introduced and familiarize themselves with the account; when the contact person is absent (eg on leave, vacation, at a conference or, like me, about to go on paternity leave), communicate to the client that the backup person is their contact person. Let the backup handle routine communications with the client from time to time to build rapport.
As business owners, we are all trying to navigate the return to work, major layoffs and talent wars as we push the ball forward. An opportunity-seeking mindset can be the difference between feeling like a victim of the market or feeling in control.
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