We want to share some advice we have learned from industry leaders on how to create a positive culture in your firm that helps you break into advisory services.
Number 1: It all starts with a conversation
“Advisory is just about having really good client relationships.” Helen Cockle, Futrli by Sage COO.
The office chatterbox just became your most valued colleague. In an environment where clients are becoming more confident using cloud accounting, it may be tempting to leave clients to their own devices and only touch base at important milestones in the accounting calendar. But that’s not the case! With all this great data available, you can get in touch with your clients to offer advice and support in the areas that you can see they aren’t doing too well.
Number 2: Don’t overthink the word “Advisory”, it’s overhyped and overused!
“The term ‘advisory’ has been made too complicated by talking about it as an additional thing. What is it we’re trying to do? We’re just building deeper relationships.” Will Farnell, author of The Human Firm and Chairman of Farnell Clarke.
Advisory is simply everything firms do that isn’t compliance. From answering a quick query to detailed cash flow forecasts, it all falls under advisory.
Sometimes when we talk about advisory, we can overcomplicate it. We perhaps overestimate what advisory is by looking at what the bigger firms do such as corporate finance and mergers & acquisitions… This only represents a tiny part of what advisory is.
Number 3: Create meaningful colleague environments
“Giving trainees tasks and little projects helps junior colleagues feel valued. Taking someone early in their career and developing these habits is important. Behaviour breeds behaviour.” Tom Jamison, Managing Director, Abbeygate Accountancy.
Skills shortage and colleague retention are crucial to an accounting firm. If you have talented staff, you need to think of innovative ways to keep them interested! One of the best ways is to get your early career staff in front of colleagues. Have them pick up the phone, check in with clients, and performing project-based tasks.
Number 4: Break those bottlenecks!
“Advisory bottlenecks occur if you have got one person who is the advisor. This slows things down. Futrli has enabled us to have 30 of our 50 staff deliver some form of advice. It’s really important to ensure that this work is opened to the team.” Stuart Hurst, Director, Accounts and Legal.
There are always going to be team members with more experience, but your advisory work shouldn’t fall upon their shoulders every time. With the tech solutions out there today, all of your colleagues should be able to perform some sort of advisory work based on the financials available. Don’t gatekeep, get junior colleagues involved!
Number 5: Drive success with tech solutions that count
“Futrli has redefined our internal expectations of what management accounts and real-time forecasting should be. We provide a better level consistently. It comes out in the right way, every time.” Mark Simic, Partner, Simpkins Edwards.
We, at Futrli by Sage, are proud to offer the ultimate advisory platform. By using thousands of algorithms that process clients’ financial data, we can unlock your advisory potential.
If you want to:
… then we’re the people for you.
- Find out more about the work we do or start a free trial, and take control today.
