CLIENT EXPERIENCE AND WHY IT’S IMPORTANT

For me (and I suspect for the majority of you guys reading this), the way I’m treated is often the deciding factor when I’m choosing where to spend my time and money. It’s a cliché that’s been over-used, worn out and exhausted over time, but life really is too short (to put up with being treated like crap).

Client Experience (CX) is all to do with, well, just that. It’s the interaction and relationship between a business and a customer.

A good CX can make you feel fantastic. It brightens your day. And it gives you that “I’d go back there in a heartbeat” feeling that every successful business relies on. A bad CX has the opposite effect. It’s sour. You feel unimportant. You feel like a nuisance. And regardless of the eventual quality of the product or outcome you’ve received, you won’t be heading back in a hurry, or at all.

My point is: CX is everything when it comes to building a relationship between a customer and a business. Every interaction fits somewhere along the spectrum from “Wow, that was great”, to “I could pull my #$@&%* hair out right now”.

It’s been found that 86% of buyers are happy to pay more for a better client experience (and an intact scalp). And that’s why, by 2020, CX will leave price and product in its dust as it becomes the key brand differentiator.

Accountants can be humans too

Think back to the last time you were treated to a fantastic CX. What made it so great? Maybe they remembered you from your last visit and asked how your holiday was. Maybe they went out of their way to find something for you. Or maybe it was as simple as a warm goodbye and a smile as they held the door for you on your way out.

It’s easy to think of examples from the consumer world, right? But here at Cooper Parry, we want to make sure we’re replicating that feeling in our world of professional services. It’s a big part of our mission to flip every stereotype on its head and live up to our billing as “the rebels of accountancy”.

Why? Because frankly, we might be talking about audits or R&D tax credit claims, but people are still people. We all want to feel amazing. And we all crave opportunities to interact with others that are determined to make sure that’s the case.

So, how do we do that?

Internally, I can see first-hand that we’re doing a great job for our people. The coffee machine is always topped up and ready to burst into action on Monday morning. Every day, the Finance team cast their eagle eyes over expenses forms to make sure we’re not missing out on a penny. The internal IT guys are always swooping in to save the day for those that fall short of tech-guru status (guilty). And our Concierge Crew do an incredible job keeping the whole office running like clockwork.

We want to make sure your experience with us always hits the spot too. We understand the key ingredient in an irresistible CX: engaged, enthusiastic employees – which is why we’ll never stop championing our people, their wellbeing and our culture. And as we do so, we’ll continue to attract likeminded people to work both at and with Cooper Parry.

What’s more, we’ve got a CX strategy in place to make it all happen. We’re looking at every stage of the client lifecycle and identifying how improvements can be made. We’re constantly challenging ourselves and exploring new ways to put everything we’ve learnt from our clients into practice. And we’re sharing ideas and inspiration with other businesses outside of accountancy, such as Volvo, who we recently spoke to about their CX and the parallels between our two businesses.

Sure, we’re not where we want to be yet. This is a never-ending journey. A constant evolution. We’ll take risks, we’ll try things. Granted, some of those won’t work, but because we’ll be asking for your guys’ feedback, we’ll know that’s the case and we’ll keep learning and improving our CX every day.

International CX Day falls on October 1st, and in our offices this year we’ll be celebrating our clients and the CX work our people have already done, both for them and our internal teams. We’ll be sharing insights from other sectors and businesses too. All with the aim of inspiring each other to take our CX to the next level.