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Clear vision gets results

How one great accounting practice shows the importance of differentiation, says John Haylock BankLink's Practice Performance Manager.

Does your practice play your clients’ favourite songs when they arrive? Do you get their car valeted during their appointment?

Clear Vision, an accounting practice near Bath in England, does. Practice management strategist Steve Pipe uses it as an example in his recently released book 'The UK’s best accountancy practices'.

Pipe founded the Added Value Network (AVN) an association of United Kingdom accounting practices. In that role he has met thousands of UK accountants. His book is a great read and profiles 42 successful practices (see his website for further details). One that jumps out is Clear Vision, based in the small market town of Corsham. In fact, in a book about great accountancy practices, this may be the best of the lot.

Clear Vision founder Rob Walsh says the most important thing an accountant can do is help a client identify and articulate what they really want out of their business and their life, then help them to achieve it. That is why he named his practice Clear Vision.

At the start of a relationship with any new client the Clear Vision team helps the client articulate personal and business goals and puts them in writing. This includes what the client wants the business to look like when these goals are achieved, and when and how the client wants to ultimately exit the business.

Clear Vision place considerable emphasis on being selective when taking on new clients. Their decision criteria includes:

• They must like them
• They must be able to help them achieve their goals
• They must be able to create a story out of their relationship

While the first two points are straightforward, the third might seem puzzling. Walsh says clients are much more likely to believe another client when they say you are good, rather than if you said it yourself. So he helps clients with the story of their business, weaving in an endorsement about how Clear Vision has helped them. You can read some of these stories on their website.

One of the systems they use to take advantage of these stories is The Clear Vision Club. A few times a year they team up with an independent financial advisor and each invite four clients to dinner. The seating plan alternates a Clear Vision client with the financial advisor’s client. Everyone is asked to share their goals with the person next to them. The Clear Vision clients tell the story about how the practice has helped them set and achieve goals. The financial advisor’s clients get very excited to hear about such a proactive accountant and this leads to some great new leads by targeting potential clients.

Clear Vision is not cheap and does not compete on price. Walsh says Clear Vision does not have to. Clear Vision agrees on fixed prices for all jobs and gives every client “a big hairy guarantee”. If a client feels the value received does not exceed the price they can, literally, pay the amount they feel is appropriate. All fixed prices include unlimited access to advice on ad-hoc matters.

Clear Vision also focuses on improving its day-to-day operations. In 2010 its turnaround time on annual accounts was just 18 days. It is this mix of client focus, attention to detail and thinking outside the square that makes the Clear Vision case study so compelling.

By now you are probably wondering what this means for the performance of the practice. Clear Vision is a two-director practice with 12 staff. It turns over more than £700,000 with Walsh taking home profits of between £200,000 and £280,000 in each of the past five years. There are a few practices that make more, but fewer that do it so well.

Most accounting practices do what every other accounting practice does. Clear Vision shows the importance of differentiation. If you develop a clear point (or points) of difference and articulate this clearly to your clients, you will earn more money, delight your clients and turn them into the best sales force you can ever have.