Find out how using a CRM for CPAs can help you solve your accounting firm problems.
The accounting industry is facing a lot of changes. With a quick google search, you can easily find a multitude of stories about the difficulties that accounting professionals must contend with. This article from Accounting Today and this one from INTHEBLACK both list a wide variety of challenges currently facing accounting firms.
But don’t worry, we’re here with some good news! While a CRM can’t solve every problem facing accounting professionals, it can indeed address quite a few of them. Read on to learn more!
The Need for Better Communication Skills
Problem: For many accounting professionals, good communication does not come easily. However, in order to establish and maintain clients, it’s important to develop this skill.
Solution: The people who create CRMs for accounting professionals understand that this is an area of hardship, and have created tools to help. ABLE, for example, guides its users in determining their top contacts—those relationships that merit the most attention—and helps them create and execute a plan for regularly giving the proper amount of attention.
Keeping Up With a Business Pipeline
Problem: An accounting professional’s business pipeline is a complex record. For years, the industry standard has been to keep track of one’s pipeline using a variety of complex spreadsheets. However, this is an inadequate system in the face of the complexities of a business pipeline.
Solution: The best CRM systems designed for accounting professionals include an advanced pipeline tool. Not only does this tool make one’s personal pipeline more organized, sortable, and efficient, but it also provides standardization for all firm users. Take a look at the contrast between a spreadsheet pipeline and a CRM visual pipeline:
Growing or Sustaining an Accounting Practice
Problem: New technologies and greater efficiencies across the board have led to increasing competition in the accounting industry. Both retaining and recruiting clients are big obstacles for accounting firms.
Solution: For many accounting professionals, employing a contact relationship management system is the key to their business development efforts. CRM systems provide a centralized database for all contacts and their associated details. This centralized and uniform database makes relationship management and business development easier for both CPAs personally and accounting firms as a whole.
Hiring and Retention
Problem: Just as retaining clients is harder today than ever before, so is retaining top talent on your team of accounting professionals. Younger workers, in particular, are prone to seeking out bigger and better opportunities. And with members of the Baby Boomer generation retiring rapidly, the focus needs to be on retaining young talent.
Solution: One oft-cited reason that young talent jumps ship is a lack of access to new technologies. Born and raised in an age of rapidly developing technology, Millennial and Gen Z workers quickly see the inefficiencies of old accounting systems. Access to accounting technology, including a CRM designed specifically for the accounting field, is a big draw for young workers.
Succession Planning
Problem: It’s difficult to maintain longstanding relationships with loyal clients in the face of retirement and succession within accounting firms.
Solution: Though a CRM is certainly not a panacea for this issue, it can lend a helping hand. A database that records all contacts—along with all of their associated information and history with the firm—makes transitioning clients to new advisors as smooth as possible.
The Shift from Compliance to Advisory Services
Problem: In order to prove their value in an age of rapidly improving technologies, accounting professionals need to make a change. Rather than offering pure compliance services, they must start to position themselves as valued advisors. For more details, check out this recent article from the ABLE blog
Solution: How can a CRM for CPAs help accounting professionals during this time of industry transition? CRMs offer a variety of important tools for relationship development, pipeline management, team accountability, and thought leadership—all key components of making this important shift.
Do any of these accounting firm problem scenarios hit home for you? Consider scheduling your free, no-obligations ABLE demo today. Learn more about how our CRM for CPAs can aid you in achieving success in your firm.