Interview with an Accountant: Dave Sellick (Sidgrove) and his client Matt: the importance of meeting your client where they are on their journey
Having a good relationship with your clients is not just something to brag about anymore.
It is smart business, since more and more clients are seeking to connect better, feel heard or seen and have their problems - understood.
In our series of interviews with accountants, we find out what makes them tick with their clients and we open the perspective even wider by inviting one of their clients along to share their point of view and what they love and loathe about working with an accountant.
Ever wanted to read your clients’ minds? Well, now you can. Watch from the front row as we reveal how you can stand out from the competition and build loyal relationships. We already explained how important supporting your clients is for your business and growth but if you missed that last week, here is another chance to catch up.
For the first interview part of this series we had the great opportunity to speak to Dave Sellick, founder of Sidgrove - a purpose-led accounting practice & finance consultancy. Dave mainly works with startups & small businesses to ensure they have access to affordable, high-integrity insight and support from day 1. He is also, as his client Matt calls him, ‘techy’ and well-known for his passion for in house innovation when it comes to software, hardware and related workflows. He is also just plain good at thinking outside the box, in fact the box doesn’t even exist where he comes from.
Matt also doesn’t fall behind with creativity and innovation - in 2019 he founded Oliver Co: a design-led, premium quality range of products that are made out of vegan leather and set a new trend promoting aesthetics, functionality and sustainable design altogether.
Dave and Matt open up about what they expect from each other as client and accountant and what their secret is to their great relationship on both a professional and personal level. You are in for a treat 😋
What made you guys ‘fall in love from the first sight’ as client and accountant?
A: “We knew each other from before, so this is what makes it a slightly different relationship from most. We didn’t have a super close relationship while we were working together before but we are now sharing a passion about what he is doing as well as being friends outside of that. Maybe Matt can give you an idea of what he was looking for, what he sees in our relationship in terms of what he is looking for as a founder.
I feel very strongly about developing those relationships where you are caring on a personal level and then the business is like “yeah, I am also a great accountant” rather than being “I’m an accountant, do you wanna work with me and here are the services, we can only have calls at this time and for this long”- it is definitely more free than that.”
C: “For me, it was a combination of things. Yes, we had a relationship from a previous business we were working at, but also I could see that Dave was very tech forward which really resonated with me and what I am trying to build. And also the experience as well, as a start up, I think the tech has allowed him to give more of his time to talk like we are talking now. I was very fresh going into the business world, starting my own stuff, so I asked lots of questions and he was able to help me out with a lot of stuff.”
What was Matt’s perception of working with an accountant and how did Dave fit into that?
A: “How was your experience [with me]? What was your perception of the experience you would get from an accountant, outside of what it has been?”
C: “The only stuff I had to go off really was what I have seen from friends and family members and it was all via email, for the most part there was no personal relationship or anything it was quite basic. It was a basic practice, all the time. But that was what I was expecting to get, I didn’t have a lot of money to spend so I was expecting a very standard relationship via email.”
It comes as no surprise that the relationship with Dave changed Matt’s perception of working with an accountant. From the start, Dave Sellick relied on technology such as using green screen to present in order to best replicate in-person experiences and ensure that his client fully understands. “I guess that’s what it is really, not just have monthly accounts but be able to jump on Zoom, talk through it and understand it in more detail”, shares Matt.
Dave Sellick adds that it's all about the ‘fluid conversations’ and providing clients with as many opportunities to understand what you are talking about. Being very flexible and open to omnichannel communication is also of great value. Allowing yourself to think outside the box or even having a set of brainstormed ideas and proposing those to your client can go a long way in how they perceive working with you, as they can see you genuinely care about helping them.
A: “[All my clients] have similarities when it comes to the pain points that they have and so we may not necessarily talk about accounting, it may be a problem we have got with a supplier, or a particular tech you’re using or how you’re managing your marketing budgets and I think that’s something that without having the fluidity in the conversations you can miss out.
Dave talks about the importance of utilising the right tools in the right way, too in order to maximise the experience they could be having in person.
A:”We just came off a call and we were talking about Matt’s accounts but my focus was immediately on how they are going to be useful to him and how is it going to feedback me what he wants to talk about within those accounts. We have a process where he will be commenting on a pdf where he wants to follow up and we will pick it up. That is easy to do because it’s not rigid you know.”
Would you say that having a lot of different touch points keeps that nourished relationship rather than relying on emails only?
A: “The difficulty sometimes for accountants is that they like to process dry things and they like to have a specific way they work with things but sometimes you know a Zoom is really nice, sometimes just a message is fine, sometimes particularly when you are doing management accounting it literally makes most sense to circle the thing and then write on it.
I think from recent experience I can say I have focused more on communication - how do I do it right, how do I think it should be done best. But it’s constantly evolving, the way we communicate, the way we use technology, the way we interface in the digital world (many people know I am very passionate about that) is constantly evolving and I think we need to stay very curious beyond emails which is like “great, that was forward-thinking communication 20 years ago”, but the world has evolved and there are different ways we can communicate to maximise those interactions.”
“the world has evolved and there are different ways we can communicate to maximise those interactions.”
Dave Sellick focuses on the importance of being there for your client, on the channel that is most appropriate and efficient to produce best results. With more and more businesses relying on digital technology to work and connect, it’s important to have at least a basic understanding of platforms that can help you reach your client and better support them.
A: “You don’t think much about it, it just feels right to catch up on a web call or feels right to send a message right now, or maybe it feels right to send an email because I want him to be something he can store and refer back to even though I do try to avoid them.”
How does this omnichannel communication compare to emails?
A: “Matt, what do you feel about how we do things now, having Zoom and online collaborations like Google workspaces VS Email relationships, I would assume [the latter] wouldn’t have been ideal to you. As a fast-growing start-up what were the difficulties working that way for you?”
C: “Yeah, I’d be a lack of agility. Say time has passed and I want to make a change to the monthly accounts I wanted them to be reported in a different way and the way we communicate at the moment allow us to implement those things quite quickly whereas before over email you just feel like it could be a longer process, especially if I think of something else quickly just before and then the email threads are getting longer and longer and it’s all getting a bit lost. It’s that sort of thing - jumping on Zoom is doing it then and there and you can get it done and move on quickly.
A: “This isn’t just about clients necessarily”.
Dave discusses the importance of optimising the way he works as an accountant in order to have a more optimised way of communicating and therefore offer his service to businesses that otherwise may not be able to afford it.
A: “Going back and forward about queries live makes the whole process so much quicker for me and there are enough technologies that allow me to do that. Combining different and optimised communication methods with other things we are optimising - it’s not just about the client experience it also makes things better and more efficient for us as accountants”
How does an accountant fit into the bigger picture and growing your business?
A: “I don’t know where we are going to be in 2-3 years and that is why communication is so important. That’s why when we have touchpoints we can stay in the loop, things change all the time and with Matt we are having important conversations about fundraising but you miss these things if you don’t have these touchpoints and the more regular chat.
On email you are detached and they don’t feel like they can reach out to you because you haven’t really endorsed a method where it encourages regular communication. But when you have that you just roll with it.”
Dave also shares that this regular communication allows him to see his client’s goals and where he is at life more clearly, and then give him the most appropriate advice.
A: “It’s not just about building successful businesses it’s about doing the best thing for Matt and his wider life. That’s why I believe it’s about human relationships. I am a great accountant and I can help you with that, but I am not gonna put on my accountant hat and go ‘let’s build this massive business’ if it’s not right for Matt.”
Being human at the heart of successful accounting
A: “I think accountancy and our relationship should go beyond helping you build something massively successful and profitable. Half the conversations we have are “Are you happy, what are you up to, what’s going on beside your business, how does your business fit into that”
Dave Sellick is here to show that accounting goes beyond numbers and dry emails and when done correctly, this can positively impact both the accountant and the client. Getting to know your client and their business, future aspirations and what makes them tick can result in better decision-making and higher satisfaction.
A: “You can’t make financial decisions and accounting decisions without understanding the wider picture.”
C: “We are sort of at that crunch point where [the business] is like 2 years old and I'm still not paying myself, but I also need to grow the company so I always ask Dave about his opinion on these things because it’s a difficult place to balance. All these questions I ask myself as a founder “Are we in the right position, is this going well” just touching in and talking through it has been really helpful.
Despite this specific example to be about working with founders, Dave does add that a lot of accountants will work with head of OPs or contact of finances and may think this doesn’t apply to them. Quite the opposite - there is always more going on than just the accounting and it’s vital for accountants to be able to grasp these motivations, external pressures or other factors to make an informed decision about what these clients really need.
A: “I just think if you process-drive everything and don’t have these fluid conversations you can miss that.”
If you could describe each other with just one word what would that be
C: “I think Dave will be ‘techy’.”
A: “For Matt I’d go with ‘friendly’.
Dave mentions the importance and his appreciation for friendly clients as Matt because it goes both ways and works as a mutual benefit for both parties in building the business, in giving each other honest feedback in adding elements to new business ideas, such as the blueprint Dave is working on.
A: “I think a big part of doing great work is fundamentally caring about your client and if you like them and you get on it just comes naturally. I won’t look at the clock and say oh mate I can’t stay longer, I actually want to. I naturally want to, I could speak to Matt all day and feel bad for even charging my time cause it feels like hanging out with a friend.”
Keeping each other in the loop
Matt & Dave talk about how valuable it is for both of them to keep each other updated and the benefits of having real, human conversations. From an accountant’s perspective this also allows more regular updates and the ability for Dave to consider how this fits in the bigger picture of the client’s business.
C: “Especially in the size of my business, being all alone in my office all day and being able to jump on a call with him and speak to a mate it’s great, it’s why I love what I do, building those relationships is fundamental in businesses.
A: “I feel the same from accountant’s perspective, I feel lucky to have those calls because I am here and at the moment I am on my own as well, so you feel like you have a team. Having those fluid conversations. I always make sure that my clients know that this isn’t going to be successful unless the conversation is fluid. There are clients I had with which the communication is only via email, the work is just not good and that leads to genuine frustration in emails. And there is so much lack of transparency as well.”
C: “Having an accountant feels like you’ve got control, and you know where you are at. You don’t feel lost. We look forward with confidence and know that you are moving in the right direction”
And if this doesn’t make you want to Zoom call those favourite clients of yours and tell them you love them, we don’t know what would!
If you fancy watching the video and meeting the faces behind the names, follow this link.
And if you want to start building better relationships with your clients and communicate with them faster, more efficiently and be there for them every step of the way - jump on Timworks!
