Accountants frequently stay late or work on weekends to meet urgent and important requests from their clients. Due to the nature of these requests, even something as simple as sending a form can be integral to a business’ future. Here’s a story of why one accountant paused a family game to send her client some paperwork.
The accountant was spending a nice Sunday playing board games with her family when she received an urgent text from one of her clients. Her client was looking for some payroll tax documentation for a loan application she was submitting. The application had a tight deadline, and the client could not find her copy of the federal Form 941 or her state payroll taxes, both of which were required to apply for the loan. The quickest way to get those documents was for her to contact the accountant.
Understanding the urgency, the accountant texted the client to tell her she was on top of it. She paused the board game, telling her family that she‘d be right back. Within half an hour she had booted up her computer, located the forms, emailed them to her client, and texted her again to make sure she received them.
“She was obviously trying to get the application in that night, so I didn’t feel like it was something that could be pushed off until the morning, especially because it was going to take me maybe 20 minutes to send the document.”
Since the request wasn’t big and the accountant knew where to find a copy, it didn’t take her long to rejoin her family. Luckily, they understood the nature of her responsibility.
“It’s important that clients know they can depend on us to take care of their problems quickly.
Part of being in a partnership with her clients is understanding that their priorities become her priorities. If she had delayed the client’s request until the morning, she likely wouldn’t have lost the client. But she would have lost a lot of sleep knowing that the client was worrying about a document the accountant could’ve provided in 15 minutes.
“Once I’m on a problem, I have a problem. I know that if I have something on my mind, it sits there and I think about it all night. I’ve even dreamed of accounting issues before.”
Every client has unique worries. Being able to empathize with clients and being aware of what their needs are helps the accountant adjust her own priorities based on those of her clients. Since she knew her client needed the document urgently, the accountant didn’t give a second thought to pausing her game to send it to her.
“It’s important that clients know they can depend on us to take care of their problems quickly. If something comes up, even outside of work hours, I won’t hesitate to let them know that I’m on it and they don’t have to worry.”
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