And the survey said…..

The Launceston and Okehampton offices recently surveyed a random selection of our clients. The aim was to gather feedback on our service and identify what aspects of our service provision were working well and what areas if any, may need some attention.

The survey, which was carried out over the phone, gathered feedback from a cross-section of our clients. These included sole traders, partnerships and limited companies and involved businesses from various sectors, from farming to energy firms and tourism to construction companies.

It can be a pretty anxious process to ask for feedback from your clients, but we have been delighted with the responses that we have received. The results from the survey have been tremendous and reassuring to us that we are supporting our clients well.

A quick summary of the survey results is shown below, with all scores out of 10.

Measuring up to our company values

We asked our clients to tell us how well we achieve the following company values; the scores are shown in the brackets:

• Building valued relationships as a trusted business adviser (9.08).
• Showing passion for our work in helping clients achieve their goals and using our initiative to help solve problems (8.78).
• Being authentic and inclusive as part of our DNA. (9.08).

We are pleased with these results and will try to identify ways to improve further the experience our clients receive.

Rating critical aspects of our service provision

Clients then scored us on the following areas:

• Being approachable (9.59)
• Being proactive (8.92)
• Responding to emails, phone calls and messages (9.54)
• Overall satisfaction levels with the service (9.35)

We also asked clients to score us on value for money, which is always difficult to ask! However, the feedback has been beneficial, with 65% scoring us 8 out of 10 or above. This question also prompted the following comments:

• "They are more expensive than our last accountant, but then they are better than our last accountant!”
• "As regards 'value for money', I guess you can look at it as a cost, but when you look at doing it all yourself and think exactly what goes into it, you realise the value of it: if you did it all yourself, with all the time and effort involved, it would probably cost you double, plus they save you money on the tax!”

Our strengths and areas to improve

Clients were asked to tell us what they felt our strengths were without being prompted with specific examples. Nearly a quarter of respondents said we were always willing to help, with a similar number of clients saying they find us very approachable and friendly.

We were delighted with this feedback as the team works hard to build long-lasting relationships with our clients and to go above and beyond the numbers.

Specific feedback included:

• “It doesn’t matter what I ask; they always sort it for me! They are brilliant at what they do.”
• “Knowing the nature of our business and understanding the marketplace and what’s happening in the agricultural world.”

Regarding things to improve, 70% of clients said ‘nothing’, which was very pleasing. However, a couple of suggestions have been made, including explaining our charges more clearly and looking into the process for sending invoices. We will review this over the coming weeks.

Communication during assignments

Respondents were asked to select from three options which were:

• I never hear from them, so I have to chase.
• I hear from them when they have questions relating to the assignment.
• I am constantly kept updated and know when the assignment is likely to be completed.

We were delighted that nobody said they had to chase us for information. It was a 50:50 split between the other two options, depending on the complexity of the assignment we undertook for the client.

Additional comments

The survey also produced some great comments which our clients made about the service we provide and our fantastic team, these include:

"They are a good bunch of people - I feel you can trust them, which is why I do business with them.” 

“They are just great! We are very happy with them.”

“They always do what we want and they are there whenever needed.”

"We are absolutely delighted we came across them - (we met them at Okehampton Show) - they have helped us a great deal and we are very happy with them!"

"We are really happy with them - they do a good job - and you get what you pay for!"

 

Thank you to everyone who took part in the survey. We have been delighted with our feedback and will continue to work hard to deliver the level of service that our clients need and expect from us.