At Engage, we're currently approaching 70 client families, around 35% of these are professional footballers, 60% are business owners and young professionals, with the remaining 5% coming from outside of our niches.
What we love about working with young professionals and entrepreneurs is that we get to learn as much from them as they do from us. We are continually building and developing our business. Working with these clients requires us to speak to them about their business, understand what makes them tick, which things they do well and the mistakes they've made. I've learned quite a few hints and tips along the way that you can use to successfully work with entrepreneurs.
People love to talk about what they've achieved and how they've gotten to where they are. I focus on this with the Engaging People Podcast that we run, but I am a naturally curious person and I find this is a helpful trait.
It has been my experience that people who are brilliant in their job are rarely competent in every area of their business. We have some of the UK's top lawyers, recruitment agents, commercial property agents or tech entrepreneurs as clients. In their field they are extremely well known, talented and respected. However, when it comes to their finances, they just don't have the time, knowledge or interest to give it the attention it needs. But great leaders are often great delegators, which is why they come to us.
Be confident when you speak with your entrepreneurial clients: you are the expert. Remember that you need to give the client what they need, not necessarily what they want. Whilst the client may be a powerful professional person, if they're coming to you, there is a reason for that. It's probable that you will able to identify if something isn't adding up in their life outside work.
One of the essential elements to helping people is, in our opinion, keeping things simple for them. Use language and examples that are clear and easy to understand. If you're using financial forecasts, make sure you explain what you're doing and why you're doing it. Confusion around money, charts, graphs is common – so make sure you're well practiced in talking things through in a language your clients will understand.
Another key piece of advice is to ask for feedback. At Engage we have a vast amount of feedback we have gathered from clients via various channels. We strive to continuously improve what we do and how we do it. If you don't ask people for their opinions, they might not be comfortable giving them. So, make sure you ask - and make the process as easy as possible.
A key benefit of working within a niche of clients in a similar space means that we often see the same scenarios coming up. For business owners and entrepreneurs this could include situations such as extracting money from their company, maximising tax efficiencies, investing proceeds of business sales etc.
The planning we do for one client will always be tailored specifically to them. However, the lessons we learn from past scenarios can help inform and educate decisions made for new clients that come on board. Our knowledge bank grows exponentially with each client. This is the true value of having a niche and becoming known for what you do. The simplification it brings to much of our own business is really valuable to us.
We share in our clients' successes and failures. Because we get to know their businesses well , we acknowledge milestones they achieve and we might send them something to celebrate their success. As we do with our client birthdays, we'll send champagne or something more personal if they achieve a significant accomplishment. This is a small but pertinent way to stay in clients' minds and to let them know we're thinking of them.
For smaller businesses we set up reminders for them of when their vat and corporation tax payments are due. It's amazing to us that many accountants don't lay this out for their clients. We get them to set up multiple bank accounts – a current account, a vat account, a corporate tax account and a savings account. This way clients feel far more in control of what they're doing. We empower people to feel secure and confident in their finances, which is not easy to do so if you're under pressure to pay HMRC every quarter!
The main focus for us is clients first, always. What issues do we see where we can help with planning, systems or organization? If we can do it for one, we can do it for others. We're not afraid to try things with clients and assess the impact. If it doesn't work, it's ok, we know we were trying to be helpful and we'll learn lessons along the way!
If anyone would like to discuss any of the above please do get in touch - hello@engagrefs.co.uk
Sam Sloma is a former professional football player the Managing Director of London-based Engage Financial Services. He is married to his high school sweetheart, with whom he has three daughters, and loves sushi, dogs, and football. Find out more about Engage Financial Services and Sam.
