How do you change, even as a sole practitioner, the tone of the work in your firm so that you become increasingly valuable to your clients, so that your clients are willing to pay more money for what you do with them and for them? 

In this podcast discussion with Michael Hemme of MDH, an accountancy firm in Croydon, you’ll hear Michael share what he’s doing to build what he calls “soft” skills. I call them hard, because I think that the human skills, the conversation skills, come less naturally to accountants because of the way they’re trained and because of their focus on the numbers. 

But those human skills, those conversation skills, ultimately determine your true value in your clients’ hearts and minds, and Michael seems wholeheartedly committed to building the knowledge and skills of his team so that they can have more high-value conversations with his clients.

It's a really worthwhile conversation on many levels, including his willingness to actually dig out some ancient history – he talks about a Dale Carnegie book, which is the best part of 50 years old, and on which I relied in my early formative years in business, and he uses the insights and the principles of great conversation that were the same 50 years ago as they are today. 

He then works with his team on developing those skills so that he builds stronger relationships or, rather, his team build stronger relationships with his clients. Clients become more loyal, they’re more likely to recommend the firm and they’re more likely and happier to pay more as well.

If you are tempted to listen to what Michael’s got to say in more detail, please go to humanisethenumbers.online or to your favourite podcast platform and look out for that podcast with Michael Hemme.
Once on the episode page for Michael, please scroll down to find his contact information and additional resources mentioned in the podcast.