Kirsty McGregor considers why many clients may not have responded to our offers of help, why we should be more proactive in supporting clients, and why we decided this campaign needed to stress that accountants had to speak to every client individually. She then explores how to have a conversation which may be challenging.
We don’t want to have any regrets as we look back in six or twelve months’ time – Kirsty shares a simple process which you can follow.
Additional resources
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Telephone script for speaking to clients about cashflows
- Catch up with Kirsty and Paul's conversation with psychologist Emma Kenny
- Structure your conversations with clients and prioritise work with a Critical Assessment for Clients
- Helplines available for somebody who is struggling
Taking action
Businesses need to plan for survival. Prepare a cashflow forecast and ensure they know how they will survive this period to thrive again. We are asking accountancy firms to join our campaign and commit to have a dialogue with every single client to:
- Check in. Are they coping okay? what are their main worries?
- Prompt a forecast. Encourage them to prepare a cashflow forecast for the next 12 months & assist with that, if necessary
- Assess further support & funding needs. Do they need further support to raise finance, manage working capital or consider another strategic direction for their business?
