Client Communications Decision Matrix
My husband, Jeff, has defined an anger communications silo.
“They will be very angry by email, slightly less by text, even slightly less by voicemail and very much less during a phone call.”
::Together With Financial Cents::
Billing and Proposals is live in both the US and Canada now. Imagine the freedom of integrating this directly into your workflow!
We have so many great communication options available to us that it can be tough to decide which ones to use and when to use them.
I am breaking down how I do things; simply giving you ideas to get you started on taming communication chaos. You need to consider the methods you use in your firm, your boundaries, how much tech you want to implement to manage communications, and what outcomes you hope to achieve from communication methods.
Six key matrix elements
Are there client collaboration and action items?
How much commenting on a task or action will possibly be needed?
How complicated is the communication?
How urgent is the communication?
What is the recurrence and timing of the communication?
What communication tech do you love or loathe?
Where do you want to be notified, so you don't get overwhelmed with notifications?
Client communications not tied to a practice management app or email
Social media (including WhatsApp) and text communications
Texting is mostly for social call-outs or communicating with friends and family.
But I will text if I want to let clients know something right away, and no trail of the note or action is required, like if I’m running late or I need an SMS code
Social communication is only inbound for me, and if a prospect contacts me this way I move them to my discovery form or send a booking link. I don’t communicate over social channels with clients.
If I were actually using socials and text for business, I would get a dedicated work number, device and app, such as Front or Missive, to consolidate various message formats
Pick up the dang phone!
Or initiate a video call.
Some of the most complicated discussions can be simplified by simply speaking to someone, human to human - get over call reluctance
Client communications using practice management apps
I use Financial Cents as my practice management app. It offers communication tools such as client chat, client tasks, automated emails and templated emails. You can also send (not receive) text notifications to clients.
In-app communications are one of the feature sets I vet my apps for, so I can aggregate and track client discussions and collaboration.
Most PM apps have multiple ways to assign tasks, such as chat and email with clients, but deciding which method to use can be tricky. So here is my communication decision matrix for Financial Cents.
Adopt or alter it to suit your outcomes, client communication styles, services offered, and tech stack.
The précis version of choosing how we communicate in FC:
Client chats ➡️ Back and forth with no deep action items, often unrelated to a specific project, likely segmented by topics, FC notifications needed
Client tasks ➡️ Actions and task discussions, related to a project, FC notifications needed
Automated emails ➡️ Information only, no actions to be deployed, exact same content every time, FC notifications not needed
Templated emails ➡️ Information only, no actions to be deployed, variable information to peck in, FC notifications not needed
Related to #6 in the matrix elements - notifications:
I love that client chat and tasks notify us in Financial Cents. I have FC notifications turned off in my email; I go see what’s happening in FC when I am ready to do client work or collab with my teammates. This keeps my email tamed.
I also love sending emails with links, because I don’t get notified in FC if something has happened. These notifications come mainly from other apps I use, like my online scheduler and Typeform. This keeps my FC notifications tamed.
The more robust details of my Financial Cents client communication methods.
Client Tasks
These can be sectioned into who needs to do something and when they can do it.
For example, we have a client where a few different people do different tasks, so we segment by the doer. That way, the others aren’t bogged down with a list and possibly reminders for things that they don’t need to be notified about.
In our File Review workflow, we section by when clients can do something. The first section is for their initial tasks and documents, then we have a section for our work and then a section for them to review our findings video and report and book a call with us. They don’t get notified about tasks they can't do yet.
If you deal with “completer”* personalities (I’m obnoxiously a “completer”), they will appreciate the FC Sections.
We love client tasks to ensure the client tasks go out with scheduled workflows and to enable reminders.
Examples of when to use client tasks:
Requesting docs
Sending docs
Actions that need to be notified in FC
Tasks or questions that may have comments back and forth as it is underway
Recats (requiring QBO transaction details/documents)
Requesting signatures
Client Chat
Client chats can be segmented into topics and are accessible outside of projects. This makes them great for ongoing conversations.
Examples of when we use client chat:
Bank feed discussions
Clearing account discussions ⬅️ who feels me that clearing accounts can be a never-ending discussion?!
Year-end prep discussions
Automated Emails
I love to deploy communications automatically! I mean, c’mon, who doesn’t? But you need to be cautious that the email will be exactly the same each and every time, and that it won’t slip out in an embarrassing or compromising way. Make sure you add a guardrail, such as dependencies and test that it will achieve the outcome you seek.
Examples of when we use automated emails:
Year-end re-engagement survey
Onboarding information gathering forms (this is for data, not documents which are gathered through client tasks)
Onboarding “How to use FC” note
Templated Emails
They are largely the same, but with variables. We don’t do a ton of emails, we really like client tasks and chats in FC, but having them templates takes a big lift off our keyboarding.
Examples of when we use templated emails:
Weekly “Your books are completed for this week” email, because we add notes about bank feed orphans and financial anomalies we spot
Monthly close email, advising them to review their reports and book with us if they want to discuss anything, along with notes for the month-end end
Quarterly booking to review the financials message with a compelling reason(s) to book with us (we want to move clients to meet with us at least quarterly to stay connected in a human way)
We all have clients who fall out of our “perfect” communication preferences.
I have one business that we chat in Google, because we have done that for a long time, and it’s a system that works well for all of us. We still send FC clients tasks and emails, but random conversations live in Google.
I have one client that we are mainly emailing with occasional texts, because I refresh their bank feed and need a code weekly from her.
Any new clients and those without outlier needs are in FC, but because I do accounting for accounting firms, I am open to adopting their systems if they have solid ones.
If I were aggressively scaling a SMB base, though, I would be more strident of having folks communicate our way. Most businesses don’t have great systems set up and often lack the confidence or knowledge of how and when to communicate and share with accounting firms, so you are creating a stronger relationship by teaching them how to live in your processes.
“Clear is kind” - Brene Brown
Kellie :-}
*Some folks would call a “completer” a “task-oriented” person. Either way, we can’t rest until we have done things assigned to us.
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