Blog Layout
What three words
Richard Brewin • December 12, 2019
Hopefully, you’ve heard of What3words (what3words.com). What3words is a brilliant locator tool. The inventors divided the whole World up into 3 metre squares and gave each a unique three word tag that will never change. Whether you are looking for friends or calling the emergency services to your aid, you simply go onto the App, let GPS pin point the spot and share the three words. Simple, yet lifesaving! If you don’t have it on your phone yet then I recommend that you add it.
It set me thinking about the power of using three words in a much wider sense within our firms. We use three words quite often in training and team exercises to get people to focus their thoughts. “Use three words to describe how you feel right now”. “What three words would you use to describe your firm”. That sort of thing. It’s a technique that can help to clear the fog and lead to more constructive conversations. In the context of what we are talking about here, it helps to pinpoint their thoughts.
So, if three words can help to focus the mind and pinpoint where the firm is, then maybe we should be using this technique in a more organised way.
Imagine a board or graphic in your team room or your client meeting room. Each week you put up the three words that you want to focus minds on for that week. For example:-
in the team room you may put ‘Smile. Communicate. Invoicing.’
in the meeting room you may put ‘Tax. Holiday. Change’.
Whatever it may be that you want the recipients to be focused on for that week, you can use this approach to instigate the conversation in the first instance and to act as a reminder thereafter.
You need to be creative, of course, and you need to make sure that it does change regularly and doesn’t become staid, but you can always involve both your team and clients in the selection process if you want to create greater engagement.
Let me know how you get on.
Accountants selling to their clients is a topic as old as the profession itself. I regularly hear criticism from those looking to monetise the accountants’ relationships with their clients that “accountants can’t sell”. I also come across an attitude within the profession that “accountants shouldn’t sell to their clients…it’s unprofessional…it’s not what my clients expect”. Let’s tackle the issue.
Back in the 60’s and 70’s, when I was a lad, doing the family laundry was a time consuming chore. Mum would disappear into the kitchen and close the door so that the noise around the rest of the house was at least manageable. She would be in there for hours, swapping between washing, rinsing and squeezing out. Every so often the noise level would resemble a fighter jet taking off on an aircraft carrier as the tumbler element kicked in and then she’d reappear, wooden tongs in hand, to ask for help to reposition the twin tub that had danced across the kitchen floor.
Do I deal with the client who is shouting the loudest, the most pressing deadline, the thing that is most stressing me out, the best thing for my cash position, the team member who is stuck without my help, the thing that I had set out to do today or any one of all those other issues that are lined up at my door? I would love to give you a definitive or simple answer but, of course, there isn’t one. Welcome to every day decision-making, not just in an accounting firm but in life!
Still need more information?
Progress Barnwell Brewin Ltd
4 Ashby Place
Ashby de la Zouch,
Leicestershire,
LE65 1JL
hello@progressbb.co.uk