A few years ago, I had a call with a prospect who didn’t know what the heck her controller did for eight hours a day. End-of-month reports were constantly late, special requests were never completed, and projects – well, forget even asking about those. She was totally frustrated and shared her story with a friend who gave her my contact info. We’ve been working together ever since.
Her controller is still there, but we have put some structure and accountability in place to ensure that reports are timely and the data makes sense. I have taken over most of the special requests and projects so we are sure that they will be completed, and she and I are working on the strategic projects that she can’t entrust to her controller.
You see, her controller can’t keep anything confidential. She makes off-the-cuff remarks to other staff members related to requests for financial data. Big mistake #1: breach of confidentiality.
During the time we’ve been working together, I’ve received financial data from the controller and have asked questions about things that didn’t make sense. On nearly every occasion, the controller’s response was either inadequate, unsatisfactory or, on other occasions, the questions simply went unanswered. Big mistake #2: unresponsive. Needless to say, HR is now involved, and the controller has a performance improvement plan in place.
Big mistake #3: The controller continues to miss deadlines and be unresponsive to requests for vital financial information.
During our last call, my client asked me a question that stopped me in my tracks and left me speechless. Those who know me know that this never happens.
“What if I doubled what I pay you and you just take over everything,” she said. I wasn’t exactly expecting that question, but I totally understood that her frustration had reached the limit. She wanted to outsource her entire accounting function to us, and she knew I had her back.
1) My client and I had spent plenty of time building trust.
2) She had confidence that I could remove this awful pain that she’s been enduring.
3) My past performance was an indicator of good things to come.
Delivering results to our clients and building trust is the key to our success at TurboExecs. If you’re not getting the results you want out of your financial organization, we need to talk.