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Partner Briefing - 12th June 2008 - Book Now!
All Online50 partners are invited to attend the Online50 Partner Briefing on Thursday 12th June 2008. We've taken on board the feedback we received from our last partner day in November and changed the format to meet the needs of our partners.
This event will be held at the Hilton, London Canary Wharf. This is more flexible than our last venue, it's very accessible and if partners would like to stay overnight we can arrange accommodation at the hotel itself.
We've also tailored the content based on partner feedback. We are keeping the chance to hear from other partners about their experiences with the service, and the briefings from us on how the service is continuing to develop. We have replaced the vendor updates in the afternoon with a choice of two sessions. We will run our Service Proposition Workshop for partners who are interested in that, and also enable a partner networking session for partners who would rather network together.
We will start at 9:45 - the Hilton Canary Wharf is easily accessible to major rail and road links, and is also within easy reach of London City Airport. Places are limited, both for the full briefing in the morning and the Service Proposition Workshop in the afternoon so please reserve your place today by calling your account manager on 020 7536 7736, or the Service Delivery Team on 0871 384 3511.
Service Proposition Workshop
For many of our accounting partners the process of communicating the services they offer to current and prospective clients does not run as smoothly as they would like. Following requests from our partners we have compiled a 'Service Proposition Workshop'. This workshop is designed to help our partners define the services that they will offer, who to offer them to, and how to communicate that offering.
The workshop is lead by us, but there is a significant role for delegates to discuss their own business, and identify meaningful service offerings. The workshop is applicable to any accounting services that are offered, not just those based on the Online50 service. Due to the nature of the workshop we expect that it will work best with between 6 and 10 delegates.
Topics covered
- What services you are good at
- The benefits that clients derive from your services
- How to identify current and prospective clients that will benefit from these services
- How to communicate these benefits
- How to differentiate your proposition from the client's alternatives (your competitors)
We will be running the Service Proposition Workshop for 10 delegates on the afternoon of 12th June, following on from our Partner Briefing. If you would like to attend this please contact your account manager urgently to reserve your place on 020 7536 7736. If you are unable to attend on the 12th June, but would like to attend in the future please let us know. we can arrange to run the Service Proposition Workshop 'anytime anywhere' providing that the attendance and cost justifies running it.
The Accountants Role in Value Added Services
Accountancy is a service industry, and in a service industry the 'added value' that a services provides to the consumer of that service often justifies a premium price for the service. With the training and experience of the accounting profession, accountants should be in a position to provide considerable 'added value' to their clients. However, many small businesses do not appreciate the value of traditional accounting services that they are offered. For example, the preparation of statutory accounts does not excite the typical small business owner.
Small business owners face a diverse set of challenges, and the financial administration of their business is often one of the most demanding. While most small business owners value the experience of their accountant, they often find that they are not always able to clearly communicate with them. As a result they can feel that they are not getting the best value out of the relationship.
Our experience of working with Online50 partners over the years has shown us that accountants who can clearly communicate with their clients, who understand their client's needs, and provide services that meet those needs suffer from less fee pressure and client churn. It also makes the whole process of dealing with clients more pleasurable as they are receptive to ideas and open to discussing how they will benefit from the services provided.
If you are an Online50 partner then we can help you think about your value added services through our partner briefings, networking with other partners, and with our recently introduced Service Proposition Workshop — please speak to your account manager on 020 7536 7736 for more details. If you are not yet an Online50 partner, and you would like to find out more about how the provision of value added services can help to build an accounting practice you are encouraged to 'tune in' to Rob Lambden's presentation at the Accountancy Age online seminar on the 14th May.
Online50 Website Refresh
The refresh of the Online50 website has now been completed. Our team appreciates the comments we have received from our users and partners, thank you to all who have commented. The new website has a fresher feel, thanks to the new shade of blue we are using, an improved navigation and structure, and lots more content.
New features that have been included due to user demand are:
As our service is offered mainly through the websites of our accounting partners, we find that many of our users and partners do not visit our site on a regular basis. If you haven't looked at the new site and you'd like some more information about our service, why not visit www.online50.net?
