I sat down with Dondrea Owens, CPA of The Profit Table, to discuss how intentional communication plays a role in creating a positive impact on clients. Dondrea shares how The Profit Table team collaborates to anticipate client needs and deliver trustworthy financial services. We also discuss how her role as a financial leader for small businesses isn’t to make the decisions for clients but to guide them in a way where they’re able to make strategic financial decisions in the moment with confidence.
If you are a leader, who wants to create a meaningful impact with clients, this episode is for you. Available on iTunes | Spotify | YouTube.
Dondrea was a professional accountant at a top national firm when she turned her love for scrapbooking into a profitable wedding invitation side hustle. There she found herself collaborating with and inspired by talented women business owners who, on the surface, seemed to have it all together, but shared one common problem: A lack of confidence in their business finances.
As a fellow business owner with a wealth of financial knowledge, she realized she could bring something to the table to change the game for these women. So she built The Profit Table to provide the financial literacy, strategy, and clarity they need to get their business finances in check and create the future of their dreams.
CFO Day is a single-day intensive in which The Profit Table team, including the principal CFO, accountant, and bookkeeper, assesses your business’s overall Accounting & Finance department and provides actionable strategy. We promise to provide you with a Profit Plan that aligns your business goals with your financial expectations and pays you, pays taxes, and grows the business. [learn more]
KEY MOMENTS
- 06:30 How do you anticipate client needs and reduce the back-and-forth of messages?
- 12:08 How have you become more comfortable with delegating?
- 15:00 How to approach employees with constructive criticism with respect and assertiveness?
- 20:17 As the face of the business, how do you create this transition where clients are confident and working with other members of the team?
- 25:15 How do you navigate those conversations when clients feel reserved about sharing their financial situation?
- 30:06 What’s the positive impact on founders/owners of using budgets?
How to approach employees with constructive criticism with respect and assertiveness?
@marchellecharlesbeauty
QUOTES
- 00:39 Where I like to focus is what is the type of relationship we want to have with our clients and how can we add to that. So a lot of it is in the tone of our emails it’s how complete those emails are. Are we going the extra mile in our responses to them? Because at the heart of it, Excellence is only as good as how it’s received.
- 02:54 Looking for ways that they personally connect with people and finding out how we can do that without being an interruption to their day
- 04:05 helps for us to develop a relationship internally because however good that relationship is transfers over to our relationship with the clients
- 07:39 that clients can kind of walk through that thought process because at the end of the day the decision rests with them
- 10:08 not looking for just a really great accountant because we can teach you what you need to know on the accounting side or you know but looking for someone who could pick that up and run with it you know who exercises care and conversation who you know is smart and pays attention to detail
- 16:04 what are you missing out on when you don’t allow them to tell you what went wrong or how it went wrong and it’s almost like a sure bet that it’s going to go wrong again if you don’t get that info
- 18:17 the one-on ones with employees and having those go both ways so you’re not just evaluating their performance but you’re allowing them to give you feedback as well you know and say what some of their needs are
- 22:24 I look at it too from a continuity perspective let’s say I need to step away for a day there’s got to be someone who knows your finances as much as I do otherwise service stalls
- 31:41 It [budget] helps people to make some really tough choices about is that how I want to spend is that really my Revenue goal or does it just sound good you know am I meeting my expectations or Instagram’s