A lot of professionals feel like they have to keep their work life completely separate from their personal life. If you’re one of those professionals, you’re not alone! And for a long time, that was true. But now the truth is that more and more professionals are choosing to do business with people they have a personal relationship with.
People want to work with people they know, like, and trust. This has never been more true than it is today. And the best way to help people get to know you is to connect with them on a personal level.
August 27th is “Just Because” Day. So today we want to share 5 ways to connect with your CPA partners, “just because.”
- Show that you care. Has your CPA partner’s son been sick all week? Send a quick text to ask how he’s doing and if there’s anything you can do to help.
- Keep track of big events. Does your CPA partner have a daughter getting ready to graduate high school? Or maybe she just signed a huge client and is experiencing huge growth in her business. Whatever she’s celebrating, jump on board and celebrate with her. Send a card, post a shout out on social media, do whatever you can to let her know that you noticed.
- Send a “just because” gift. Christmas gifts are great but do you know what’s even better? An unexpected gift in the middle of July. Make it summer themed and send a branded towel, sunglasses, even drink koozies. We guarantee this will be a complete surprise and the gift will be noticed and appreciated more since it didn’t t come during the normal “gift giving” season.
- Respect their time & encourage productivity. I once had a friend show up at my house while I was working on a huge project. She didn’t stay to chat or expect any type of hospitality. She just dropped off food and coffee, hugged me, and wished me luck getting my project done on time. The good news is, I did manage to finish that project. And as soon as I finished, my first call was to that friend. We had dinner the next night to celebrate. Now, in this case, the person was already a friend. However, you can apply this to your partnerships with CPAs as well. If you know they’re working on a huge project or if tax day is coming up and you know they’re stressed out, you can offer to bring lunch by the office one day or send a gift card for a restaurant that you know delivers, or wish her luck with meeting all of her deadlines and then leave her alone so she can get her work done. A little bit of understanding goes a long way.
- Send a handwritten note. A card bought at the store is great. A handwritten note would be even better. The days o
f handwritten notes/letters are gone. Everything is done by email and social media. The number of “happy birthday” posts people get on their Facebook wall for one birthday is probably more than the number of actual birthday cards they’ll get in their entire life. So now handwriting a note feels special and makes a person feel seen and appreciated. It automatically makes them feel more deeply connected with the sender. Our suggestion? Grab a box of blank cards with envelopes the next time you’re at the store. And the next time you’re tempted to buy a generic “thank you” or “Congrats” card for someone, write them a personalized note instead. Go ahead and post that shout out on Facebook, they’ll appreciate that too.
It can be hard to mix professional with personal if it’s not something you’ve ever done before. But the payoff could be huge. By creating a deeper personal connection with your CPA partners, you’ll cultivate relationships that will ultimately lead to even more income for you. And who knows – you might even end up making a really great, lifelong friend.
