It's Not What You Know | Business Class

Here’s a favorite customer service story. It’s also a great career management story. Particularly good to share with new graduates. And people in new jobs. People who may be a bit nervous or maybe even plum scared – about the work, about the boss, and perhaps worst of all – about that first face-to-face meeting with a client. Even though they have the book knowledge, degrees, accreditation, licenses, etc.

Here goes. It’s a story about Bill – the first accountant I ever hired.

Honestly I didn’t mean to hire Bill. It was an accident.

You see…for years, I did my own tax returns. But when I got married, tax returns got more complicated, so we decided to hire an accountant. We had just moved to a new town and didn’t know any accountants, so we asked a friend for a recommendation. Without hesitation he gave us the name of the senior partner of the largest firm in town. Without hesitation, we made an appointment.

When we arrived at the appointed time, we were taken to a conference room where the senior partner sat, along with a very young man. The senior partner asked us many questions and the young man just sat there, took notes and occasionally smiled. After a while it became clear that we, as rookie clients were being handed off to the rookie accountant who was straight out of accounting school. His name was Bill.

I was not pleased. I was going to pay all this money to have my taxes done by someone who I guessed knew LESS than me!

Bill followed up from the initial meeting…giving us all the information we had requested. He made many good suggestions about ways we could handle our financial lives. He finished our tax returns very quickly and even got us a refund.

At that point, I still wasn’t sure what Bill knew…but I did know that he cared.

Much changed over the next eleven years. Voice mail was invented, as well as fax machines, e-mail and Turbo Tax. During that time, we bought and sold houses, moved to different towns, changed jobs, had babies, started new businesses, had capital gains and losses and began filing our returns electronically.

One thing that did not change was our accountant.

During that time, Bill did not always know the answer, but he always got it, and got it when promised. He was always polite and respectful. He never talked about other clients or colleagues except in positive light.

He listened. He made suggestions.

And when the IRS sent me a letter saying there was a error in my return and I owed $5000, I called him and he very calmly said, “Fax me the letter…I will take care of it.” And he did.

While signing the eleventh tax return produced by Bill, he let me know that we were his very first clients. By then, he had 199 additional clients and was a partner in the firm. And by then we knew he knew a LOT. And that he still cared.

He was our accountant for a total of 15 years and then family and business situations led us elsewhere.

Whether you are an accountant, a lawyer, a sales rep, a graphic designer – you know a lot. And there will always be more to know.

Along the way a key lesson as demonstrated so well by Bill: No matter how much you know, it is just as important – maybe more so – that you care. And THAT is the way to set yourself apart from the others.

Note: This story is about Bill Wilkinson at Gilliam, Coble & Moser in Burlington, N.C. Thanks, Bill!