The Practitioner: How long till the Olympics?

YOU MAY RECALL in my last blog I promised my ‘client rating’ system would be well on the way to being completed by the time of my next blog; now. I regret to say it is no further on at all!

I have been far too busy travelling the country meeting new clients and bringing in new work to have the time to do something as important as a client rating system.

When I’ve not been travelling I have been firefighting in the office, dealing with inadequate staff, and dealing with clients who want an arm and a leg for the price of an ankle.

I do still love it though. Nothing beats the buzz of signing up new clients and getting new work in. More and more new work seems to be monthly management accounts preparation and bookkeeping work. It’s a good way in to a client I think and enables us to advise them on an ongoing basis rather than just waiting until year end.

Last month we had to say goodbye to a long-standing member of staff who retired. She was our admin lady and it’s true what Phil Collins said; ‘you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone…’

The new person is struggling to step up to the mark at this stage despite being by far the best candidate in the interview process.

I tend to lose patience with people fairly quickly and a couple of times I have had to bite my lip when the new lady has come to me complaining of the workload. Fair enough during January but now that we are in the quieter month of February she should be starting to kick on.

If it were up to me I would make the whole admin process more electronic and streamlined. After all, with emails and mobiles, there is less and less typing and calls coming into reception than there used to be.

Hang on a minute it is up to me!

I’ll look into it before the Olympics, I promise…

The Practitioner’s uncensored thoughts come from the coalface of a regional firm in the heart of England