Everyone knows what a bad meeting feels like. Bad meetings are the ones that seem to drag on, the ones that make you say to yourself "this really could've been an email", and the ones that feel all over the place. Without a structure and a clear purpose, a meeting can go from an important and productive touchpoint to a waste of time and a real energy sap.

The thing is: every meeting is an opportunity. It's a time in which to discuss important things, whether that be with a client or with other members of your team. You don't want to waste that opportunity.

So how do you dissect the anatomy of a bad meeting, a mismatched Frankenstein's monster, and reconstruct it as something good and worthwhile?

When it comes to management accounting, there's a lot of potential for helping your clients to grow their businesses. However, this is a missed opportunity if your client doesn't actually look at their Syft report or if you don't discuss it with them.

In a recent webinar we hosted alongside Connect4 and DoughGetters Accounting, Andrew Jordon, co-founder and CEO of Connect4, spoke about how statutory accounts are treated as boxes to tick – and how management accounts are beginning to be treated the same way. To paraphrase him:

Back in the day, statutory accounts used to be sent over to clients once a year. Then there was this incredible revolution where SMEs gained access to better analytics and reporting, through software like Syft. Thanks to cloud accounting software and what APIs enable, SMEs could harness insights they'd never had before. But the trouble was that management reports were then becoming like statutory accounts. So, yes, there was a report, but it was still only getting delivered maybe once a quarter – if that. And it wasn't being interpreted for clients.

As Andrew says, it's a waste to treat management reports like statutory reports because there's genuine insight being provided in these that can help business owners to make better decisions. Management reports are more than just something to tick off your to-do list. Treating reports as things to be sent off over email once a year or once a quarter is a missed opportunity that can disadvantage your practice like a missing limb in a running race.

Reports are only as useful as they are understandable. If you give your client a report and they don't read it or understand its implications, then they're missing out on the true value of that report. As Syft's co-founder and CEO, Vangelis Kyriazis, said in the webinar:

“That missing part [after sending out a report] is the following part: scheduling time to run through it, putting it on the agenda for a meeting with them.”

Accountants play the crucial role of translators of financial information. Your clients rely on you to make sense of the numbers for them and help them to turn insights into actionable steps to help them manage their expenses, grow their business, and keep on top of cash flow.

To get your clients to look at the reports you send them, it can help to highlight a few key points for them to focus on first. We recently spoke to Luan van Rhyn, founder of Thrive CFO, and he says that his team typically runs a pack of reports on Syft, shoots a quick Loom video highlighting important points from the report, and then sends it through to their client. Then, two days later, they will have a meeting with the client to go through the reports in the pack, knowing that their client has at least a basic understanding of the most important metrics.

What I particularly like about Loom is that it enables asynchronous sharing of videos, i.e. you don't both have to be online at the same time to watch the video. You can just share a link to your recording for your client to watch in their own time.

Keith Lesser of Vegan Accountants wrote a whole post about the value of Loom on his LinkedIn account here, in which he said:

"Email doesn’t always do the job. Sometimes video is needed which is why we use Loom for explainer videos and to give clarity on certain client specific questions."

Neglecting the interpretation of reports and providing clients with key metrics to focus on is like forgetting to add eyes to the creature you're building. And without sight, it's a lot harder to navigate through the world.

While Loom is great for short run-throughs of vital information, it's usually a good idea to follow up with a meeting, be that in person or over a meeting app like Zoom, MS Teams, or Connect4.

“There has to be more engagement between client and accountant around that report pack and what it means, and what we can actually speak about. I think anything that brings that closer is helpful and it should be part of the process, not just firing it off via email.” - Vangelis Kyriazis, co-founder and CEO of Syft Analytics

Once you've ensured the eyes of your operation are in place and your client is at least aware of key metrics and their implications, you need to ensure that your ears are in place too. Meeting with clients is crucially to ensuring that you understand what their concerns are and how you can help. And it's a chance for them to listen to you too.

Not all clients want to meet with you more often. Every client is different. However, the general consensus is that short and frequent meetings are the way to go. Andrew recommends meetings that are 15-20 minutes long and for which you are well-prepared. Bring your report pack to the meeting, your key KPIs, and be prepared to talk and to listen.

“One thing I would say is if something seems insignificant to you as an accountant... maybe working capital cycle has moved, creditors have gone up, or maybe you’ve noticed a certain division’s profitability has dropped this quarter... That might seem insignificant to you but you don’t understand the operational element of the business as well as the business owner. So, you might actually be reflecting some real insight to a business owner… That’s why short and frequent meetings can be good – and actually ensures that they look at the Syft report.” - Andrew Jordan, co-founder and CEO of Connect4

Without meeting regularly with your clients, how will you learn more about the specifics of their operations and what you might want to keep tabs on? And how can you be sure they are deriving the maximum value from their reports?

It's far more challenging to deliver insights without regular and focused meetings. Without ears, how can you hope to hear what's going on?

While numbers may be your true comfort zone, the reality is that making the most of client meetings requires more than technical proficiency; it requires a lot of empathy. To make the most of client meetings, you need to make sure that you fully empathize with their struggles and concerns, as well as their goals and ambitions.

You want to show your client that you're on their team and you want them to succeed. The insights that you share with them in reports and meetings are all aimed at helping them improve their business, their financial position, and their life as a result.

Crucially, empathy moves beyond sympathy. If you are empathetic, you don't just understand and feel pity for your client's troubles, but you can imagine yourself in their shoes. You can think: if I were that badly in debt and unable to pay my staff, I would also feel super stressed out. And then, you can use your knowledge to help clients improve their situation.

However, showing empathy isn't as simple as trying to place yourself in your client's shoes. Empathy is a learnt skill, which means you need to practice exercising it. C3 Evolution Group suggests practicing empathy by following these five steps:

Following these steps can help you practice empathy, which can, in turn, prevent miscommunication between you and your clients and ensure that you provide them with all the information they need to succeed.

The anatomy of a bad meeting is clear. Bad meetings lack structure and impact. Bad meetings arise out of a lack of preparation and out of a mindset in which reports are viewed as products to be sent off to check off an item on a list as opposed to crucial insights to be translated into business decisions.

A good meeting is one that takes place after you have sent off your report – and perhaps a Loom video or some other kind of summary of the key points on the report. It's a meeting in which you show empathy for your client and their business by understanding what they are dealing with and offering steps for them to take to achieve their goals or avoid their biggest fears.

A good meeting is one of many, but it's not overly long. To make sure that you successfully reconstruct the bad meeting into a good one, it's worth trying the following:

And if a meeting really isn't needed, let it be an email or a Loom video. There's no need to have a meeting just for the sake of it, right?