Wilson Howe is a Chartered Accountants based in Greenhill, Sheffield. It was established in August 2016.
New Chartered Accountancy Firm of the Year 2018 & 2019
From humble beginnings, with only 20 clients and one member of staff, to winning ‘New Firm of the Year 2018 and 2019’ at the Yorkshire Accountancy Awards, and growing to a team of eight employees looking after over 750 clients; Wilson Howe is clearly ‘one to watch’.
Busy times: a growing practice and a growing family
Wilson Howe was founded by Matthew and Emma Howe, who merged Matthew’s existing portfolio of 20 clients with the small practice of a retiring accountant, Stuart Wilson & Co, which had around 150 clients. Matthew had previously amassed more than 15 years’ experience with large accountancy firms before deciding to set up his own practice full time. Emma was running her own Change Management Consultancy firm at the time, helping Matthew to establish and develop the business, and nurturing their energetic 18-month old daughter, Charlotte! Fast forward four and a half years and not only has the business expanded, but so has their family, with the addition of 15-month old Poppy joining her big sister Charlotte who is now six.
‘From the start, our guiding principle has been to combine exceptional professional service with an open, warm and friendly approach to client relationships. Our business growth is based on a combination of client retention, organic growth via word of mouth and client acquisition.’
Local Accountant recruits its first apprentice
In its first year, Wilson Howe, Accountants grew by 57% and the firm recruited its first apprentice, Sam Coates. Sam has almost completed his AAT Level 4 qualification and is all set to start the Chartered Accountancy qualification later this year:
‘At the start, Matthew answered the majority of calls. Every client had open access to his time. This was both a blessing and a curse. It built close client relationships, but restricted Matthew’s capacity to take on more work. Having Sam to take on some of the workload and call handling was a huge step forward in this regard.’
Wilson Howe Accountants continued to grow organically and was able to hire two further accountancy apprentices.
By now the practice had more than 350 clients and was receiving a lot more calls. To protect Matthew’s time, all calls were initially answered by the office junior. It became clear that being polite and enthusiastic were no substitute for confidence and effectiveness. Furthermore, answering the calls was having a negative impact on the volume of work being completed:
‘In retrospect, we wonder how many calls were missed during this period and particularly how many sales opportunities may have gotten away.’
Further growth: Wilson Howe acquires TDG Keyworth & Co
In June 2019, Wilson Howe acquired a second local practice, TDG Keyworth & Co. This acquisition combined with organic growth meant turnover more than doubled within a year. It was at this point that Wilson Howe first engaged the services of Paperclip:
‘The impact was immediate. The office became a calmer and more productive place. Not only did we have the reassurance that all calls were being answered, but we knew that any calls the Paperclip team put through to us required our attention. Paperclip screened out all external sales calls and, thanks to an FAQ document we worked on together, the Paperclip team was then able to answer many of the standard questions we were frequently asked.
Our plan, after the acquisition of TDG Keyworth & Co, was to have a year of consolidation. However, with the impact of the coronavirus and lockdowns, our phones rang more than ever, as clients looked to us for even more support and guidance than before. Also, business start-up enquiries increased dramatically due to the job market challenges that coronavirus has caused. As a result, our practice has grown again by a further 17% and this year we have recruited three more members of staff.’
‘Paperclip has become an integral member of our team’
‘Paperclip has become an integral member of the Wilson Howe team. We provide them with a weekly work schedule so they can support us better by providing accurate assistance to our callers, answering frequently asked questions and helping us to spread the workload and client queries across our team.
The great thing about this service is that when we need to adapt our approach, for instance during our busiest period in January, we had the flexibility to change the way we handled certain callers and query types. Paperclip implement the changes the same day we communicate them.
We’ve had some great feedback on the quality of our reception team, with praise for how friendly and yet efficient our receptionist dealt with their call.’
Wilson Howe has exciting growth plans for 2021/2
Wilson Howe has exciting plans for 2021/2 and sees Paperclip as being integral to achieving these growth targets:
‘This year we plan to launch a new Wilson Howe website and grow our social media presence. With organic Google searches, word of mouth, referral marketing and the new website we are hoping to attract around two new clients every week. We anticipate we will be receiving more enquiries and that’s where Paperclip will be able to assist us further.
During the pandemic, phone handling has been even more important to our business and customer service experience. While we have been unable to meet our clients and prospects due to the lockdown having a friendly and knowledgeable initial call handler has helped to create that professional, positive experience that we want for our customers and a seamless connection to our team.
Simply put, we wouldn’t be without Paperclip now.’
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Hi, I’m Anne Batty, Managing Director of Paperclip. I am passionate about customer service. I believe enduring relationships are built on being open, transparent and trustworthy.
I love questions. So, if you have a question relating to telephone answering – pricing, technical, scope and more – I would love to hear from you at anne@paperclip.co.uk or 01246 418181.
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