Helen manages a mid-sized accountancy practice. Every January, the practice files hundreds of personal tax returns. Helen coordinates the team, chases documents, answers client questions and handles new enquiries from people who have left it late. By the last week of January, she is exhausted.
This is her January, before and after moving routine questions online.
Before: first week
Clients send questions every day: Have you received my documents? What else do you need? When will my return be filed? New prospects ask whether the practice can still take them on. Helen answers each one.
Before: second week
Document chasing takes up hours. Clients send items piecemeal, and each needs a reply. Onboarding checklists would have helped, as described in onboarding checklists that stop endless document chasing.
Before: third week
New client enquiries pile up. Helen cannot reply to them all. Some go to other practices.
Before: final week
The team works late. Helen answers messages until midnight.
Counting the cost
Many hours on routine questions. New clients lost. A team stretched thin.
After: first week
The practice adds a website assistant. SpideyChat for accounting firms answers routine questions from the practice's own pages: which documents are needed, how to upload them securely, general deadlines, fees and whether the practice is still taking new clients. It does not give tax advice. More on practices in tax season is in AI receptionist for accountants during tax season.
After: second week
Clients find the documents checklist and upload instructions online. Fewer emails ask what is needed.
After: third week
New client enquiries are captured with the key details, and fee questions are answered from the website, as described in fixed fee questions every accountancy practice hears. Helen replies to the best fits each morning.
After: final week
The team still works hard, but Helen's evenings are shorter. The messages that reach her are the ones that need her.
What does not change
The accountants still prepare every return. Helen still manages the team and speaks to clients who need her. The assistant handles routine questions. Property managers go through the same shift, as described in a property manager's week before and after triage.
The questions that came up most
Looking back, Helen noticed that three questions made up most of January's routine messages: whether documents had been received, what else was needed and when the return would be filed. All three could be answered from a clear onboarding page and a simple status process. The fourth most common question, whether the practice could take on a late client, was answered by a short note on capacity that Helen updated each week.
New clients after the deadline
Many of the new clients who arrived in January became year-round clients. Capturing their details properly, even when the practice could not take them on immediately, gave Helen a list of warm prospects to contact in February.
The team's view
The accountants noticed fewer interruptions during the busiest weeks. With fewer "have you got my documents?" emails, they could concentrate on preparing returns accurately.
February follow-up
In February, Helen used the captured enquiries to contact prospects the practice could not take on in time.
Preparing for next January
In the autumn, publish your January checklist, deadlines and new client capacity, and set up capture before the rush. Try SpideyChat on your own site, or read about answers on the features page.