Understanding Your Audience: Overcoming Fears and Understanding What Clients Want

I love sitting down with a new client for the first time. But it can be tough stepping into their world. Running a business means carrying a huge weight. Clients are often overwhelmed, and see their accounts as just another job on a long list of tasks to be done. ‘I just need my accounts sorted for the tax return,’ they say. You can see a way through and a path to transform how they’re operating their finances. But how do you get them to see the value this can bring?

I‘ve had the privilege of knowing the wonderful human Lauren Harvey for close to a decade. She set up her practice Full Stop to try and offer a different approach to standard accounting. It was great to sit down recently and discuss how her practice is evolving and how she approaches understanding clients, overcoming their fears around finance, and helping them see the real value of financial insight.

Even after becoming a chartered management accountant, Lauren is still feeling there is more to do in the finance space. Full Stop are exploring how they can add more value, and meet clients where they are at, whilst carefully balancing the tight rope of time and money for all involved.

In our conversation, she shares hard-earned lessons on how finance professionals can shift client mindsets from fear to confidence. Here are a few of the key snippets from our conversation.

As finance professionals, we know finance is strategy. But for many SMEs it’s nothing more than compliance, a task to tick off for HMRC. Filing tax returns, submitting accounts, meeting obligations. Beyond that? Financial management is often deprioritised or, worse, ignored entirely.

This is where a great strategic advisor will need to communicate that the reactive mindset means business owners only look at their numbers in crisis mode, when a tax deadline looms, cash flow dries up, or funding is needed. But compliance alone doesn’t build a sustainable business. Without proactive financial management, SMEs miss opportunities to optimise cash flow, reinvest in growth, and make smarter decisions before problems arise.

Shifting finance from a compliance task to a growth tool is key. Proactive finance helps businesses make smarter decisions, extend their runway, and drive long-term success. The sooner SMEs embrace this, the stronger their financial future will be.

1️⃣ Build Trust First, Sell the Value Later

We get it, finance can feel overwhelming for business owners, so it often takes a backseat to growth. That’s why it’s crucial to help them see finance as more than just a compliance task, and instead as a tool that can actually open more doors for them.

Your first hurdle? Trust. Business owners don’t know what outsourced finance can do for them, so they hesitate. Before they buy into financial planning, they need to buy into you.

​​Instead of jumping straight into proposals and pricing, start by educating and building relationships. Position yourself as a trusted advisor, someone who isn’t just selling services but helping them see what’s possible.

When sitting down with a potential or existing client, remember:

2️⃣ Helping Our Clients See it To Believe It

Most clients don’t care about spreadsheets or reconciliations. They care about how finance helps their business thrive. But too often, finance professionals lose them in jargon, dense reports, and data-heavy proposals. To keep clients engaged, clarity is key. Ditch the jargon and focus on the ‘why’ behind the numbers. Use visuals, videos, and simple explanations to make financial strategy digestible and actionable.

This is where scenario planning comes in. Seeing the impact of different financial decisions before they are made can completely shift a client’s perspective. Real-time insights help them visualise outcomes and compare different scenarios with confidence.

And the best part? It shows quick wins with minimal effort. Once clients see how small adjustments influence their cash flow, it’s hard to argue with the value of proactive financial planning. It puts you on the same page, builds trust, and makes it clear why your role as a Fractional CFO is essential to their success.

The best way to approach scenario planning is to just get started, even if it’s in a spreadsheet at first. That said, the real-time data aspect is key. Tools like Float pull data directly from your accounting software (like Xero) and have built-in scenario planning features, making it easy to test different financial decisions.

Sometimes finance professionals hesitate to use scenario planning, assuming it’s too complex or time-consuming to set up. But in my experience, the right tools remove that friction:

With real-time insights, you can quickly set up different scenarios, toggle between them, and compare them to your baseline. This removes the barriers that often keep clients from engaging in financial planning and helps them make smarter, data-driven decisions.

3️⃣ Reframe the Way You Present Proposals

You’ve built trust. You’ve communicated clearly. But if your proposal reads like a checklist rather than a roadmap for business success, you’re missing a crucial opportunity to reinforce your value.

Instead of structuring proposals as a list of services (bookkeeping, reporting, forecasting), frame the proposal around business impact. Clients didn’t start their business to manage finance, they care about the end result. Make that clear, and it’s a win-win.

When communicating the end result, ask yourself:

Now, let’s take everything we’ve discussed and apply it to your proposal. A long, jargon-filled document will only get skimmed, meaning your value is easily overlooked. Instead, make your proposal clear, engaging, and outcome-driven.

Try this for your next proposal:

💭 Tried it out? Tell us if your clients reacted differently:

Reframe pricing to emphasise ROI

Finally, let’s talk about pricing. If you want clients to see the value of your expertise, move away from transactional pricing and focus on ROI:

Instead of saying:

🚫 “I will provide monthly cash flow reports."

Try:

✅ "I will help you forecast cash flow so you can plan investments, avoid shortfalls, and grow with confidence."

This shifts the mindset from paying for a ‘just an accounting’ service to investing in financial stability.

Many professionals in the financial industry have already moved from hourly billing to fixed monthly fees, but even that may no longer be the best approach.

Ask yourself: Is your pricing model still fit for purpose? If clients only see a number on an invoice, they’ll compare you to the cheapest option. If they see how your insights protect their business and drive growth, they’ll see you as indispensable.

The businesses you work with don’t need more spreadsheets. They need clarity, confidence, and a partner who helps them move forward. The question is: Are you speaking their language?

I’d love to hear from you, how have you reframed finance conversations with your clients?

If you enjoyed these insights, dive deeper by listening to the full episode of The New F Word featuring Lauren Harvey - listen here.

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My passion is helping you keep track of where your business stands at any moment, so you can make smarter, more confident decisions. At Float, we focus on mastering short- to medium-term cash flow management. If you want to give it a try, click the button below!

Keep that boat afloat!Colin 👋