As flattering as that might be, it can also be very time consuming and distracting. While we cannot emphasize enough how important it is to your success that clients’ questions are handled swiftly and courteously, you don’t have to constantly be at their beck and call.

If you wish to have your clients talk to your staff instead of you, you must introduce the staff to them. Ideally, when a client comes in, he or she will be introduced to the person(s) who will be handling their account. They should have a name, a face, a brief history of the person’s background and credentials.

Whenever a new employee joins the firm, you should introduce them in a newsletter or other written communication to your entire client base. This will go something like:

“We are happy to announce the addition of Mary Bloom to our firm."

“Mary is an experienced accountant who has worked on individual and corporate returns for the last 15 years. Her special expertise is in the field of financial planning and she will be happy to meet with you to review your portfolio at no charge.

“Mary is a mother of 10-year-old twins, Joe and Beth, and between them, her husband, Mike (a firefighter), and the family cats, she is kept rather busy. How she finds time for her golfing hobby, we have no idea!”

You want to make Mary very real to your clients, not just a name. The personal information really helps. You should also add any and all professional credentials and a picture, if possible.

If you’ve never done anything like that and many of your clients do not know your staff, do a newsletter introducing all your staff. If the clients do know all your staff, you could do a newsletter with everyone’s baby picture and contest for guessing who is who correctly.