Regional audit, accountancy, tax and advisory firm Bishop Fleming, which has the largest of its eight offices in Bristol, believes winning a prestigious sector award for its client service shows how it is now engrained in the fabric of the business.
The group, which has an ambition ‘to be the most rewarding firm for its clients, it’s people and its communities’, had all three recognised at last month’s Accounting Excellence Awards in London,
In total it scooped four titles – along with winning the Employer of the Year, ESG and Large Firm of the Year categories, its client service programme was recognised with the overall Client Service Award, pictured.
Bishop Fleming’s client listening programme, called Engage, is a tailored, firmwide programme which gathers insight and sentiment from clients and its own people which is then used to drive continuous improvement.
The programme has resulted in the firm achieving an above sector average NPS (net promoter score) for several years while also innovating its listening through customer journey mapping, independent reviews and mystery shopping exercises.
Bishop Fleming chief marketing officer Paul Seymour, pictured, said: “Client service excellence is engrained in the fabric of our business. 
“From our ambition to our corporate values, such as ‘We think client’ and ‘We put relationships at the heart’ which underpin it, our commitment to improving how we work with clients continues to go from strength to strength.”
Engage was developed in conjunction with leading Salisbury-based customer experience consultants Insight6 and has been recognised with its CX Excellence Mark – the first accountancy firm to do so – alongside blue-chip businesses such as Virgin Hotels and Arnold Clark.
Insight6 CX director Rhian Huxtable said: “To deliver customer experience excellence, a business needs to embed a clear and strong customer ethos throughout.
“Businesses that receive the CX Excellence Mark consistently consider the customer impact of every key decision.
“They strategically design their customer journey – whether that be online, by phone or in-person – to deliver an outstanding experience based on research.
“And they regularly test and monitor performance to remain at the top of their game.”
Bishop Fleming has 40 partners and 500 staff across its offices in Bristol, Bath, Cheltenham, Exeter, Plymouth, Torquay, Truro and Worcester. Its total fee income of £45.8m is the result of 19.9% growth over the past 12 months.
