ico Created with Sketch.

Business modelBusiness model

The Wow Company embraced short-term thinking to bring value to clients

Paul Bulpitt - The Wow Company
Paul Bulpitt made a point of making sure The Wow Company talked to every customer

Like everyone else, accounting firm The Wow Company went into survival mode in March. However, as the business progressed through the crisis, co-founder Paul Bulpitt seized the opportunity to innovate and support its clients.

For many businesses, new approaches have evolved out of necessity in the last few months. Wow would normally spend time planning and forecasting for the months ahead, but that’s hard to do with things changing on a daily basis. 

Instead, Paul used the time to run experiments, which help the accountancy firm make small, impactful changes to support customers.

“Author Jim Collins talks about firing bullets then the cannonball. The bullets are little experiments to calibrate, so when you fire your cannonball it’s got a better chance of success. You do that instead of having to make a big decision all in one go. All across our business, we’ve been firing bullets if you like – running little experiments,” he revealed.

Listen to your clients’ needs

In the first week of the crisis, Wow spoke to every client to assess their needs and listen to concerns. Paul remembers a lot of panic and stress, particularly around staff. Clients were reaching out to Wow with questions on employment law. While Paul and the team could help and offer another viewpoint, the business is not an HR expert. 

In an effort to provide ongoing support, Wow set up an HR helpline for clients at the end of March, It’s manned by employment lawyers and Wow’s clients have access during working hours at no additional charge. 

“Think about the value of that helpline, particularly as people go through this phase. Something like eight million people in the UK has been furloughed and now the furlough scheme is unwinding. Inevitably there’s going to be a bunch of redundancies. It’s about making sure all of our clients have access to high-quality employment law advice,” Paul explained.

Make the small changes

Previously, Paul might have gone through each stage and reinvented whole processes. The crisis forced him to break from that large-scale project mindset and look at the tweaks he could make right away.

“At the moment, we need a lot of documents signed by clients. The current solution we use for signing software is a bit clunky and they’ve just done an update which is a bit rubbish. We’ve used this as an opportunity and in the next few weeks we’ll roll out a new signing software and new experience,” he explained. 

Not everything has to be scaleable

The next experiment for Wow is a new service line to support the mental health of clients and their teams. Paul knows it’s something that might not last, but the crisis has taught him an important lesson – short-term thinking can be valuable.

The Wow Company's Friend in Need service
The Friend in Need service includes a counselling helpline and a wellbeing portal

“The service line is probably an example of something that’s suitable for now but might not be suitable in the future. I think sometimes we get stuck in this mindset of ‘is it scalable or not?’ but actually it’s the right thing for now. It’s really really valuable for now. We’ll figure out at the end of the year if it’s still something,” he said.

“It comes back to the experiments. We’ll see if something lasts but, if not, we’ve done the right thing right now. So much of what we advocate at Wow is long-term thinking and future planning, but the benefits we’ve seen from a bit of hustle and short-term thinking have really delivered fantastic results for us and for our clients at this time.”

How is your business emerging from lockdown? Do you have an interesting business model story to tell? We’d love to hear about your experience. Here’s how.

Leave a reply

Your email address will not be published.

Don’t miss a beat.

Get the latest stories and support available on Rebuild straight to your inbox.