Open Letter to Associates

​This was an Open Letter I wrote to my associates after tax season. I wrote this to lay out the vision I wanted for the team and also to hold me accountable for what I wrote.

Dear Team,
​
First, I would like to thank all of you for choosing to be part of Alpha B Group. It means so much to see this team grow, not just in the number of people, but the growth in each of you. This past tax season was tough and I appreciate everyone who weathered the storm and muscled through. Long hours, challenging experiences, and an overwhelming amount of work has really proved to me that you are more than capable of handling the toughest parts of this job.

​However, there were some major hiccups that we experienced from setting up a new office, training new employees for their first tax season, and changing the original processes. Returns took longer to prepare, we took on too many new clients, and certain procedures were inefficient. Speaking for myself, this tax season was the hardest I have ever gone through. I thought the tax season before was harsh, but this one was brutal. I've never worked so many hours and dealt with so much stress. I don’t wish this kind of work-life on anyone. I love what I do, but this year I actually became burnt out.

​One of my goals this year is to concentrate on our talent—you all. I really want each associate to take on bigger roles and accept new challenges. I encourage you to let me know what additional projects you would like to work on. When you're confident enough to take on bigger roles, it makes my job easier. I want to give you more responsibilities and more accountability. Take ownership of your work. My vision is that all associates will be part of a bigger system in which everything is streamlined and efficient—making everyone's life easier.
I know that I can still improve in my area of teaching/training. I feel that it's important that everyone's goal is to outgrow their current role and to take on bigger opportunities, so I will try my best to help you do just that. I have a responsibility to do more for you guys—not just give you work to do, but to also give you opportunities to produce results.

Tell me your ideas. Let me know what can be done better. You are the mechanism of this firm— working together and seeing the details that I don't see. I need your eyes and ears to let me know what we need to do to make this firm strong and relevant.

​The greatest challenge that I'll need your help with is to win over current clients again. Alpha B has been very fortunate to receive so many new clients. We doubled the size of this firm in all areas: number of clients, number of associates, and office space. Last week, thanks to an honest email from an old client, I realized that something is wrong with what we have right now. He told me that we had lost touch with him. He noticed that we grew these past 3 years and is happy for our success, but he's also concerned that we’ve lost the quality and real customer service we use to provide when we were a smaller office. He's right. I've been so focused on marketing and getting new clients that I had neglected our old clients. These clients stayed with our firm when it was small; they trusted me at the very beginning when I was new and still learning about taxes. I owe it to them to continue to provide the same quality service, even as our firm continues to grow. I'm glad that he sent me that email. As hard as it was to read, it gave me a head start to fixing the problem.

Everyone at this firm has been an instrumental part to our success and I am very fortunate to work with you all. Know that I will try hard to focus on improving each of you, and at the same time, improve our relationship with our clients.

---

​​Phuc Ly, EA
Managing Partner

---