JK Harris and Company, Creating Lifetime Clients

Bernard Bandish, Executive Vice President – Operations

One of the first things I wanted to accomplish for JK Harris when I was put in charge of Tax Resolution Operations was to improve our communications with our customers.  So, based on feedback from some of our best Case Specialists and Supervisors we established teams of employees who work on the same kinds of cases.  The entire team mans the phones and covers for one another.  As a result, a live person now answers calls to JK Harris almost every single time.  Since whoever answers the phone is on the same team as the person completing the client’s work and has access to the case, the person answering the phone can usually help the client immediately.

Our employees have to balance their time between contacting clients for required data, preparing documents, and contacting the IRS.  They still need to be available to answer calls and reassure clients who are calling for updates.  Dealing with a huge government bureaucracy like the IRS is sometimes a slow process.  Our representatives often have to wait on hold for twenty or thirty minutes to talk to the IRS.

If our clients could somehow walk around the office like I do and actually hear our Case Specialists and Licensed Taxpayer Representatives talking to clients and the IRS, I think they’d take great comfort in the fact that we are working very hard for them.

When I agreed to accept the position of Executive Vice President for Operations at JK Harris, I told John Harris that my goal would be to improve our customer service to the point that Business Week Magazine would consider us when it does it’s annual awards for best-of-the-best companies for customer service.  I’d like to continue to improve communications with clients through better phone and e-mail systems and give them the ability to check progress of their cases online by logging into a secure portion of our website.  At the same time, I’d like to improve our turnaround time for completing cases and getting them into the hands of the IRS.

As we look towards the future, I expect us to continue our dominance of the industry and set new standards of excellence for tax preparation, tax representation, tax problem resolution, tax and financial planning, business valuation, and small business bookkeeping and accounting services.

Bernard, who joined JK Harris & Company in 1999, was named Executive Vice President of Operations for JK Harris & Company, LLC in March of 2007.  In his current role as Chief Operating Officer, Bernard manages a staff of nearly 300, including the professionals and paraprofessionals who provide tax and financial services to clients. Bernard has more than 30 years of business experience, including 20 years in the financial services industry.  He is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ practitioner, a Chartered Financial Consultant, and an Enrolled Agent.