Understanding clients beyond the numbers

MAP’s finance partners work closely with business owners, helping them make better decisions and drive change. But while the team knew their clients well professionally, there was no consistent way to understand their wider personal circumstances or how these influenced what clients wanted from their businesses.

This created an insight gap. Important conversations about long-term goals, financial security, and life priorities happened inconsistently, if at all. Where clients needed specialist support - such as financial planning - there was no structured way to identify needs, introduce advisers, and manage those referrals.

As Managing Director Paul Barnes explains, MAP wanted to put clients at the heart of how it operated, but needed practical tools to do so. It was important that any solution felt objective and client-led, not a mechanism to push clients towards a particular service.

MAP needed a way to gather meaningful insight at scale, improve collaboration with trusted advisers, and do so in a way that felt natural, valuable, and compliant.

Structured insight and seamless collaboration

MAP adopted RQ and Compass to bring structure to how it understands clients and manages referrals.

Compass gives the firm a consistent way to ask thoughtful, well-timed questions about clients’ personal and financial situations. This allows finance partners to uncover goals, concerns, and opportunities that would otherwise remain hidden - without forcing clients into conversations they are not ready for.

As Paul Barnes explains:

“With RQ, we finally have the tools to unlock that process of understanding our clients’ hopes and dreams and their current personal financial and life situations.”

When clients would benefit from specialist advice, RQ’s shared CRM and referral engine enables MAP to introduce trusted financial advisers easily and securely. Both firms can see the same information, share notes, and track progress - ensuring continuity for the client and clarity for everyone involved.

Crucially, RQ also handles consent and disclosures automatically, closing a compliance gap MAP had previously tried to manage manually.

Deeper relationships and faster time to value

Since adopting RQ and Compass, MAP has transformed how it engages with clients.

Finance partners now have more meaningful conversations, earlier in the relationship. Clients gain clarity faster, make better decisions, and see the value of MAP’s advisory role sooner.

Compass has helped shorten the “time to value” that often follows onboarding. While the operational work of accountancy continues in the background, MAP can focus on positive, forward-looking discussions that matter most to business owners.

Referral quality has also improved. Introducers provide richer context, advisers are better prepared, and clients experience smoother hand-offs. RQ ensures all referrals are tracked, compliant, and easy to manage.

The result is stronger trust, better outcomes, and relationships built on understanding rather than assumption.

Embedding insight into the client journey

MAP is now embedding Compass more deeply into its client experience, including onboarding and ongoing communications. Over time, this will create a consistent body of insight across the client base.

That data will help MAP refine its proposition, spot patterns, and tailor advice more effectively - while keeping clients firmly in control of their decisions.

As Paul Barnes sees it, Compass allows MAP to move beyond compliance and into genuine advisory work.

Clients are no longer just reporting on the past. They are actively shaping their future, with the right conversations, the right insights, and access to the right advice at the right time.