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by Stephen Parezo

Rebecca Daigrepont, a senior business advisor, accepts the award for the Louisville office she manages being honored as Fiducial’s Office of the Year at the company’s Sixth Annual Convention in Chicago. Also pictured, from left, are Bill Morice, director of field operations, and Yves Morard-Lacroix, executive vice president.

October 2, 2006—Fiducial’s Louisville, KY, office may not be the largest or most profitable one of its kind in the network but it certainly scaled some lofty heights when it was recently honored as the company’s office of the year at Fiducial’s Sixth Annual Convention in Chicago.

Bill Morice, director of field operations for Fiducial, says the Louisville office achieved a growth rate of 17% in 2006 over the previous year which places it in some pretty select company. A vital factor in their success was timely production.

“Despite technical challenges involved with upgrading all computers, hardware and application software, they met their production goals target,” said Morice. “The main reason is they’ve got a sheath of letters from clients saying what a wonderful job they’re doing. It is head and shoulders above any other offices that we’ve got.”

A common thread running through these letters, Morice says, is that clients are being serviced well, the staff is friendly and they take the extra time to keep them informed.

“They exemplify the office of the year,” he said. “The clients love them.”

Rebecca Daigrepont, a senior business advisor, runs the show in Louisville assisted by a capable staff of seven. It’s clear that keeping a solid team together has not only fostered client loyalty but led to their substantial growth up tick over the past year.

Fiducial has become known around the greater Louisville area for its expertise in working with not-for-profit companies. Since they’re online in real-time, they are able to market to a higher end of client.

“Not-for-profit is just a sector we were able to identify,” said Daigrepont. “They needed cost-effective help because they issue reports for government and grant reporting. It’s worked out to be a very good fit.”

Picking up momentum

“We’ve been here for seven years so we’re starting to pick up some momentum,” she said. “We’re building up that referral pipeline so that’s a big thing.”

One of the key performers there is salesperson Julia Hughes who has put her banking and sales background to excellent use.

“Julia was able to really connect with who we were looking for as far as clients are concerned,” Daigrepont said, “and she has just maintained that referral base which was grown through the years.”

Kathy Merrifield, a business associate, is another solid contributor. At the convention, she was named Employee of the Quarter for the SouthEast Region for the quarter ending March 2006.

The rest of the staff includes part-time senior business advisor Christina King along with business advisors Jennifer Leach, Shannon Clark, Patricia Kernan, Christina Miles and Kathy Bowles.

While business advisors in other offices routinely make cold calls on potential small business customers, Daigrepont describes what her staff does as “visiting” with clients. It’s more a Southern-type of approach that seems to have struck a chord with Louisville area entrepreneurs.

‘It’s like an Emmy Award’

“Cold calling can be so impersonal,” she said. “We can’t come in and do a little demonstration. We try to build that level of trust and relationship from the start. I just think we’ve been good at that. We’re just good at visiting.”

Daigrepont noted that her staff has remained together and that means a lot to clients.

“Everyone has been here four to seven years,” she said. “It’s the same crew of people and three have been here longer than I have.”

She proudly accepted the award at the convention on behalf of her staff and it’s an honor that will be prominently displayed in their office.

“It’s like an Emmy Award because it’s very shiny and pretty,” she said. “We’ve got to get the award framed so we’re going to start a spot and hope to fill it up [with more of these].”

Stephen Parezo is the Media Manager for Fiducial.

Whatever your small business needs, your Fiducial tax and financial professional can analyze your situation and recommend an appropriate action plan. To locate a Fiducial office nearest you on fiducial.com, see the Zip Code Locator located in the upper right hand corner of the page. Do you have a particular topic that we should be writing about that can help your business? Please send your suggestions to: stephen.parezo@fiducial.com.

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