client service opportunities

some clients just aren’t worth the ‘mishegoss’

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by ed mendlowitz

question: i have a client i really don’t like and want to drop, but i hesitate because of the long relationship i’ve had with her, and also i don’t want to lose the income. what should i do?

response: i’ve addressed this before, but i am taking a different approach this time.

dropping clients is never easy and i don’t think should be done lightly. however, there are some instances when it needs to be done. this particular client i was called about is extremely obnoxious. not the normal grade of obnoxious, but far more so.

in fact it was one of the rare clients that i dropped. the call was from the accountant who had the client since then. i had the client six years. she’s had the client eight years – so she is much more patient than i am.

when she told the client she was dropping her, the client started to cry and beg her not to, so she changed her mind. now she wants me to tell her what to do. for beginners, i have dropped very few clients. this client was one of the nastiest people i’ve ever dealt with. she was also very nasty to her husband, treating him like s – – t, and he has since passed on.

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how to find new clients on social media

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leadtail2

study shows cfos’ key interests and topics for conversation.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间

new research into chief financial officers’ habits on twitter shows their favorite topics of conversation, how they describe themselves and their top sources of information.

any one of those could be an opportunity to make a connection, maybe even make a new client, according to business development experts. 

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the 5 first steps in targeting clients

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ed mendlowitz cpa the practice doctor q and a

how to build a plan.

by ed mendlowitz
101 questions and answers for managing an accounting practice 

question: i want to start growing my practice but am having trouble defining my target client.  i tend to accept every client i can and seem to have clients all over the place. is there anything i can do to better target my “ideal” clients? 

answer: to have a target client means you have a target. the target is the result of a plan. so, what is your plan?  read more →

i just lost my biggest client

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ed mendlowitz cpa the practice doctor q and a

by ed mendlowitz
“tax season opportunity guide“

question: i just suddenly lost my biggest client. they said they outgrew me. what could i have done to keep them?

response: maybe nothing. and at this point it may not matter, but there are some things you can do to maybe get them back in the future and stop it from happening with another client.

losing any client is not pleasant, and losing a large client hurts. and when it is sudden it hurts even more.

i will answer this in three parts.

1. how to try to salvage something from the loss.
2. how to stop this from happening in the future.
3. how to avoid being “suddenly” surprised. read more →

overcoming your clients’ worst fears

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how to help them take initiative and allow you to be proactive.

by hitendra patil
pransform inc.

neuroscience studies have shown that fear is a far bigger driver than we would ever care to admit. according to kevin hogan, author of the science of influence: how to get anyone to say “yes” in 8 minutes or less!, “most people react to the fear of loss and the threat of pain in a much more profound way than they do for gain. they overemphasize the importance of pain by about 2.5:1 in decision making.”

your customers and prospects fear that their actions or inactions will cause bad things to happen, or bad things can suddenly happen to them. it’s therefore important to ask yourself what sort of problems your potential clients are facing during current times. if you can identify their true fears and show them how you can remove the possibility of loss, you are one step ahead of your competitors. read more →

the top 20 reasons clients love their cpa firms

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by marc rosenberg
how cpa firms work

the cpa’s training is geared to identifying problems that clients are experiencing and giving recommendations for improving the company.   this leads to producing what is known as the “oh wow” feeling from a client.  efforts to super-please clients are what it takes to satisfy clients’ needs, retain them year after year and get them to make unsolicited referrals of other companies.

here are 20 things that cpas do that their clients rave about: read more →

seven reasons you need to know about “consumption marketing”

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and five ways to put it to use in your practice.

by sandi smith leyva, cpa
accountant’s accelerator

when i first heard the term “consumption marketing” i quickly fell in love with the concept.

consumption marketing is continuing to market to clients even after they’ve signed to do business with you.  it’s helping them to more fully “consume” your product or service.

consumption marketing is good for business because: read more →

accountants and six fundamental human needs

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by hitendra patil
pransform

celebrity author anthony “tony” robbins identified six fundamental human needs that everyone has in common, and states that all behavior is simply an attempt to meet those six needs.

these six human needs are certainty, uncertainty/variety, significance, connection/love, growth and contribution.

as an accounting services provider, if you can identify the ways to meet these six needs of your clients (and your staff), if you can recurrently and consistently do things that lead to clients  (and your staff) actually experiencing the satisfaction of these needs, you are more likely to improve your firm’s performance. the question to ask is, “what should i do to ensure that my services/products fulfill these needs of my clients?”

for now, let us focus on your clients. here are some suggestions on what to do to fulfill six fundamental needs of your clients. read more →

client satisfaction starts with ‘likeability’

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the science behind happy customers.

by hitendra patil
pransform inc.

in “the 9 building blocks of a winning vision that the big four have discovered,” august j. aquila and robert j. lees brought out the common vision elements of big four firms. and one of them is “put the best people at our clients’ disposal.”

it’s not common sense! it’s actually human behavioral science. you will be surprised to know how this works at a much deeper level than you think.
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