the thought and calculation that goes into pruning a client list.
by ed mendlowitz
question: i want to clean out my client list of small tax clients because i am just too jammed during tax season, and don’t have enough business to hire someone. should i just drop the lowest-paying 10% of my clients?
response: i never like dropping clients unless you just can’t stand them and are losing money on them and they never referred any new business to you. however, there are times when it is smart to prune your client list.
many times practices grow where you take every client that comes along. for some that is a good strategy. for others, the strategy could be to accept only the type of clients you feel you could service best and can get the right fees. we are in a personal service business and we make our money by the work we personally do or personally are responsible for and personally supervise. we literally give up part of our lives for the benefit of our clients (and also to make our living). somehow the living comes – for some a little higher and for others a little lower, but it comes. it is the way we want to spend our time that we need to control.
this starts with a clear assessment of your abilities and what gets you charged up, and where you think you can help clients the most, and for which they are willing to pay your fee based somewhat on the value of what you contribute to them. regardless of when you started and how much you might have strayed from your original plan, you can always do an up-to-date assessment and start from that point going forward.
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