where is your energy best spent?
by gary bolinger
all firms have low-value clients. sometimes, they take more time than they are worth. there is never any growth with those clients. same thing, year after year.
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it isn’t all that much fun to work on those engagements. these clients are generally interested in the lowest fee possible, but they create a lot of work or anxiety in many ways.
you know who they are, but you hesitate to get rid of them. most cpas are not very good at “firing” those clients. this might be the fear factor … how will i replace that revenue? (even though it isn’t very much in many cases.)
firms need to increase focus on the high-value clients and prospects. nurture those clients and prospects. engage with those clients to maximize their value and increase client spend. show the prospects how your firm is different and better for them. focus on advisory services.
dump your low-value clients and don’t bring on new ones. do it now because if you let them hang around, you won’t have the time to invest in your high-potential clients and prospects. those are the clients who will help build a stronger practice.
it’s the 80-20 rule. the 80-20 rule asserts that 80 percent of outcomes (or outputs) result from 20 percent of all causes (or inputs). in business, a goal of the 80-20 rule is to identify inputs that are potentially the most productive and make them the priority (the 20 percent that create the 80 percent in fees). when a practitioner identifies factors that are critical to fee generation, they should give those factors the most focus. according to investopedia, the pareto principle can be applied, especially to those businesses that are client service-based.
so, this 80-20 thing conceived by vilfredo pareto is a concept, not a hard and fast rule of running a business. but do a quick analysis of your book of business. you might just look at the clients generating 50 percent of your revenue. how many clients is that? how many clients make up the other 50 percent of revenue?
would it make sense to increase client spend with the clients generating the top 20 to 30 percent of your annual fees? would it likely be easier to get those clients to increase their spend with you? well, of course. but so many practitioners continue the clients who aren’t going to spend any more no matter what.
the way that you will get those top clients to increase their spend is through advisory services. forward-looking, strategic services that will enhance the business of the client in the longer term. advisory services mean that you will engage with the client in new ways to uncover business opportunities, strategies and innovations that you have never discussed with the client.
to be successful in this strategic initiative for your client base, you will need to develop advisory processes that are repeatable with other clients. you will need to develop methods that will help you understand the client in new ways. you will need to get beyond the traditional approaches to client service. this will take some time. if you develop the right approach and deploy those methods in a thoughtful way, increased client spend will be the result.
2 responses to “advisory vs. low-value clients”
joe eckelkamp
i used to be a “carrying you out of your shield” guy, but i realized that meant my practice would have little to no value when it was sold.
mark c.
i have about 1000 “low value” clients. i also have a staff that handles most of the pencil pushing. i spend most of my time talking on the phone or in person with clients with questions or interviewing new clients. the practice is a real cash cow and they will have to carry me out on my shield since i have no retirement plans.