advisory & consulting

you train your clients, whether you mean to or not

if you schedule it, they will come. so … stop that now.

by frank stitely
the relentless cpa

as we all know, there is a definite cost involved in not training clients. let’s look at the training that’s occurring, whether you know it or not. it actually all boils down to timing.

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here is an example of my stupidity.

i met with a client who was a software company executive. he had been a client for a dozen years, and people don’t get much smarter than he is. he drove from alexandria, virginia, to chantilly, virginia, every year. the drive is 20 miles and might seem like a 30-minute trip, but in northern virginia, it’s more like an hour.

he said, “frank, with this portal thing that you have, do i really have to come out here to hand over my tax documents? no offense. i like our visits, but it’s a long drive.”

in other words, i’m a nice guy, but not worth traveling 60 minutes to see.

he continued, “you have this portal thing where i can upload files after you post questions for me. why can’t i just upload my documents there to start the process?”

i was … well, embarrassed is probably the best non-french word. in 10 seconds, he unlocked a view of our process that maybe only an outsider could see.

we had clients posting their documents to what is now clarity practice management for a few years before this conversation. so that concept wasn’t new to me.

what was new was the idea that clients come to meetings not because they want meetings, but because we schedule the meetings. if you schedule it, they will come.

this client never before objected to the meetings because he was a smart guy. he thought the meetings were an essential part of our workflow. as a fellow executive, he wanted to be respectful of our processes.

in other words, we trained him to come to meetings that he didn’t want – and we didn’t either. this is what i mean by unintentional training. with every interaction, you train clients to do something. maybe that something should be something you value.

let’s compile a list of the client behaviors that cpas want to encourage:

  1. bring their tax documents earlier
  2. schedule only productive meetings
  3. eliminate ambush meetings and phone calls
  4. communicate electronically, not through phone calls and unsafe emails
  5. stop non-tax season service requests “i know you’re busy but …”
  6. pay for tax planning
  7. follow your firm processes

all of your behaviors and requests send messages to clients. be mindful that they are messages you want them to receive.