client

terrible service and failure of management

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this time, i have a question for you. but i’ll start with a story.

last sunday evening my wife and i went into a reasonably upscale restaurant and we had terrible service from everyone we interacted with.

when we were seated, the table wobbled and we asked if they could do something or move us to another table. ten minutes later someone showed up with a wad of napkins that made it worse. five minutes later they asked if we were okay, and put us at another table. ten minutes after that they took our order, but we asked for some drinks right away, which we only got after we complained to the manager. read more →

get paid faster this tax season: six good reasons to send the bill with the return

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it’s good for business and considerate to clients.

by ed mendlowitz
tax season opportunity guide

ed mendlowitz

tax season is a business and businesses need to be paid.  it is harder to justify prices when providing services rather than products.  products are usually priced before delivery while many times services are priced after delivery, i.e. performance.

more on busy season management: tax season trends, issues and opportunities 

many accountants price returns before they are worked on, usually basing the fee on last year, or a rate schedule.  sending a bill with the return establishes the relationship that you should be paid promptly for the work done. read more →

practice doctor q&a: how to get started in family office services

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ed mendlowitz cpa the practice doctor q and aincluding a sample engagement letter.

question: some of my clients are getting older and are becoming unable to handle their own financial affairs and i have been asked if i could assist them.  what is involved and how do i charge for it?

ed mendlowitz, vpa, pfs, abv, responds: many large firms provide “family office” services.  this is a complete one stop financial service that helps clients manage their money, pay their bills, collect their dividends and interest, and make sure insurance isn’t cancelled, mortgage, car lease or condo fee payments aren’t skipped, and tax payments paid on time.

more from ed: seven ways to increase fees in 2013 | 10 best practices for tax season  | nine healthy things to do during tax season  |  12 reasons to love tax season | free instant download: sample fee schedule for 1040s | ask the geek: a couple great gadgets for saving money on all your other gadgets | three and a half ways to get your own cpa practice |  also: “implementing fee increases” and “the tax season opportunity guide.”

following is a sample engagement letter that i use with clients needing such services. also, this letter provides a detailed description of what the service involves. read more →

accountants, do you know your opportunity number?

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the pragmatic six-step way to evaluate potential new clients.

by sandi smith, cpa
accountant’s accelerator

every week, do you get wonderful, exciting calls from new clients who want to use your services? you might want to talk with every one of them to get the sale. the problem is, if you do, you’re likely to go bankrupt. let me explain.

sandi smith

more for soloists and small firms from at 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间:  five ideas to reduce client price-sensitivity • rise to the top with a fresh elevator speech  •  four ways to practice entrepreneurial perseverance • 5 mistakes to avoid when seeking new clients •  the success secrets women already know  • his and her brains at work in tax and accounting  • the power of deadlines in closing a deal • on the road to a stress-free life: identify your character strengths • the missing ingredient in your marketing that will make all the difference  •

each of us has 24 hours in one day. most of us have annual revenue goals. a few of us have monthly, weekly, daily, or even hourly revenue goals. hopefully you know what your revenue goal is. (if not, you should!) if you don’t pull in that level of revenue for the week or month, then you’ve missed your plan.

let’s say you want to generate $1 million in sales for the year. on average, you need to pull in $20,000a week. that’s $4,000 a day. read more →

how long can you keep a client?

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clients say: not as long as you think.

if you’re a finance manager on the client side, what do you say?

by rick telberg

are most cpas fooling themselves?

if you ask a cpa, as 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 has been doing since 2006, how long they typically keep a client, you’ll get a fairly consistent answer through the years.

if you ask a client how long they’ve worked with their current cpa firm, you’ll also get a fairly consistent answer.

the problem is: the cpa and the client disagree. read more →

de-bunking the myth about niche marketing for tax and accounting firms

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plus, five more essential pieces to the profit puzzle.

by marc rosenberg, cpa
author of “what really makes cpa firms profitable?”

i want to de-bunk a myth about niche marketing. many cpas that i have talked to think that niche marketing means that most, or all of their business, needs to be in their niche.

marc rosenberg
marc rosenberg

related:  practice development is no longer an optional activity • 10 good ways the achieve partner accountability • pick your partners right to begin with  •  the first nine questions your partner team needs to embrace for optimal profitability  • profitability and the value of strategic thinking  • the five essential building blocks for creating a strong accounting firm • the seven signs of great leadership in a cpa firm • compensation issues for the new managing partner  •

they think they will have to stop being generalists or will have to give up all their clients outside the niche. this is absolutely not the case. read more →

when not to offer a free initial consultation

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are we giving it away too easily?

ed mendlowitz answers some of the toughest questions practitioners can throw at him. he’s the right one to ask. after more than 40 years in the business – building his own practice, running the firm, and eventually selling it to a major regional firm, withumsmith+brown, where he remains a senior partner and consultant to professional services clients – he has the answers.

related: measuring growth in yourself, staff and partners  |  what do you think you’re doing?  | can you teach judgment?  |  clients’ calls at home  | what you need to know before expanding into business valuation | asking an attorney for a referral fee  |  are partner retreats really worth the cost? | audit reports without doing the work? | should i really spend the time making checklists? | what’s a tax practice worth today? |

question: i was wondering what your thought is regarding initial consultation fees. currently, i do not charge a fee for an initial consultation, and it seems that most cpas do not charge either (at least not the sole-practitioners that i know). would the fee deter new clients or actually weed out the ones who are most likely not going to become clients anyway? if a fee is charged, then how much, and how long should the consultation last? should the fee be applied to any work that i am eventually engaged for?

it seems to be a toss-up between two different philosophies:

  • people value something more when they pay for it
  • you don’t want to create any barriers to entry

i am eager to hear your thoughts. read more →

your clients love you? what if you’re wrong?

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a short discourse on random and statistical risk. by bruce w. marcus author of professional services marketing 3.0 risks are different in context and magnitude. a good mathematician can often statistically quantify the boundaries of risk, such as telling you … continued

give clients three reasons to love you at the next meeting

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dazzle them with the pre-meeting meeting.

joey brannon
joey brannon

by joey brannon, cpa
axiom cpa

there is an old saying that “no man is an island unto himself.” this is certainly true in the world that i live in. i am nothing without my clients. so when we have time with them it is important that we use it to maximum advantage. and having an agenda in place well before the meeting starts exponentially increases the productivity and value of the experience. read more →

21 awesome ways to show appreciation

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one of the key ways to improve client and workplace relationships is by showing appreciation.

“too often” leo buscaglia, the author, once said, “we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.”

we can extend appreciation anywhere and everywhere — at home, at work, at school, and wherever you want to acknowledge those who make your life brighter.

here are a few ideas that might work for accounting firms: read more →