{"id":118837,"date":"2024-01-03t11:57:52","date_gmt":"2024-01-03t16:57:52","guid":{"rendered":"\/\/www.g005e.com\/?p=118837"},"modified":"2024-08-29t23:54:10","modified_gmt":"2024-08-30t03:54:10","slug":"by-frank-stitely-get-clients-to-understand-firm-processes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/\/www.g005e.com\/2024\/01\/03\/by-frank-stitely-get-clients-to-understand-firm-processes\/","title":{"rendered":"get clients to understand firm processes … or say goodbye"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/strong><\/p>\n with just a little advanced marketing, you can get paid year-round and have more satisfied clients.<\/strong><\/p>\n by frank stitely<\/em> when i\u2019m frustrated, here\u2019s how i explain the importance to clients of letting us work our process:<\/p>\n \u201cwhen you get your car repaired, you don\u2019t look over the mechanic\u2019s shoulder and tell him which wrench to use. the same principle applies to us. if you knew the best ways to prepare tax returns, you should become our competitor.\u201d<\/p>\n more: <\/b>train now before it costs you down the road<\/a> | keep clients from \u201cbalance due\u201d shock<\/a> | it\u2019s ok to say no to clients (even the large ones)<\/a> | you train your clients, whether you mean to or not<\/a> | business owners face one of three exits<\/a> | how small firms can win the talent wars<\/a> | do you know your turnaround time?<\/a> let\u2019s be perfectly honest with each other.<\/p>\n there\u2019s a reason you aren\u2019t actively training clients to allow you to work efficiently. you\u2019re afraid that you\u2019ll lose clients.<\/p>\n i guarantee that you will. you fear losing clients because you fear you can\u2019t replace them.<\/p>\n that\u2019s a marketing problem.<\/p>\n this isn\u2019t about marketing. however, here\u2019s frank\u2019s rule of marketing. revenue cures a multitude of ills. many of you shut down your marketing efforts years ago. you stopped marketing because you feared that you couldn\u2019t manage growth.<\/p>\n you couldn\u2019t manage growth because your existing clients made you inefficient. you need a steady stream of new prospects to select the ones who add value to your practice. a steady stream of new clients removes the fear of losing the bad ones. you\u2019ll want to fire the bad ones.<\/p>\n i inherited a large-revenue client from my retiring partner a couple of years ago. we billed them nearly $18,000 per year on a fixed-price contract.<\/p>\n my retiring partner had dealt with the owner for years and had a great personal relationship.<\/p>\n i took over the relationship as the owner retired and passed the company to his sons. in the middle of my second year with them, i had some serious misgivings. first, they weren\u2019t a very profitable client for us. i was unhappy with the time we were spending on what seemed like a never-ending growth in new tax returns for us to prepare. they were also sensitive about price.<\/p>\n worse than the money, however, they wouldn\u2019t take advice, and then they would complain about the consequences. one of the sons wanted to decide when i could take a vacation, because he wanted to close his books in mid-december \u2013 not the end of the year. why? he wanted to take a vacation the last week of the year.<\/p>\n how many red flags do you need to see this is a bad client? apparently, i needed one more. i had a phone call to discuss a draft tax return with one of the sons.<\/p>\n he said, \u201cyou don\u2019t know who you\u2019re talking to.\u201d yes, i did. i was talking to an ex-client.<\/p>\n we have a steady stream of new clients that gives us the freedom to say no, even to a big-revenue client. i would rather have four $4,500 clients than one $18,000 client. large clients think they own you and want to control the relationship. that\u2019s how you end up doing bad things.<\/p>\n our saying is, \u201cwe\u2019ll replace them by close of business today.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" with just a little advanced marketing, you can get paid year-round and have more satisfied clients.<\/strong>
\nthe relentless cpa<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n
\nexclusively for pro members. <\/span><\/strong>log in here<\/a> or 2022世界杯足球排名 today<\/a>.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\n
\nclients have trained you to be inefficient. they\u2019ll resist retraining. some of them will leave and infect someone else\u2019s practice.<\/p>\n
\n<\/a>
\nby frank stitely<\/em>
\nthe relentless cpa<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1362,"featured_media":121083,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3120,3002,2246],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-118837","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pro-member-exclusive","category-special","category-busy-season"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n