What To Do When You Lose Your Biggest Client

And why aren’t more CPAs asking the same question?

Here at CPA Trendlines, 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. We’re happy to have him at CPA Trendlines. Send your questions for Ed here, or chime in with Comments below.

Meanwhile, browse more from Ed here:  Congratulations! You Bought a Tax Practice. Now What?  |  How Accountants Can Keep the Business When a Client Wants to Sell Theirs  |  10 Reasons Clients Don’t Pay, and What To Do about It  |  13 Reasons Timesheets Will Never Die  |  

– Rick Telberg
President / CEO

QUESTION: I have an established practice and just lost my largest client and need to get new business to make up for the loss. How do I go about getting additional clients?

ANSWER: Funny, CPAs aren’t asking me about marketing. Maybe it’s because 1) they are too busy working so aren’t thinking about marketing, 2) they really don’t like to sell; 3) they feel uncomfortable about asking existing clients for referrals and especially so if they feel they aren’t doing as good a job servicing the client as they should be; 4) they would like new business but don’t seem to want to go out of their way to get it unless it is a referral, or 5) they don’t know what “marketing” is.

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Get Real: 15 Questions for Achievable Growth

First, understand your firm.

by Bruce W. Marcus
Professional Services Marketing 3.0

In building a growth plan for your firm, perspective is important.

Objectives, clearly defined as they should be, should not be overwhelming. Nor should they be adhered to slavishly. It’s often enough to know what you want to do, why you want to do it, and how you plan to get it done.

Objectives should be consistent with a firm’s comfort level, and should certainly be ethically acceptable to both the firm and the profession practiced by the firm.

More on Professional Services Marketing 3.0:

Bruce W. Marcus
Bruce W. Marcus

– If You Don’t Know Where You’re Going, How Do You Know How to Get There?
– Eight Tips for Staying One Step Ahead of the Competition (And Maybe the Client, Too)
– Nine Things We Know For Sure about How to Grow an Accounting Firm
– The CPA’s Castle Is Crumbling
– My Address in Space: The Dynamics of Change at Accounting Firms
– Six Quick Reasons Why CPA Firms Will Never Be The Same
– 14 Steps to Find the Right “Value Price”
– It’s Not Just Accounting Anymore. Today, Everyone’s in Marketing

Instead, It must have clear objectives that are flexible enough to accommodate the dynamic nature of the market. It must focus on specific aspects of a practice, predicated on the distinctive needs of each aspect of the prospective clientele. For example, a marketing program to attract high asset individuals is different from one to attract corporations. A program to attract real estate developers is different than one to attract builders.

Practically, a firm’s growth plan should be in two parts – near-term and long-term. Near-term should be no longer than two or three years. Beyond that, there are too many variables in the economy, in law, in regulations, etc. to be valid – even with the flexibility that should be part of any plan. Longer than that, it becomes a wish list – not to be ignored, but seen for what it is – a long-term goal. The short-term goal, on the other hand, should be action-oriented, with an action plan for each goal, including who does it. READ MORE →