The economy turns a corner. According to a survey of U.S. accounting firms by Sageworks, 92% of financial professionals believe that businesses will either maintain or increase their employee count in 2012.
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Hint: The secret weapon is communications skills. by Bruce Bailey Guild Accountants While the victor in war is he who wins the last battle, every battle and every outcome is significant (even the battles you lose – we often learn more from our losses than our wins!). About three years ago we looked at our war for clients by assessing: the nature of our troops, their skills and training, the battlefields on which we would operate and the armaments we would carry.
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Good clients don’t leave their CPA on the basis of fees alone. In fact, money factors in only when the relationship isn’t valued and the difference you make is not evident. You and your team can impact that directly by delivering exceptional client service on a consistent basis.
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And dozens of possible solutions from staffers… At a recent staff workshop, there was a brainstorming session to answer some key questions about what constitutes excellence in client service. Four questions were placed on the table: 1. How can we make it easier for our clients to do business with us?
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Anticipate. Anticipate. Anticipate… Then follow through.
The Great Recession is shifting client desires and expectations in some interesting and counter-intuitive ways…
Fight for the client, and win! Enrolled agent Thomas Blair has built a thriving practice and solid reputation as a taxpayer’s advocate in IRS cases. Here are a few of Blair’s stories, in his own words: (1) Finding an overpayment of taxes of over $19,000 due to multiple errors by an unlicensed tax preparer in 2007 and getting it back so the client’s business was able to survive the tax year 2009 and 2010. (2) Eliminating a $95,000 tax bill for a dying truck driver and his aging wife via Taxpayer Advocates’ office and then on to IRS Appeals… and then getting he and his wife an additional $689 income tax and refundable credit refund! Thank God for IRS Form [...]
More firms see the problem. But fewer are doing anything about it. by Rick Telberg Just at a time when accounting firms are struggling to gain new clients and hold on to the ones they already have, client satisfaction ratings appear to be dropping. Preliminary results from a new CPA Trendlines survey show that only 16% of clients say they’d be “highly likely” to recommend their current CPA firm. That’s down from 23% in 2009, a loss of 6 percentage points, or, more graphically, a 26% rate of decline. Among the reasons clients gave for flunking their CPAs, were: “Not very attentive.” “Too expensive” “They don’t separate ‘book learning’ from the real world and it’s limitations.” “Lousy service” “Stale” “Staff [...]
Many expect to work ’til 70 and never retire, others hope to sell. The nation’s small business owners’ views regarding retirement are radically shifting, with many seeing themselves working 20 years or longer – or never formally retiring at all. As a result of longer life expectancies and the impact of the recession, the majority of small business owners can no longer embrace a traditional view of retirement, in which individuals stop working in their mid-60s for a life of leisure – something fewer than 10 percent foresee themselves doing, according to a new study by The Guardian Life Small Business Research Institute. Findings reveals that many expect to live well into their retirement years, with one in three saying [...]
Warning: Your clients’ answers may differ. By Jean Caragher and Rick Telberg SevenKeys CPA New studies conducted by The Bay Street Group and the Capstone Marketing Group illuminate several very significant gaps between the opinions of clients and their CPAs. These studies allow us to begin to understand what our clients really think. Continued at AccountingWEB.com
