CLIENT SERVICE OPPORTUNITIES

It starts with clients. Of course.

By Ed Mendlowitz
Call Me Before You Do Anything: The Art of Accounting

I reached a stage in my career when I thought it was important to write articles. I wrote quite a few and sent them to editors, only to have them rejected. The nice ones wrote back rejections. The not-so-nice never bothered to respond at all.

MORE: Don’t Pass Up Opportunities | When to Say No to Pro Bono Work | I Used to Hate QuickBooks | Things Change | How to Be ’the Other Guy’s Accountant’ | Why We ‘Kill’ to Get Partnership Returns Out Quickly | Becoming an Expert in IRS Collections | High CPA Fees Should Be a Client’s Goal | How Hidden Bias Taints Results
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I even had articles typed multiple times to send “originals” to various publications at the same time to no avail. At some point, I gave up but decided to write tax letters to clients.
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Are you ready to say yes?

By Ed Mendlowitz
Call Me Before You Do Anything: The Art of Accounting

I certainly have been fortunate in my career to become involved in a wide range of activities including interesting clients, great staff and partners, appearing on television, writing articles and books and presenting speeches. People always ask me what I did to get started. My answer is simple: “I never passed up an opportunity that came my way.”

MORE: When to Say No to Pro Bono Work | Large Clients We Landed from QuickBooks Consulting | 26 Value-Added Benefits Clients Need to Know | How an Out-of-Work Tax Preparer ‘Saved’ Our Lives | I Always Want to be ’The Other Guy’s Accountant’
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I have seen many accountants and others pass by – literally kicking aside – opportunities immediately in their path, and then they wonder when they will get their “big break.” What a shame for them.
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Know what you don’t know.

By Barry J. Friedman, CPA
IndustryNewsletters

An executor of a will carries out the last wishes of someone close who has died. The executor ensures that the rules that govern the administration of a probate estate are followed.

MORE: Three Steps to Giving a Raise | Seven Changes in the New Taxpayer First Act Clients Need to Know | Alternative Minimum Tax: What’s It Like Today? | 6 Key Facts About Excise Taxes | Gifts to Charity: 6 Facts about Written Acknowledgments | Yes, Home Equity Loans May Still Be Deductible
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Here are three key tasks of the executor job:
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Some people can afford to pay for your efforts – and should.

By Ed Mendlowitz
Call Me Before You Do Anything: The Art of Accounting

I just finished reading John Grisham’s novel “Gray Mountain,” about a young attorney working in a legal aid clinic. At one point she is asked to prepare a will for a woman with property worth about $200,000. This reminded me of some pro bono work I have been asked to do for people who could clearly afford it, and that caused resentment by me.

MORE: Large Clients We Landed from QuickBooks Consulting | Why We Train on Excel, Word and Adobe | Stop Pricing by the Hour | Getting by Giving Back | Some Mistakes I Made | Growing with a Client | Getting a Referral from an Adversary | Start with the Cash | Why a Break-Even Analysis Matters
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I have done my share of real pro bono work and was glad to do it. It left me satisfied that I was able to help someone. But for those who could afford it, I felt like a sap.
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Think about who you’re serving.

By Ed Mendlowitz
Call Me Before You Do Anything: The Art of Accounting

I really used to hate QuickBooks, but not anymore.

MORE: 26 Value-Added Benefits Clients Need to Know | Stop Pricing by the Hour | Getting by Giving Back | Some Mistakes I Made | Growing with a Client | Getting a Referral from an Adversary | Start with the Cash | Why a Break-Even Analysis Matters
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When QB came out, most of my small business clients were using DOS-based accounting software, and we were using similar software for our after-the-fact work. At some point we were getting new clients that had purchased QB and we needed to learn how to use it. The first few times I worked on such clients I started compiling a list of the specifics of what was “wrong” with QB.
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What are you really selling?

By Ed Mendlowitz
Call Me Before You Do Anything: The Art of Accounting

When I was starting out I read a number of books by master salesman Elmer Wheeler, who said, among many other things, “Sell the sizzle, not the steak.”

MORE: Things Change | How an Out-of-Work Tax Preparer ‘Saved’ Our Lives | I Always Want to be ’The Other Guy’s Accountant’ | Learning from Lee Iacocca Et Al. | How I Saved a Business | The Staffer Who Was Too Smart | How I Got a Mercedes as a Fee
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This left me with thoughts of always telling clients, or whomever I interacted with, about the value and benefits of dealing with me while de-emphasizing the cost.
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“We have to use what has become almost universal if we want to be connected.”

By Ed Mendlowitz
Call Me Before You Do Anything: The Art of Accounting

Innovation requires change, and many of us resist or are reluctant to change. But hopefully not me.

MORE: How an Out-of-Work Tax Preparer ‘Saved’ Our Lives | Getting by Giving Back | Some Mistakes I Made | Growing with a Client | Start with the Cash | Why a Break-Even Analysis Matters | How I Owned a Printing Company and Restaurant | Kennedy’s Acceptance Speech | What Consulting Is
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I continually look for what’s new that can be adapted to what I am doing. Sometimes it’s hard to keep up and it seems it is getting harder and harder.
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Professionals don’t operate in a vacuum.

By Ed Mendlowitz
Call Me Before You Do Anything: The Art of Accounting

I had lunch recently with a colleague who was surprised when I mentioned that I helped another accountant with a problem and “did not charge him.”

MORE: How to Be ’the Other Guy’s Accountant’ | I Always Want to be ’The Other Guy’s Accountant’ | Learning from Lee Iacocca Et Al. | Getting a Referral from an Adversary
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I know this colleague and he is a very nice person. He’s a sole practitioner and seems to like what he does, but he has always complained to me that he wasn’t growing and just kept doing the same things over and over again. He told me at the lunch that he would never help someone the way I did without charging for it.
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