Getting the Client is Only Half the Battle

Four must-do’s for outstanding client retention.

by Bruce W. Marcus / Exclusive to CPA Trendlines
Professional Services Marketing 3.0

In the CPA firm with a strong marketing culture, getting the client is only half the battle. The other half is keeping the client. It’s done with more than just doing good work. In fact, most clients, surveys tell us, don’t really know how good or how bad your work is. Why should they? It’s not the business they’re in. They have to trust the professional.

Independent studies also show that a large percentage of accounting clients are dissatisfied with the levels of service from their accountants. Clients are given no foundation for understanding what’s being done for them, nor are reasonable expectations defined. What basis do clients have, then, for being satisfied?

Bruce W. Marcus
Bruce W. Marcus

More on marketing strategy for large and mid-size firms:  Practice Development: It’s Not Rocket Science  |  Nine Fundamentals for a Healthy Marketing Culture in an Accounting Firm   |  What Accounting Firms Need to Understand to Grapple with Radical Change   |   Six Reasonable Goals for CPA Firm Marketing     |    The Tools of Marketing Are Not a Program – They Are Simply Tools     |    Is Your Marketing Program Really a Program?     |    Six Metrics for Marketing ROI     |    How to Formulate the Right Marketing Goals for Your Firm     |     Get Real: 15 Questions for Achievable Growth     |     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

The reality is that this new world is competitive in ways that it’s never been before. Ask your clients how many times they’ve been approached by your competitors, and pursued aggressively. And then ask yourself if you can continue to be sanguine about keeping your clients happy, on a day-by-day basis. READ MORE →

Five Things Accountants Take for Granted That Costs Them Real Money

What we know that clients don’t even know they need.

By Sandi Leyva

I’m pretty sure that I am not the only accountant who has made the following mistakes with clients. Here are a couple of ideas to help us remember what we know that the client doesn’t and why it costs us when we forget.

More Sandi Leyva: What’s in Your New Client Funnel?  |  What’s In Your Welcome Kit for New Prospects?  |  Five Fun and Easy Ways to Wow Your Clients   |  Six Ways to Give Yourself a Raise   |  Strategies to Stop Losing Business to Competitors  |  Five Tips to Manage Your ‘Overwhelm’ Level  |  Easy Ideas for a Quick Business Boost  |  Four New Mega-Trend Marketing StrategiesHow to Stop Leaving Money on the Table

1. Clients do not know how to evaluate our technical skills.

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25 Magic Words for Career Success

Surprise: Hard work and knowledge aren’t Number 1. Neither are skills or knowledge.

by Rick Telberg

Above all else, the essential ingredient for career success as a CPA is not what you might think.

It’s not knowledge or ability; although you can’t be a CPA without either. It’s not hard work or integrity. But you won’t go far without them. In one word: It’s about “clients.” READ MORE →

Firms at Strategy Session Find Their ‘Rock Stars’

Top talent strategy session
CPA firm decision-makers hammer out the best clues to identify partner-potential professionals and how best to recruit, develop and retain them at a strategy session in Milwaukee.

Hint: It’s not about how smart they are or hard they work.

By Rick Telberg

How do you spot the hidden rock stars on your staff?

And what do up-and-coming tax, accounting and finance professionals need to know to get ahead in today’s profession?

Rick Telberg leading the strategy session
Rick Telberg leading the strategy session

These aren’t idle questions. Many firms and individuals are struggling with these issues right now. But don’t take it from me. Just listen to the decision-makers from a dozen firms I met with in a Milwaukee hotel recently. The mission: Learn how to deal with a looming new staff shortage. Some took away solid action plans. “Our firm,” said one, “is trying to develop our rock stars and this showed me we need to be doing more.” Another said, “Excellent! It gave us the details and the ‘how-to.’”

Green Team's top talent indicators notes
Green Team's top talent indicators notes

Interestingly, the Milwaukee group’s conclusions and recommendations closely parallel our related research findings. So we can be fairly certain that we’ve obtained some of the profession’s favorite strategies.

You could probably adapt one of our methods for your firm. In Milwaukee, we divided the group into two teams, the Green Team and the Blue Team. After some preliminary coaching, each team hammered out a list of the top five talent indicators – the clues in an employee’s behaviors and attitudes that demonstrate the highest likelihood of the best ROI for a firm’s time, energy, and money in training, coaching and mentoring. Then the group filled several flip chart pages with their lists and hashed them out with each other. After identifying the key indicators, we moved on to identifying the best strategies for recruiting, grooming and retaining top talent.

Blue Team's top talent indicators notes
Blue Team's top talent indicators notes

By far, the top predictive indicator across all firms is the trait, “They are always trying to improve.” It comes in a few flavors or variations. For instance, the Green Team at the Milwaukee strategy meeting favored a passion for “continuous learning.” The Blue Team preferred, “They do ‘extra credit’ – things that the partners wouldn’t normally expect from someone at their level.” But they add up to the same thing.

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How to Make Your Firm a Success Magnet

Fligel

Learn what it takes to attract the best talent and merger partners.

by Robert Fligel, CPA
RF Resources LLC

For many in the CPA business, organic growth is going to be very slow for the next several years. So, CPA firms seeking growth are:

  1. making strategic mergers or acquisitions, or
  2. bringing in new partners or groups of partners with strong books of business.

But how do you position your firm to be desirable to merger partners or new talent?

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Clark Nuber’s Six Proven Ways to Attract and Develop Talent [VIDEO]

Maybe the 150-person firm in Bellevue, Wash., has found a winning formula.

Tracy L. White

Clark Nuber is consistently ranked among one of Washington’s best places to work and the firm has an 88 percent retention rate. Tracy L. White, SPHR, Senior Director of Human Resources, shares insights into what it takes to build a dedicated staff:

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Gold Medal Client Service: Start by Returning Phone Calls

If it’s so simple, why are clients so surprised when it happens?

EDITOR’S NOTE: In the weekly Research Update (join here), we report initial results from a new nationwide survey of client attitudes. And it’s not necessarily a pretty picture. Clients are clearly becoming more demanding, with higher expectations for service and value. And yet, too many CPA firms have yet to respond to the challenge. But then, that’s good for those that do. What’s your best client satisfaction tip? Tell us here; we may quote you. — Rick Telberg

Meanwhile, here are a few of the best client stories we’ve heard so far

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