Client Problems

Let's face it, the job would be alright if it wasn't for the clients.

Sound Familiar? Of course it does - 80% of our problems come from 20% of our clients, and yet, we are reluctant to tell them to shape up or ship out.

The same clients who expect us to have their affairs in order before anyone elses, who want evening or weekend appointments, who curse at the amount of the bill, on whom we never recover anywhere near the amount of time we spend on their file - these very same people are the ones who take three months or more to pay us.

That doesn't seem fair in my book, so I did something about it, and so can you.

To give you an example, I'll outline a case that I dealt with as a Partner in a local firm:

The Case Of Tom

Tom was a middle-aged man who had never been in business before. He had owned a row of small houses and collected rent from them - in partnership with his Brother - for many years. He also worked at a local garage - as a car cleaner.

The property was an inheritance from their Father.

Tom's Brother came upon hard times and talked Tom into selling these properties. The market was at its peak and they negotiated a great deal with a commercial property company who bought the properties, but, of course, this would trigger a substantial capital gains tax bill for the Brothers, and as the properties were not classed as business assets, there was no rollover relief available.

With a large (and I do mean large) six-figure sum in his Bank account, Tom bought the Garage where he worked and spent a small fortune renovating it and buying a stock of used cars for the showroom.

Then he came to me, REALLY needing an Accountant for the first time in his life. After explaining the capital gains situation to him, he was not happy. Then, we sat down and worked out his finances and he realized he had overspent on the garage renovations and was going to face an uphill battle to keep the business afloat.

We prepared a business plan and cashflow forecast and raised some working capital from a local bank, so Tom was a happy client and paid his fees promptly.

After about a year, a serious downturn in the economy hit the motor trade. He had paid his Capital Gains Tax bill, used up all his finance on keeping the garage afloat, and was facing very tough times indeed.

He became a real problem, looking to me to solve his worries, and in many cases we can do a great deal - but we cannot make people buy his cars - especially in a recession!

He would call into my office, without an appointment, sit and rant for an hour about his problems, wouldn't take my advice on cost-cutting, budgeting, marketing and a wide range of other issues where Tom had problems.

He'd often call at home for advice, then not take action. He'd be late in getting his tax papers into me to complete his returns. He'd rant and rave that it was MY fault that he was paying a late filing penalty.

Work in progress on his affairs went through the roof as he came in to let off steam on a regular basis.

He didn't want quarterly management accounts prepared - a condition upon which the Bank financed his new venture. He didn't want his tax returns completed. He didn't pay me my long-outstanding fees, and, before long, he was facing bankruptcy.

As you can imagine, he rapidly went from an "A" grade client, to a "D" who had to go.

I learned a great deal from my relationship with Tom.

I learned:

I let a few clients go this way, but do you know what? My practice income, and the bottom line, BOTH increased substantially, as did my personal enjoyment of my professional work. (There IS a real correlation between these factors.) The additional time I free'd up was spent on some creative marketing and before long I was swamped with new clients.

This is where we have to have the courage of our convictions - to let clients go when we do not enjoy working with them anymore. Often a Sunday night with my family would be ruined simply because I knew "Client X" was coming in to see me on Monday morning, and I was getting the "Sunday Evening Dreads". Letting a few bad apples go provided an overwhelming feeling of relief and freedom, and my chargeable time was spent entirely on clients who valued and appreciated my time, and paid me promptly for it.

This information, and more, is included in our 19 Chapter, 182 page eBook, "Low Cost High Impact Ways To Win New Clients" available from our products pages at just $49.95.

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