Do You Recognize "Bad" Clients When You See Them?

Source: Solutions for CPA Firm Leaders

The following blog post by Rita Keller is reproduced in its entirety, with permission.

Have you thought about it? If you do a better job of guarding the front door, the less hassle you and your partners have to go through to show your D-level clients the back door.

Annually, looking at your client roster and firing your D-level clients is a good exercise. However, I have found it is one of the most difficult things for shareholders to actually do.

Click here to read about the 15 habits of bad clients and how to get a free brochure from Mostad & Christensen, Inc., titled “How to Fire Bad Clients.”

During Sam Allred's pre-conference, day-long workshop on leadership at the AAA National Conference, he worked with the participants on how to ask the right kind of questions to identify the characteristics of A-level clients.

As you meet with potential clients, the better your client screening process, the quicker you will learn that you don't want them. Why waste valuable time and money chasing D-level clients? As Sam says, “You want your D-level clients and D-level potential clients to end up on your competitor's client roster.”

It's all about having a well-defined client acceptance process in place. One participant shared that they have a client acceptance committee that must approve all potential new clients before they can be added to the client roster. They often turn away “bad” clients.

To read the original blog entry, click here.

From Solutions for CPA Firm Leaders, the blog of Rita Keller, president of Keller Advisors, LLC, [email protected], June 25, 2010, “Guard the Front Door.” Visit http://cpamanagement.blogspot.com.