How to Prevent Clients from Shopping Your Fees

Source: Journal of Accountancy

In hard times, clients may start to reassess the scope of your services or even begin looking for a lower cost alternative. It is time to redouble your efforts to provide outstanding client service.

Make sure clients know you are not trying to sell them something. Demonstrate your firm's commitment to "A" and "B" clients and retain their business by offering some or all of the following activities at little or no cost:

1. Compile what you know about their industries and their companies to help them anticipate potential challenges and put plans in place to address them.
2. Attend client meetings with bankers.
3. Meet face to face with clients frequently (not only during engagements or when they call). Act as a sounding board without trying to supply all the answers.
4. Offer to review their costs to help identify possible savings on processes, vendors and suppliers.
5. Make sure your clients understand the benefits of the services you provide. For example, cost segregation studies are more than depreciable life and engineering studies. They create increases in cash flow and economic profits.
6. Do the unexpected without being asked. A CPA firm that merely responds to requests is easier to replace than one that offers unsolicited advice and best practices.
7. Let clients know that your firm is constantly working on efficiency improvements to avoid raising fees. Be willing to discuss possible fee reductions:
   1. If you know one of your "A" clients is suffering, suggest a temporary fee reduction.
   2. Don't be offended if they ask for fee reductions.
   3. Explore changes in scope that can impact the total fee--perhaps a review v. an audit for a year or two. Ask clients to be more involved in the work to save you time.
   4. Arrange payment plans.

For the complete article, click here and read "Retain Clients and Help Them Recover."

From Journal of Accountancy, American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, February 2010, p. 1, http://www.journalofaccountancy.com/Issues/2010/Feb/.