Train Your Clients Well
Source: Solutions for CPA Firm Leaders
The following includes excerpts, reproduced with permission, from a blog entry by Rita Keller.
Do you have partners who are always on top of the accounts receivable for the clients they are assigned? Do you have partners who seem to have an unusual amount of slow payers on their client assignment list? In my experience, most firms have partners who fill both of these roles.
If you are honest with clients as they begin the relationship with you and clearly explain the firm's expectations, past-due accounts receivable and many other problems remain absent. I like to see firms use a “commitment statement” at the beginning of any client engagement stating what the firm will do and what the client will do.
Seth Godin had a good blog post recently on this topic titled, “Train Your Customer.” He noted that we (by our actions) can train them to do good things and some not-so-good things, such as:
- Be respectful
- Be patient
- Spread the word
or:
- Expect pampering
- Demand free
- Be cheap
Why not include a statement of client commitments along with the welcome letter you send every new client outlining your collection policy. One of the biggest challenges I hear from firm administrators is the fact that partners will not actually talk to clients about paying late, submitting their tax information at the last minute, and so on. I believe that clients actually wonder what they are supposed to do and are waiting on someone to tell them.
For the complete entry, read “The Client's Responsibilities.”
From Solutions for CPA Firm Leaders, the blog of Rita Keller, August 10, 2012. Visit http://ritakeller.com/blog/.