How to Kill a Client Relationship Before It Begins

Just hours before a big snow storm we had on the East Coast this past winter, I learned that my landscaper would not be able to plow my driveway because his truck had broken down.  So with such short notice, I took a chance and called a phone number I noticed on my way to the grocery store advertising snow plowing services.  No name, just a number.

When I phoned the number, the young man on the other end did not identify himself and I had to state what I was looking for (Clue #1)   The conversation was pleasant enough and the young man stated that he would have my driveway plowed between 7 AM and noon the next day.  We agreed upon a price and all that was left to do was to wait for the snow to fall.

The snow fell as predicted and the next day I waited for this young man to come and plow my driveway.  I waited and I waited and I waited.  (Clue #2)  There was a lot of snow so I was giving him the benefit of the doubt that he was a little behind schedule.

At 1:30 PM I decided to check in, just to see what was going on and ensure he had not forgotten me. (I was already wary of his reliability just from my first conversation with him.  He had not introduced himself; he had no definite method for telling me how he charged for his service, and; he forgot to ask me for some crucial information – my name and address.) 

I reached him without a problem and he shared with me a very nice “story” about why my driveway had not yet been plowed.  (Clue #3)   He then promised he would have my driveway plowed within the hour.  So again, I waited.  Instead of him showing up as communicated, I received another phone call telling me there would be another yet delay.

At this point, I was done.  In just these brief interactions with this young man I lost all faith and trust in his ability to provide any type of service.  I formed a negative opinion of him and no matter what he said I was at the point of no return. 

The fastest way to lose a new or existing client is to not do what you say you will, when you say you will.  

The fastest way to retaining a client is keeping your word and doing what you say you will, when you say you will.  Fastest

Want to know more?  Click here to see all of the resources for freelance bookkeepers.  Don’t forget to sign-up for my f^ree webinar “Lead Generating Strategies That Keep Your Pipeline Full”

Communicating Client Roles & Responsibilities

There are many business owners who like to delegate their bookkeeping by abdication.  They think that as long as there is someone else handling the books, they don’t have to think or do anything to assist in the process.  If not corrected, this attitude will result in major frustration for you which is definitely something we want to avoid!

As you begin working with new clients, it is very important to let those clients know what their role and responsibilities are in your working relationship.  Again, I will refer back to the payroll processing companies.  When you sign up with them, the sales rep tells you:

□ what information is needed to get you started on their system;
□ what information you will need to supply for each payroll, and;
□ how to supply that information.

If the client doesn’t comply with any of these steps, the service cannot and is not provided!

Create a standard “Getting Started Guide” where you begin to communicate your process to the client and what happens if they do not provide you with the information that is needed.  Bookkeeping is a little more complex than payroll processing because we work with the uniqueness of each business.  So while the debits and credits are the same from client to client, the execution (frequency, who prints the checks, etc.) will vary.

Stating it boldly lets the client know you are serious and gives them the opportunity to decide if working with you and your firm is a fit for them or not. (Remember, you only want to work with businesses who take bookkeeping seriously.)  Here is a sample of the language I use:

Your Role and Responsibilities in Our Working Relationship
The success of our working relationship lies in both my team and your team knowing what is expected and when.  It is our highest priority to provide you and your business with the best financial expertise and information that we can, which is why we need your assistance in:

□ Providing us with the requested information when due.
□ Being available for questions and occasional meetings.
□ Understanding that we work with other clients in addition to working with you.

You, doing your part, is crucial to the success of our working relationship and if you or someone on your staff cannot:

□ Routinely set aside time in your schedule to gather and submit to us the information that we need when due;
□ Be available to answer questions and occasionally meet, and;
□ Have emergency requests be the exception and not the rule,

I regret to inform you, we are not the bookkeeping service for you. 

We routinely set aside time in our schedule to specifically work on your account and give you our undivided attention.  When your information is expected and not received, or we cannot obtain answers to our questions it affects the quality of the work we are providing and creates a lot of frustration for both you and us.

We keep our requests simple and are very respectful of your time and expect the same treatment back.

The language I use clearly tells the client our expectations of them in our working relationship.  I am teaching the client how we like to be treated.  As they read this paragraph they know whether or not they can comply with the requests.  The really nice thing is that once people know what is expected of them, they will rise to meet and exceed that expectation.

Want to know more?  Click here to see all of the resources for freelance bookkeepers.  Don’t forget to sign-up for my f^ree webinar “Lead Generating Strategies That Keep Your Pipeline Full”

Weekly Prosperity Quote

In the middle of difficulty, lies opportunity

~Albert Einstein~

7 Ways to Manage Even the Most Difficult Client

We’ve all had one.That client who on a good day is not the easiest person to get along with! Managing them can drain your energy and make you cringe each time the phone rings!

But that is exactly what you need to be doing – managing them and all of your client relationships. Taking the lead in your client relationships places you in a proactive position and will even help you to anticipate even your most difficult client’s needs.

The key to a happy client relationship is being clear and in charge of how you are providing your services and then communicating exactly this to your client. You don’t need to provide them with every detail of how you run your business, just enough information to give them a sense of understanding so that the questions in their mind are answered.

How can you proactively manage even the most difficult client?

There are many ways clever ways you can manage your client so that they feel cared for and regard you and your business with trust and respect. Here are seven simple ways to get you started.

• Routinely Check In With Your Client . Reach out to your client to say hello and check-in and see how they and their business are doing. Remember, to keep the call short and professional. The purpose of this call is to not follow-up on any missing information you may need from the client. It is purely a feel good call.
• Plan Ahead. Make it a point to plan at least three months in advance for all of your client accounts. This will help you to anticipate their needs and place you in a proactive position. Be sure and discuss what is coming up for your client directly with them so that they gain the sense that you have their needs covered.
• Create A Set Schedule for Client Work. Creating a set schedule for when work will be performed on each client account helps everyone involved with the account to relax and know when events are going to occur. This helps clients to know when to submit their information for processing and when the finished product will be returned to them.
• Say What You Do and Do What You Say. If you tell your client you are going to do something and have it completed at a specific time, be sure that is what you are doing! Saying you will do one thing and then not delivering what you have promised creates distrust in the eyes of your client.
• Ask for Feedback on Your Services and Listen to Your Client. This may be hard at first. I guarantee you that you will garner some very important information that will not only help you to improve your services, it will also help you forge a stronger working relationship with your client.
• Send out a Quarterly Recap Report. Once a quarter, send your client a brief one-page overview recapping the events of the previous quarter and HOW you helped them. I cannot even begin to write about the many benefits you will reap from this recap report.
• Share Your Successes With Your Clients. Everyone likes to hear good news and be associated with people who are successful. Be sure and share when you add someone to your staff or if you’ve added new technology to enhance the services you will be providing to your clients.

Remember, it’s that personal connection that matters most and will help you to create long-lasting client relationships.

Take some time today to think about how YOU can better manage your client relationships. Then chose at least one of the 7 ways listed above to implement this month. Who knows, that grumpy client could become your biggest advocate!

What To Do With a Prospect You Wouldn’t Wish on Anyone?

Sometimes the prospective client you are speaking with is just not pleasant and is definitely someone you don’t want to work with.  The more you speak with this person, the more you know that your personalities are not a match for one another.  Also, you’ve further decided this is someone you would not to refer to anyone! 

When this is the case, you will need to firmly but graciously inform the prospect that you are not the right firm for their needs and you don’t know of anyone who can help them at this time.  Here’s a simple script I’ve used on more than one occasion.   

“[Name] from what you are describing it does not appear that our firms are a fit for working with one another and right now I’m not sure that I know of anyone directly that is.  What I would suggest is that you contact the chamber of commerce in your town.  Even if you’re not a member, they will usually provide you with a reference to someone who is in their member directory.  I appreciate your taking the time today to tell me about your business and its needs and I wish you the best of luck.”

Use this script even if your company does provide the services that they are looking for. 

Remember if your intuition is giving you anything but a green light, listen to it!  Be firm and hold your ground.  The prospective client will get the message.

Want to know more?  Click here to learn more about my 8-step easy-to-use and easy-to-implement process on How to Qualify a Prospect & Work With Clients You Love!

Why 9 Times Out of 10, Immediately Speaking with a Cold Lead is a Bad Idea

Let’s say you are in the middle of working on something you need to have to your paying client in an hour and the phone rings with a cold lead on the other end.  Your first inclination of course, is to take the time and speak with this person because, duh, it’s potential new business! 

You spend the time on the phone only to hang up frustrated.  At the top of the call the prospect stated how quickly they wanted to move forward on finding a resource for their bookkeeping only to hang up 45 minutes later without a way to contact them back!  Now you need to scramble to complete the work for your paying client which needs to be to them in 15 minutes.  You’re angry with yourself for having wasted time talking to this prospect and now you are under the gun to get your client what they need.

Okay, so that didn’t work out so well.   What do you do in these instances? 

If you are a solo-provider or do not have a dedicated person on staff to answer phones.  It’s very simple don’t answer your phone while completing client work, especially when there’s a deadline involved!  In my firm, we did not have a full time dedicated person to answer the phone and we followed the practice that when working on a client account we did not answer the telephone.  Instead we had specific, scheduled times where we would pick up messages and return calls.  If you have a dedicated person on staff to answer phones, they can say the following:

“Thank you so much for contacting our firm.  [First Name] is the person who speaks with all prospective clients about our services and he/she is not available right now.  If you would like, we offer a free 30-minute phone consult with [First Name] that I can schedule for you now.”

At this point the cold lead may either schedule the free consult or decide they are not ready to do that at this time.  But either way you are not being pulled from working on a paying client to chase a fire that doesn’t exist.

Want to know more?  Click here to learn more about my 8-step easy-to-use and easy-to-implement process on How to Qualify a Prospect & Work With Clients You Love!

Remove the Need to Bring in More Cash as the Reason to Work With Someone

“I have to sign this prospective client because I need the money that I’ll earn from this account.  I will say “yes” to whatever it is that they want and I’ll worry about how to handle it later. ”

In this mindset my main focus is on the money and I am desperate to do anything it will take to sign this new client, including discounting my rate and agreeing to provide services I may not be comfortable providing.  I am sacrificing all of my needs and the way I operate my business to meet the needs of the prospect and make them happy.

A prospective client can smell the fear a mile away and when you are operating from a place of desperately needing cash, you are operating from a place of fear.  When a prospect smells fear they will usually try and negotiate the fee you have quoted downward and/or ask for additional services to be included for the same price. 

This is a huge red flag even if you are operating from a place of fear.  It is really important that you pay attention to that gut feeling.  You know the one.  If you allow this prospect to become a client they usually have unrealistic expectations of you and your services and will always ask for some sort of compromise.

So how can you prevent this from happening?  By teaching this client how to properly work with and treat you and your business and this begins during your qualifying phase, in your initial conversations.   

When your main focus is on the money you will meet your short-term goal of bringing in a couple of hundred dollars a month but, remember, that couple of hundred dollars could end up costing you thousands!

Want to know more?  Click here to learn more about my 8-step easy-to-use and easy-to-implement process on How to Qualify a Prospect & Work With Clients You Love!

Weekly Prosperity Quote

The marksman hitteth the mark partly but pulling, partly by letting go.

 ~Egyptian Proverb~

Mindset and the Prospective Clients?

No matter how a prospective client finds you and your business, it is important that you qualify them to ensure you are a fit for one another.  Gone are the days where you think and feel that you don’t have a say in who you work with and how!

During the pre-screening process in my 8-step easy-to-use and easy-to-implement system, each party is interviewing the other and establishing their opinion about whether or not it makes sense to work together.  The way you interact with one another during this initial phase plays a large part in the tone of the working relationship should you both decide to work together.

The other factor that shapes the tone of the working relationship is the mindset you are operating from when speaking with a prospective client.  From the moment we begin interacting with a prospect the groundwork for the tone of that working relationship is being established.

The best mindset to be operating from is one of neutrality when interviewing a prospective client, keeping in mind that your sole objective is to determine whether or not you are a fit for working with one another.

Once you know that you are a fit for working with one another then and only then, is it time to turn your attention to moving the prospect to the next step which is either referring them to your bookkeeper network or scheduling a paid Bookkeeping Evaluation.

Want to know more?  Click here to learn more about my 8-step easy-to-use and easy-to-implement process on How to Qualify a Prospect & Work With Clients You Love!

Are You and Your Client Right for One Another?

When you receive a referral from a colleague, or a lead from one of the list directories, it is important that you qualify whether or not that individual and business and your firm are a fit for working with one another.

What do I mean by fit for working with one another? 

When your business needs and parameters within which you operate, are a match for the business needs and parameters within which the client operates. 

This means not trying to be everything to everyone! I know how talented people in our industry are which naturally translates into our being able to meet the vast and diverse needs of the businesses we work with.  The key to success is doing it in such a way that supports the way we operate our business.  Not constantly transforming ourselves to fit into the way our clients operate their businesses’.  And that success starts with your understanding:

□ What services your business offers

□ How those services are offered

□ Who you like to work with and why

Before I transformed my client base, I had no real understanding of those three critical elements which is why for every one client that I loved working with, I was working with two, who were making my life difficult.

Too often service providers place the needs their clients before their own.  Before long, find themselves endlessly working around the clock.  This only leads to burn out and resentment.  But it doesn’t have to be that way.

Think about outsourced payroll companies like ADP or PAYCHEX.  When you work with them, they explain to you their process for doing payroll. If you want to their services, you must prepare your payroll within their parameters.  Otherwise your staff won’t get paid.  Your freelance bookkeeping firm can require the same thing. 

Want to know more?  Click here to learn more about my 8-step easy-to-use and easy-to-implement process on How to Qualify a Prospect & Work With Clients You Love!

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