Seven reasons clients leave their CPAs

There may be 50 ways to leave your lover (according to Paul Simon), but only seven reasons clients leave their CPAs:

1. My accountant (CPA) doesn't treat me right (two-thirds of the responses).
2. CPAs ignore their clients.
3. CPAs fail to cooperate.
4. CPAs let partner contact lapse.
5. CPAs do not keep clients informed.
6. CPAs assume clients are technicians.
7. CPAs use clients as training ground for new staff.

These are from a great book and highly recommended read, The Firm of the Future: A Guide for Accountants, Lawyers, and Other Professional Services, by Ronald Baker and Paul Dunn

This is further backed up by customer loyalty research from the Rockefeller Corporation, which found 68 percent of customers defect because they believe you (or the company they do business with) do not care about them.

The good news is that you can fix this by focusing on the top 2 reasons -- treating your customers right and showing you (and your firm) care about their success. Given the uncertainties of the marketplace, these are more important than ever.

What are you doing to stay close to you clients in these uncertain and turbulent times?

Comments

[Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk]

Nice article. This is one of the reasons I recommend that my clients do regular satisfaction surveys with their clients. Oftentimes, once you know there's a problem, it's too late to correct it. I wrote on just this topic for WebCPA last fall. http://bit.ly/13bsRE

Keep up the good work!

[Chad Bordeaux]

Many of the ones beyond #1 (CPA doesn't treat them right) seem to relate back to it or be really close.

For instance, #2 (Ignore Clients) and #5 (Do not keep clients informed) are both more specific answers that relate back to #1.

I have heard a similar survey and the #1 answer was that "My CPA doesn't care about me or my business." Again, similar to #1 above.

[Geni Whitehouse]

It seems to me that the common thread running through many of these complaints is Communication - as a profession we haven't done enough to improve our skills in this area. With all the time we devote to technical skills, thanks to manadated CPE hours in many of these subjects, we shy away from courses in the soft skills which have far more to do with successful client relationships.

[Dr. Len Schwartz]

Communication really is a pertinent issue, the larger the client base, the less time you have to devote to each individual client. It's that time of year for the CPA's out there, so it is that much more difficult to a CPA to touch base with their clients consistently. And now is not the time to alienate or upset your clients!

Dr. Len Schwartz
Pres/CEO of Pro2ProNetwork

“The Largest Professional to Professional Referral Network in North America”

http://www.pro2pronetwork.com