This is an article a younger Greg Chambers wrote for an accounting magazine.
It’s Not You, It’s Me – Surviving Client Transitions
"We've decided to hire another firm." Are there scarier words in a service-driven business? Especially a CPA firm where clients can take years to decide to hire you in the first place. There are multiple issues that impact client retention, but today I want to focus on one. The transitioning of a client between a senior partner and an associate.
From the point of view of the partner, a call like this from a past client, or worse, finding out second-hand that a client you worked with for years is leaving your firm, is maddening. "I mean, if this associate can't take care of that client and can't keep them happy, how can they be trusted with a larger book of my business?" thinks the partner.
From the point of view of the associate, inheriting a partner's accounts is a mixed blessing at best. They may have a working relationship with the client, but if there are issues, the partner handles them. The best relationships are forged in fire, and they never get the chance to play with the flame. The associate doesn't get origination credit and worse, if anything goes wrong with the account, it's all their fault.
From the client's point of view, a call from a partner, or worse, a call from a new associate telling them there's a change in account management re-frames everything. The fees clients pay to CPAs may be a small percentage of overall revenue, but the sensitive nature of the relationship sets off alarm bells and the fight-or-flight mechanism kicks in. Change is a threat.
This playing field encourages partners to hold on to accounts for too long, prevents associates from developing relationships, and is one reason why clients never contemplate change. It's a suboptimal situation. To remedy this, we have three ideas used by growing CPA firms that help partners let go of small accounts to develop larger accounts, ideas that help associates delight and amaze inherited accounts, all while delighting clients and minimizing attrition. The ideas are Perspective Check, Empathic not Telepathic, and Becoming the Future.
(read the rest of the article on my website by clicking here)
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