Client relations

“Tis the season for fee increases” is a song I hum every year in late December. This has always been a good time for me to review the year and fee structure with clients.

Today, at many smaller firms, client service partners generate, on average, about 1,500 to 1,600 billable hours per annum.

I had a meeting recently with an accountant and was led into his office while he was on the phone. I overheard him telling a client that he wouldn’t be able to get his work done as promised because his humongous client needed something done right away, and “you know how that is!”

I have found that clients, while they completely trust us for everything in their business, professional and financial lives, do not trust us when we price our services.

Thanks to technology, we see clients less, but speak and interact with them more, maintaining and strengthening the relationship.

Or do you just want to carp about the one that got away?

How would your firm's culture change if your best clients were always in the room?

A month ago I wrote that I “gave away consulting and coaching” services. However, that is not the whole story and because of the calls I got, here is some more of what I did and do.

It is significantly more expensive to attract a new client to an accounting firm than to invest in client retention.

Clients buy something they need or solutions to problems, not hours. Here is a situation that has actually occurred in a client’s legal matter.

What's the best way to evaluate the performance of your firm's employees?

As a follow-up to last week’s column on determining what to charge, this column will explain a way to determine your hourly rate should you decide to bill using that method.

Art Kuesel on how communication and trust will make a professional indispensable to a client.

How does one properly handle the various ways a death affects each co-worker, client and the firm itself?

Accounting professionals have the potential to become their clients' most trusted advisors. Here's how to achieve that trust.

There are two types of accountants—those who do their work with blinders and those with wide-open eyes. Both can do competent jobs for their clients, but the ones with the wide-open eyes grow and can do far better work for their clients.

Accountants should start building programs to make the most of the 80/20 rule

Art Kuesel presents eight, post-busy season questions to help deepen firm relationships with patrons.

I think branding is very important. Everyone and every business has a brand. Inattention to branding creates a brand that might not be what you would like, but nevertheless you will have a brand. Branding needs deliberate attention.

Of all the obstacles to success in accounting, accountants' own fears may be one of the most important. Consultant Phil Whitman discusses the many ways the profession gets in its own way -- and how to overcome them.