If you’re like me, when you’re shopping for a service, you do a little research to make sure you’re the kind of client they want to work with. That might even be why you’re reading this right now!
At CSI Accounting & Payroll, we’ve worked with small business accounting for nearly 60 years. In all that time, we’ve had thousands of fantastic clients – and a handful of bad ones.
What makes a client “bad” if they fit the technical requirements to work with us? It all comes down to these 7 behaviors or expectations.
The 7 Businesses That Drive Us Nuts
This is about businesses (not just clients) because some don’t make it on board. At CSI, we’ve seen all of these types more than once, so we gave them some playful nicknames. Here’s what we dubbed them:
- The Ghosters
- The Free Agents
- The Bargain Hunters
- The Mood Killers
- The Meddlers
- The Financial Fumblers
- The Off-Menu Orderers
1.) The Ghosters
These clients sign up for our services and immediately disappear. They ignore our repeated calls and emails asking for their financial data, leaving our hands tied. We can’t get any of their accounting done if we can’t access their information.
The worst part? They come back to haunt us! Down the road, they blame us for not getting their work done.
This is the most common issue we run into, and it’s nearly impossible to identify The Ghosters before they strike.
2.) The Free Agents
Monthly accounting can cost more than other accounting solutions, but it provides much more value! However, some clients are happy to pay the price without taking advantage of the benefits.
These clients either don’t attend monthly meetings with their accountant, or they never take their accountant’s advice. This mostly hurts themselves, but we don’t like it either.
Why? We lose the opportunity to turn The Free Agents into case studies, statistics to brag about, great reviews, and referral sources. We may even lose them as a long-term client if they don’t see the value in what we do because they won’t let us provide it.
3.) The Bargain Hunters
These businesses contact us because they come from a cheaper, lower-level service (like an annual tax accountant) and want our higher-level service to match the price or even be lower. That’s just plain unrealistic!
The Bargain Hunters rarely come on board, but some do. How do we reel them in? We ask them why they’re leaving their annual tax accountant. If the answer is that they want higher service, we explain our value, and they sign up.
However, if the answer is that they only want to spend less on accounting, we send them in the right direction. They aren’t ready to invest in a strategic accounting method, but we can refer them to someone cheaper.
4.) The Mood Killers
This one might be obvious, but… The Mood Killers are rude to our staff. It’s never okay to talk down to your accountant, and it won’t help people get their way around here! A majority of our clients know that the best way to get an issue resolved is to talk about it calmly and kindly.
If someone resorts to name-calling, false accusations, or threats, we put them in their place right away. Maintaining a great staff is how we continue to offer all of our clients great service, so we won’t tolerate mistreatment.
5.) The Meddlers
These are the clients that we need to chase around – not because they’re not doing enough, but because they’re doing too much.
The Meddlers won’t give up control of their books. We’ve had clients keep making [incorrect] changes to their online books, so we had to keep changing those edits so we could guarantee accurate work.
Much like The Ghosters, it’s not easy to identify this type of client ahead of time – but we would prefer to avoid them!
6.) The Financial Fumblers
We always advertise that we can’t save businesses that are failing. Before we bring on a new client, we examine their financial situation. Sometimes, we see businesses that can’t pay their bills and can’t budget: The Financial Fumblers.
In those cases, we remind them that we’re protein powder – not a Band-Aid! They need to focus on their current situation before they start investing in strategic accounting. Depending on their situation, we may be able to refer them to resources that can help them.
7.) The Off-Menu Orderers
While we want businesses to explore our website a bit before scheduling a call, it doesn’t always happen. At that point, if they have questions or expectations, it’s our sales team’s job to educate them and make sure they’re a good fit to work with us.
However, sometimes wants and needs aren’t brought to our attention, or these businesses won’t take no for an answer. This results in The Off-Menu Orderers asking us to provide things we don’t offer – and getting upset that we won’t bend the rules for them.
Let’s make sure we’re on the same page! Here are some things that aren’t part of our offerings.
1 Business We’d LOVE to Work With (Yours!)
Now that you know about the seven types of businesses that drive us nuts (and are nothing like you!), are you ready to check out our monthly accounting services? Let’s create a win-win for your business and ours.
To see if we can be a good fit for your business, click the button below for a free consultation:
Not ready to talk? That’s okay! First, learn more about what it’s like to work with us by clicking the image below:
