For most service businesses, getting and retaining clients is just as important as providing a great quality service. For example, think about client retention in another industry: You might be the most talented painter in the world, but if you wanted to turn professional and the market for selling paintings suddenly disappeared, you wouldn’t be in business long.
Fortunately for those artists, there’s a massive worldwide market for paintings—as is the case with bookkeeping services. Even if you’re confident in your ability to provide a quality service, you can’t afford to neglect intentional efforts to retain firm clients. If you’re new to this idea or not confident in your abilities, use the following tips as low-hanging fruit to help you build a foundation of bookkeeping client retention.
In previous generations, this practice was almost universal. Client meetings are of course still common among bookkeeping firms, but in today’s digital-first era when people can be available with a few taps on a smartphone or clicks on a computer, some firms don’t have in-person meetings with their clients as often as they should.
The specific frequency, length and channel used for client check-ins is at your own discretion. We’ve found that it helps to have a tight agenda for what will be discussed, and don’t be afraid to cancel a meeting if everything is going smoothly—Is anything worse than sitting through a meeting that could have been an email?
It may not be immediately obvious how employee development impacts client satisfaction. But the link isn’t hard to understand when you spend some time thinking about it.
As a firm owner or leader, you don’t get to work with all of your clients every day. They’ll spend more time interacting with your team members for ordinary project management requests that keep the ball moving forward.
That’s why it makes sense to do all you can to train your employees and improve their skills. More capable employees will require less of the firm’s resources, solving problems faster and keeping clients happier. Investing in employee development may not be directly connected to client retention, but it’s one of the most accessible and valuable ways to improve firm retention rates over the long haul.
We’ve spoken to traditional bookkeepers who want to do everything in an outdated, inefficient method simply because it’s what they’re used to doing. But firms with this mindset overlook one key point: automation and software technology doesn’t just benefit internal operations.
Most clients will also appreciate it when things are taken care of for them without manual effort. Think about a client who needs to pay an invoice – with traditional methods, they might have had to mail a check or stop by their firm’s offices to render payment.
Thanks to software automation, firms can generate an invoice document and send it to their clients automatically. If the right payment processing tools are in place, the client can even send payment directly from the invoice using a bank account or credit card.
While it may seem inefficient or overly sentimental, one of the simplest ways to stand out in our digital, highly online world is to use a more traditional method of reaching out to clients.
A direct phone call or seasonal card sent in the mail will likely be more memorable than one of the dozens of emails or text messages your clients receive every day. If it’s feasible, you might even try to swing by a client’s office to chat with them for a few minutes about your service and how you can improve.
Sure, these methods are a little dated and may not be the most efficient, but if done right they will move the needle. As the famous startup investor Paul Graham once wrote, sometimes you have to do things that don’t scale to get your organization where you want.
There will always be a certain number of things your clients must do in order for you to work with them as a bookkeeping firm.
Many of these are forms and documents that are legally required to be filled out and signed by your clients. But other types of onboarding tasks like setting up client portals or payment processing methods are more flexible. Your firm has the ability to decide how you handle these elements, so why not make them as easy as possible for your clients?
One of the best ways to strengthen your client retention and give them a great experience right from the beginning is by setting up bookkeeping practice management software. These tools can handle key workflows across several departments of your business, from file sharing to eSignature collection on important paperwork.
With one platform handling multiple tasks, you and your clients won’t have to worry about time wasted on switching platforms and can instead focus on making the professional relationship a long, fruitful one.
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