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Fourth quarter is an ideal time to be proactive with your clients and help them plan for the upcoming year while reflecting on the current one.  Your A and B clients are expecting to hear from you as they begin planning for next year, and if they’re not, they should be. 

As the end of 2011 approaches, people start thinking about goals; goals they accomplished and did not accomplish this year, as well as plans for the future.  In this increasingly competitive market, you need to make sure you are proactively contacting your clients and offering your services before someone else does. 

There is plenty of time starting in late October, to reach out to your clients, put together a strategy, and begin implementing it before February.

By proactively initiating these conversations with your A and B clients, you are establishing your role as their advisor, and keeping yourself on the forefront of their minds during the course of the year. That way, when issues arise in the months following, they’ll think of turning to you first. 

Initiate a “Discovery Process” with these key clients where you ask them questions about this past year.  What did they do well that they would like to duplicate next year or continue to grow?  What would they like to improve about their business?  How does cash flow this year compare to last year?  What areas of the business were centers of growth? Are they satisfied with the current services they’re receiving?  Have they evaluated the tax changes of current administration vs. that of the previous administration and how that would affect their business?

By gaining a deeper understanding of what it is that drives their business, you not only know your client better, but you also know how to serve them better.  With the economy wearing on many business owners and possibly discouraging some, it is in your best interest, and theirs, to help them think big – beyond next month’s payroll. 

Discuss their dreams and how you’re going to help them make some of their goals a reality.  Discuss how they can take the challenges that have impacted their business this past year, learn from them, and apply that knowledge to your strategy in order to make small, impactful changes to their business.  Proactively, reaching out to your clients during the fourth quarter is a great way to end the year, and establish a pipeline of services for the coming year as well.

Guest Blogger: JoAnna Pittman is a Senior Consultant at Sageworks, Inc., where she advises some of the company’s larger accounting firms on strategies for implementing and applying the Sageworks tools throughout their service lines. In addition to providing advisory and consulting services, JoAnna is an instructor for Sageworks, Inc. CPE (Continuing Professional Education) courses.  Prior to joining Sageworks, JoAnna worked in development at a Non-Profit Organization. JoAnna holds a BA degree from Asbury University.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 8th, 2011 at 1:50 pm and is filed under Accounting and Auditing, Business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.