One of the biggest fears that firm owners have is handing over client relationships to a senior client manager only for them to leave and “run-off” with the client.
In order to minimise this risk, you can make use of this six-step solution:
1. Make sure you have a narrow and deep team structure so you only have to worry about one person (Client Manager) in your team of 5 people (one minder to 4 grinders).
2. Recruit intrapreneurial and not entrepreneurial people for the role of Senior Client Manager. Intrapreneurial people do not want to work for themselves and they usually prefer to work in a team with a combined vision or goal. Often there are intrapreneurs already in your team.
3. Your employment contract should state a penalty if they attempt to take any clients whom you have introduced to them should they leave. They cannot accept clients even if clients asked them to take them on. The penalty is usually 200% of the client fee plus. It’s always best to run your employment contract via an employment lawyer to ensure it complies with your country/state laws.
4. Your Senior Client Manager can take care of 80% of client interactions and you can still appear for 20% of strategic advice.
5. Do PR activity with clients yourself such as lunch and coffee meetings. At Chan & Naylor, we have 9,000 clients and 25 Senior Client Managers and have only lost a handful of clients due to implementing above.
6. You need also to ensure your Marketing continues to generate new clients so losing a handful of clients does not affect your business if the worst were to occur.
Implement the six items above and you can control client relationships and build a business that isn’t reliant on you or extraordinary people but runs on extraordinary systems.
P.S. Whenever you’re ready… here are 4 ways we can help you grow your Accounting or Bookkeeping business:
1. Grab a free copy of our book – The Accountants 20-Hour Workweek
It’s the blueprint to structure, staff and scale your firm whilst dramatically reducing your work hours. — Click Here
2. Join the Wize WaterCooler and connect with other Accountants who are scaling too
It’s our new Facebook community where business minded Accountants and Bookkeepers learn to build a firm that runs without them. — Click Here
3. Reduce your workload by 20% in 30 days for $67
We’ve just released a new online platform giving you access to a step-by-step plan to reduce your workload and free up an extra day a week. Get access for $67 and become our next case study. – Click here
4. Work with the Wize Guys privately
If you’d like to work directly with the Wize Mentor team to take you from stuck to scale… just send us a message at support@wizementoring.com tell us a little about your firm and what you’d like help with, and we’ll get you all the details!