Most professional service providers — including CPA firms — don’t understand why I like to go overboard to deliver an amazing client experience. Let me explain why I think it’s worth it.
About 10 years ago, friends and family took me out for a fabulous birthday dinner at our local steakhouse. Everyone enjoyed their meals and when we started looking at the dessert menu, I asked for key lime pie, my favorite dessert. Unfortunately, the restaurant was out of it that night. The waiter hurried off to get everyone else’s dessert orders ready. Naturally I was disappointed, but when the dessert cart arrived, there was an entire key lime pie for the entire table to share.
It turns out one of the staff went to another restaurant in the neighborhood, plunked down about $60 for a key lime pie and hustled back to the steakhouse before our desserts were served. Talk about going above and beyond!
Again, this happened about 10 years ago, but I tell everyone the story whenever people start talking about steakhouses or their favorite desserts. I must have told the key lime story hundreds of times. You can’t buy advertising like that!
Same goes for CPA firms. Clients assume you are going to do an excellent job with their tax returns, financial statements or attest work. You’re a pro and they expect technical competence. But to get them to sing your praises to others, you have to do more than checking off boxes like these:
- We provide good service.
- We don’t make mistakes.
- We respond in a timely manner.
Start with your best clients
You have to do something exceptional to give them a “Wow” experience. I realize you can’t go above and beyond for every single client. Why not start with your top 20 clients? Give them an exceptional experience that they will absolutely have to tell other people about. It doesn’t have to be extremely expensive or time consuming, by the way.
Start with the easy stuff. Put a video screen in the lobby of your office. Make sure it says, “Welcome [NAME OF CLIENT]” on the day they arrive. If one of their kids or grandkids has a birthday that week, make sure it’s noted in the welcome message. Have a glass of their favorite (non-alcoholic) beverage ready upon their arrival. Don’t underestimate the importance of remembering these little details. That’s what they care about more than their tax return, because it’s assumed the return has been completed and done correctly. You don’t get extra credit for that.
Another way to go above and beyond is to send a free courier to your client’s home or office when they have important documents to send you that are too big to scan or fax. Don’t make your clients come down to your office or spend hours copying and scanning. Your job is to make their lives easier, and they’ll remember small gestures like a free courier for years to come.
What is your client’s “key lime pie”?
Again, take out a list of your top 20 clients and ask yourself and your team: “What’s the key lime pie for this client?” If one of your best clients is a privately held business owner with a large family, organize a family meeting every year on his behalf. Be the objective facilitator who lets each family member air their concerns and wishes. This kind of meeting will prevent a lot of intrafamily squabbling.
If you’re like most firms, your top 20 clients account for a significant chunk of your revenue. Wouldn’t you like to have more clients like them in your top 20? I’m talking about high-revenue clients who are enjoyable to work with and happy to refer you? One of the best ways to attract more of those kinds of clients is to burnish your reputation for going above and beyond.
Another good way to replicate your best clients is to figure out what business stage they’re in. Are they early-stage businesses? Middle-aged businesses in rapid growth stage? Mature businesses winding down? Whatever the most common stage is, hone in on that attribute and ask those businesses to refer you to others like them. You and your team should know the hot buttons for each of your top 20 clients. To get your started, review Harvey McKay’s
By the way, this doesn’t have to be a radical shift in how you run your practice. Just start listening more closely to what your client is working on. For instance, one of my clients loves reruns of sitcoms like “
When CPAs tell me they don’t know what else they can do to create a “Wow” experience for their clients, my response is: “Are you asking them? Are you having conversations with them about things other than their tax return?
Every client has a different key lime pie hot button. Keep your ears open for important details about your clients when you call or meet with them. The little things are the big things. It’s the little things you remember about your clients to show you are listening to them and care about what’s important to them.
One of my best clients spends the winter in Palm Beach, Florida. When I asked him recently if he had any fun plans, he told me he was going to his favorite seafood restaurant for a birthday dinner with friends and family. So, I called the restaurant, asked them to deliver extra crab claws to my client’s table and picked up the tab. The server dropped off a card that said, “Enjoy dinner tonight. Best, Kyle.” It only took a phone call and a couple hundred dollars. My client was thrilled and it made him feel like a VIP in front of so many friends and family members.
By the way, you always want to call your best clients on their birthday, even if there’s nothing business-related to discuss. My recent article
Delivering on expectations (i.e., a completed tax return) is not what clients are going to tell people about. It’s got to be a key lime experience that shows you are listening to them and that you care about what’s important to them.
As best-selling novelist Kurt Vonnegut said, “Enjoy the little things in life because one day you’ll look back and realize they were the big things.”
