I Just Lost My Biggest Client
By Ed Mendlowitz “Tax Season Opportunity Guide“ QUESTION: I just suddenly lost my biggest client. They said they outgrew me. What could I have done to keep them? RESPONSE: Maybe nothing. And at this...
View ArticleFive Lessons for 2014 My Clients Taught Me
How to learn from clients’ spoken and unspoken needs and desires. By Sandi Smith Leyva, CPA Accountant’s Accelerator I feel extremely fortunate to have such a wonderful set of clients that I have...
View ArticleThe 5 First Steps in Targeting Clients
How to build a plan. By Ed Mendlowitz 101 Questions and Answers for Managing an Accounting Practice QUESTION: I want to start growing my practice but am having trouble defining my target client. I...
View ArticleHow to Find New Clients on Social Media
Study shows CFOs' key interests and topics for conversation. Go PRO for members-only access to more CPA Trendlines Research.
View ArticleSound Off: Accountants See Opportunity in Obamacare
In Comments, it gets political. By CPA Trendlines Call it what you will – The Affordable Care Act or Obamacare – accountants are calling it opportunity. When we asked recently, “What’s the future of...
View Article5 Quick Ideas to Boost Your Summer Revenue
By Sandi Smith Leyva The Accountant’s Accelerator For some of you, summer can be a slow time in your business. If you do taxes, all the action is during busy season and in September if you have a lot...
View Article8 Essential Ingredients for Your New Client Welcome Kit
By Sandi Smith Leyva The Accountant’s Accelerator How you welcome your new client can set the tone for a relationship that could last for years or in the worst of cases, just days. Start out on the...
View Article6 Ways to Move Beyond Compliance Services
Becoming a ‘trusted advisor.’ By Sandi Smith Leyva The Accountant’s Accelerator Here’s a question: What portion of your revenues are derived from compliance work – e.g., tax preparation and IRS...
View ArticleReaders Sound Off on Liberty, H&R Block Plans to Launch Bookkeeping Services
New strategic ally, or competitive threat...? Go PRO for members-only access to more Hitendra Patil.
View ArticleClik here to view.
How Accountants Get New Clients
With client retention the top issue for firms, we go looking for the "secret sauce" for landing new business. Join the survey; get the results Go PRO for members-only access to more CPA Trendlines...
View ArticleHow to Tell a Client How the Fee Was Set
"Never tell them the hours..." Go PRO for members-only access to more Edward Mendlowitz.
View ArticleIf You’re a ‘Best-Kept Secret’ Cut It Out!
Try these 6 ideas to stop losing business to competitors. By Sandi Smith Leyva It’s rare that I lose business to competitors, and it’s also not an accident. MORE: Stuck at Home Right Now? Here’s 100...
View Article4 Quick and Easy Ways to Build Client Relationships this Tax Season
Use these busy days to get to know your clients better. With a few quick questions, every client meeting can turn into a new relationship-building opportunity. Ask how the firm is doing as a whole to...
View ArticleWhat Goes in a Client’s Permanent File?
We’ve found at least 50 items. What would you add? By Ed Mendlowitz The CPA Trendlines Practice Doctor QUESTION: What type of information should be kept in, or as, permanent files? RESPONSE: A...
View ArticleThe Real Reasons Small Businesses Love Their Accountants [INFOGRAPHIC]
Accountants relieve their worst headaches. CPA Trendlines sources are reporting on how much time and money small businesses spend each year on accounting and tax preparation and each month on payroll...
View ArticleAre You a Passionate Accountant?
Take this quiz to see whether you’re phoning it in. Do you seek out opportunities to learn new things that will help your clients overcome their most difficult challenges? Selling value-creation...
View Article7 Ways to Lose a Client’s Trust
Are you about to do any of these? Is it worth it? By Ed Mendlowitz The CPA Trendlines Practice Doctor QUESTION: I believe I have a very high degree of client trust. But somehow I feel it is not 100 …...
View ArticleIt’s Not Sales. It’s Your Duty
How to suggest additional services to clients and why you’re doing them a disservice if you don’t. By Ed Mendlowitz The CPA Trendlines Practice Doctor QUESTION: I always feel awkward telling clients...
View ArticleWill Obamacare Penalties Kill Your Small Business Clients?
Fines run $100 per day, per employee. By Stephen L. Nelson, CPA and Elizabeth C. Nelson, CPA Small Business and the Affordable Care Act By now, many of your small business clients understand they don’t...
View ArticleEnhancing Client Financial Health through Collaborative Services
Clients benefit when CPAs and investment advisors work together. By Martin E. Levine, ChFC, CPA, MBA 4Thought Financial Group, Inc. Even if the client isn’t always right, helping clients...
View Article25 Things Customers Love
The best strategies from the best companies. By Arnold Sanow arnoldsanow.com In today’s fast-changing and competitive environment, excellent customer service is not only nice but essential for success....
View ArticleWhy Your Clients Need Annual Minutes – And How You Can Help
BONUS CHECKLIST: 34 items for corporate or organization minutes. By Ed Mendlowitz The CPA Trendlines Practice Doctor Go PRO for members-only access to more Edward Mendlowitz.
View Article3 Rules for Asking Great Tax-Return Questions
Preserve your sanity, amaze your clients. Frank Stitely, CPA, CVA Go PRO for members-only access to more Frank Stitely.
View ArticleEffective Communications in the Age of COVID
Lazy shortcuts undermine your path to success. By Steven E. Sacks The NEW Fundamentals Go PRO for members-only access to more Steven Sacks.
View ArticleSPECIAL: Coronavirus Crisis Resources
Special COVID Coverage Start here for a guide to all our coverage. Go PRO for members-only access to more CPA Trendlines Research.
View Article5 Strategies and 13 Tactics for Client Retention
Good clients don’t leave their CPA on the basis of fees alone. In fact, money factors in only when the relationship isn’t valued and the difference you make is not evident. You and your team can impact...
View ArticleFive Fun and Easy Ways to Wow Your Clients
Use all five senses. By Sandi Smith, CPA Accountant’s Accelerator You don’t have to be the Ritz-Carlton or Mercedes to provide your customer with a great experience. Just a little forethought and...
View ArticleGive Business Clients Something to Talk About
Income Statement, Balance Sheet, Cash Flows? It’s time for a fourth statement. [jwplayer mediaid=”20231″] By Edi Osborne CEO, Mentor Plus In the words of Bonnie Raitt, “Let’s give ’em something to talk...
View Article10 Key Questions to Ask Before You Try CRM
Choosing a CRM system can be tricky. Here are some pointers. By Becky Livingston When Do You Need CRM? You know you need CRM when your list of contacts has outgrown your Rolodex. You remember what a...
View ArticleFive Things Accountants Take for Granted That Costs Them Real Money
What we know that clients don’t even know they need. By Sandi Leyva I’m pretty sure that I am not the only accountant who has made the following mistakes with clients. Here are a couple of ideas to...
View Article21 Awesome Ways to Show Appreciation
One of the key ways to improve client and workplace relationships is by showing appreciation. “Too often” Leo Buscaglia, the author, once said, “we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind...
View ArticleGive Clients Three Reasons to Love You at the Next Meeting
Dazzle them with the pre-meeting meeting... Go PRO for members-only access to more CPA Trendlines Research.
View ArticleHow Long Can You Keep a Client?
Clients say: Not as long as you think. If you’re a finance manager on the client side, what do you say? by Rick Telberg Are most CPAs fooling themselves? If you ask a CPA, as CPA Trendlines has been...
View ArticleGet Paid Faster this Tax Season: Six Good Reasons to Send the Bill with the...
It’s good for business and considerate to clients. by Ed Mendlowitz Tax Season Opportunity Guide Tax season is a business and businesses need to be paid. It is harder to justify prices when providing...
View ArticleConsulting with a Client Who Is Also a Friend
Question: I have a close friend who is also a client. He went through a rough time with his wife threatening a divorce and we spent a lot of time talking about it (out of office settings). I sent him...
View ArticleClient Satisfaction Starts with ‘Likeability’
The science behind happy customers. By Hitendra Patil Pransform Inc. In “The 9 Building Blocks of a Winning Vision that the Big Four Have Discovered,” August J. Aquila and Robert J. Lees brought out...
View ArticleAccountants and Six Fundamental Human Needs
By Hitendra Patil Pransform Celebrity Author Anthony “Tony” Robbins identified six fundamental human needs that everyone has in common, and states that all behavior is simply an attempt to meet those...
View ArticleThree Ideas to Boost Your Income by Tuning into Timing
By Sandi Smith Leyva, CPA Accountant’s Accelerator Except for the usual tax due dates, this time of year can be slow for some accounting firms and especially some tax firms. But it doesn’t have to be...
View ArticleSeven Reasons You Need to Know about “Consumption Marketing”
And five ways to put it to use in your practice. By Sandi Smith Leyva, CPA Accountant’s Accelerator When I first heard the term “consumption marketing” I quickly fell in love with the concept....
View ArticleOvercoming Your Clients’ Worst Fears
How to help them take initiative and allow you to be proactive. By Hitendra Patil Pransform Inc. Neuroscience studies have shown that fear is a far bigger driver than we would ever care to admit....
View Article
