AAA MinnDak Meeting
Client Retention
October 28, 2009
Agenda
1.
Jim Stelten Background
2.
Your Background
3.
2009 PCPS CPA Firm Survey
4.
Enhance Your Client’s Experience – Where to Begin?
5.
Enhance Your Client’s Experience – How to Begin?
6.
What Do Client’s Expect / Deserve?
7.
How to Strengthen / Deepen Client Relationships
8.
What is Getting in the Way?
9.
Good and Bad Customer Service Examples
2
Jim Stelten Background
• Grew Up Family Business
• Audit Manager - Arthur Andersen
• Audit / Business Consulting Partner - Divine, Scherzer & Brody
• VP Finance / Director Operations – Graham Webb – Hair Care
• VP CFO – Engage Technologies – Coding & Printing Equipment
• Senior VP COO – CBR Incorporated – Specialty Retail
3
Jim Stelten Background
Have Hired & Have Terminated Some
• CPA Firms
• Law Firms
• Insurance Brokerage Firms
• Marketing Firms
• Consultants
Won Several New Clients From CPA Firms
Lost Some Clients To Other CPA Firms
4
Jim Stelten Background
As CFO / COO
• Oversaw Many Professional Provider Audits, Tax Returns, M&A
Transactions and Consulting Projects
Seen Several Examples of
• Good Customer Service
• Bad Customer Service
5
Your Background…
Expectations/Request
6
2009 PCPS CPA Firm Survey
"For the first time in more than a decade, staffing was NOT the chief…concern for
most CPA firms…
CLIENT RETENTION was the top challenge…the first time in this decade that
firms of all sizes shared one unanimous concern…
In addition, brining in new clients was an issue for some firms for the first
time since 2005.”
7
Agree? Disagree?
Why?
8
“It is Five Times More Expensive to Gain a New
Customer Than Keep an Existing One”
The Profitable Art of Service Recovery – Harvard Business Review
9
“63% of Firms Report That the Customer Experience
Will be More Important in the Presence of a
Continued Economic Downturn”
Obstacles to Customer Experience Success - Forrester Research
10
Enhance Your Client’s Experience – Where to Begin?
• Gain Partner Support That This is HIGH Importance
• Find Out What Clients Are Thinking / Seeing
• Establish Client Service Standards
• Implement New Standards
• Monitor New Standards
11
Enhance Your Client’s Experience – How to Begin?
• Gain Partner Support That This is HIGH Importance
• Find Out What Clients Are Thinking / Seeing
• Establish Client Service Standards
• Implement New Standards
• Monitor New Standards
12
Challenges /
Roadblocks
13
What Do Client’s
Expect / Deserve?
14
How to Strengthen /
Deepen Client
Relationships
15
What Get’s in The
Way of Meeting /
Exceeding Client
Expectations?
16
Bad Customer
Service Examples
17
Good Customer
Service Examples
18
Thank You