Set Client Standards for your Practice | STRATEGY COACHING

If your firm has been in existence for more than a couple years, you probably have a sense of which clients are most profitable for your business. Whether you have actually analyzed the details or not you know. This knowledge can become the basis of establishing client standards for your firm that will allow you to qualify new clients before you agree to take them on.

Many small firms believe they need to accept every potential client who crosses the threshold. This might not be a good idea. Remember that the 80/20 rule applies to your practice as much as to any other business. If you can isolate the characteristics of the 20% of your clients who provide 80% of your revenue, you will have the criteria for client standards.

Of course, there are basic questions to ask about a prospective client:

Can/will this person pay his/her bill?
Does this prospective client need the kind of services we currently provide?
Does this client indicate potential to become a long-term client?
Why is the client considering a new accounting/financial planning/legal firm?
What is the client’s reputation in the community?
What risk would we incur by accepting this client?
Would this client raise conflict of interest issues for us?
Do we have the competencies required to adequately serve this client?

These are, obviously, important questions. But if you plan to build a business that can be self-sustaining well into the future, there might be other questions you should ask. They might include:

Does this client need more than one type of service from us?
Is there opportunity to cross-sell or up-sell to other products and/or services?
Is the individual’s business growing?
Does this client need or potentially need boutique business products/services?
Does this client fit our profile of our most lucrative clients?
Does this client refer new business to our firm?
Do we have ethical or legal questions about the client’s business?
Do we see growth potential resulting from association with the client?
Could the client open doors for us into a new micro-niche boutique business?

Qualifying clients before accepting them allows you to eliminate many of the kinds of issues that could become damaging or overwhelming to your present capacity. By keeping your focus on the clients who will be or who have the potential to become your more lucrative clients or your most profitable clients, you can shift the 80/20 rule from a negative to a positive – and have even the 80% of your least profitable clients meeting your minimal qualifications.

Practice development is what we do. We can help you define your niche or micro-niche, build your business and set the standards to qualify prospective clients for every part of your practice. Call us today at 732-397-8489, email us here, or send us a message on from our web site.