Save content
Have you found this content useful? Use the button above to save it to your profile.

The Perfect Client

27th Aug 2014
Save content
Have you found this content useful? Use the button above to save it to your profile.

After decades of experience, it is easy to identify the traits that make up the perfect client.

Unfortunately, to date, not one has quite managed to fit this demanding bill. Even so, one must live in hope.

In this article, the identikit dream client will be an individual but with minor adaptations most of the salient points would apply just as well to corporate clients.

The obvious starting point is the personality of the perfect client. He or she will be kind, patient and humorous, telling outstanding jokes over the vintage port that they insist on sharing with you at every meeting.

Their regular business affairs must be suitably challenging, making the work consistently interesting and varied. However, they do not create the kinds of problems that have no answers and might ultimately lead to your firm getting sued.

Their risk profile fits in perfectly with your own, not requiring you to compromise ethical standards in the hope of retaining them.

It goes without saying that this non-existent composite client pays his or her fees on time (or even in advance) and always believes that your efforts represent outstanding value for money.

So much is this the case that every member of their large family also uses your services, not to mention various associated trusts, companies and LLPs.

At the other end of the project, they deliver all of the requested paperwork on a timely basis without reminders and in perfect order.

They have periodic problems that require your assistance and every one of these proves to be fascinating, presenting you and your firm with the opportunity to demonstrate that the innovative solutions that everyone makes such a fuss about are as good as any in the land.

Although it might have gone out of fashion, it never occurs to this client to forget birthday and Christmas presents, while they like your company so much that nothing pleases them as much as funding a day out at Wimbledon/Lord's/Glyndebourne with a slap up Michelin-starred meal to top off the experience.

Such is the warmth of the relationship that the perfect client comes back year after year without question and in addition to the family, the number of affluent friends and contacts to whom they have recommended your practice continually increases.

As a result, this relationship has guaranteed that both the turnover and profitability of your business head permanent upwards regardless of the economic climate. Indeed, you only heard about the recession when your greatest rival went bust at the beginning of this year following their involvement in an overly ambitious and indisputably abusive tax avoidance promotion that almost ended with a spell in prison.

If all of this sounds familiar, you have overdosed on Prozac or something harder again. While many clients have been and continue to be a pleasure to work with, none to date has managed to tick all of these boxes and if they ever did, I fear that the shock might induce a heart attack and early retirement.

However, we can all dream.

Tags:

You might also be interested in

Replies (0)

Please login or register to join the discussion.

There are currently no replies, be the first to post a reply.