How Do We Avoid Time Wasters

How Do We Avoid Time Wasters

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I spent an hour and a half on Friday afternoon of a very busy week with a prospect who has aspirations to grow very big and make lots of money.

His wife had "booked" him the appointment, so I didn't have much to go on before I met him. I suspect in reality his business won't grow nearly as fast as he thinks it will. He was very happy to take up what in retrospect was far too much of my time and as he left I realised that I was at the start of a beauty parade. If he really is going to grow as big as he thinks, I just didn't understand why he didn't start by speaking to a four/five partner practice.

I quoted him on the spot and confirmed this by email over the weekend. He then emailed me back that he was going to see other people.

I am feeling quite "used". I hate beauty parades and had I known that this was his approach I would have respectfully declined the "opportunity" to meet him.

How do you avoid wasting your time with such prospects?

Replies (46)

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By johngroganjga
09th Sep 2013 08:07

You have to speculate to accumulate.  You seem to have written this prospect off already.  Why are you so sure that at the end of the beauty parade you will not be the client's preferred choice?

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By ShirleyM
09th Sep 2013 08:09

Limit the time

At the time of making the appointment they are told that the free initial meeting is limited to half an hour, and after that time the consultation is chargeable, unless they appoint us as their accountant. The response usually gives you an idea of whether they are just looking for as much free advice as they can get.

I think we all get a few of these, but wasting a half hour is better than 1.5 hrs.

At the first meeting I make of point of telling them that they get a much longer meeting to discuss their business if/when they sign up. The free meeting is just to discover what they need, and provide a quote, although I do give them tips and advice I try not to go into too much detail at that stage.

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By Captainblack
09th Sep 2013 08:12

Customer perspective

Putting my customer hat on, choosing an accountant is a very personal thing. You are not going to want to change accountants after selecting one (like changing banks it's painful) and you have to be sure you are likely to 'enjoy' the relationship (beyond the normal accounting tasks, preparation of accounts and tax computations, etc).

So with my customer hat on I would choose to meet a few people to see who I could get one with. As Johngroganja says, whilst it's irritating potentially to waste time on this, you have to speculate to win new business.

Hope you're successful on this occasion.

Captain

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By Moonbeam
09th Sep 2013 08:52

I like the idea of limiting the time

I would have to be quite disciplined to limit the interview to half an hour, but that is what I must do, when I haven't had a chance to speak to the prospect beforehand. I think that's a really good idea. Thank you Shirley!

Whenever I need a builder I interview all and sundry, but I have to see so many of them because professionalism and builder don't usually fit in one sentence. When I finally find Mr Right I stop.

I accept it is sensible for a prospect to check out a few people. It's just in this case, and in another one where I was told I was in competition, I felt I was being plundered for my knowledge and they probably had no intention to use my services, rather than being genuinely assessed.

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By Captainblack
09th Sep 2013 08:59

And you may have been right!  Trouble is, you never know in advance.

Good luck with it.

Captain

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By andy.partridge
09th Sep 2013 09:34

Fixed

The initial free consultation should be 30-40 minutes. Tell the prospect at the time of booking. When the allotted time has elapsed say, 'Look, I would be very happy to continue this if you think it's beneficial at this time, but our rate is £X an hour. Would you like to carry on or would you prefer to reflect on what we have covered so far and pick things up again at a later date?'

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By MissAccounting
09th Sep 2013 09:38

Ive had a similar experience last week which has left a really sour taste in my mouth!  I received a phone call from a prospect who was referred from a very good client of mine and the only time they could meet was 5pm as they worked until 4pm.  No problem I thought as it was referred from such a good client there is a good chance they too will turn into a good client as I always find good clients seem to associate with like minded individuals.

Anyway, she was 45 minutes late turning up and while she had a fairly decent business idea/plan she was fairly clueless on the accountancy and finance side of things so went through a fair bit with her.  I didn't give away too much but I did go through a few things to help including Xero.  A week later I got an email through to say she has been to Cowboy & Co down the road and they have offered her exactly the same thing for £15 per month less than I quoted...she got the usual response of our fees arent negotiable but for some reason it left a really bitter taste in my mouth especially considering the firm she is going to barely know how to turn on a computer!

Onwards and upwards of course!

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Glenn Martin
By Glenn Martin
09th Sep 2013 09:48

Its Annoying

but as said above its part of the business we are in.

Its similar to a builder who tendors for work against 5 other contractors, ultimatly 4 of them will have wasted their time.

What really annoys me is prospects that turn up calling previous advisor who file accounts late, can never be contacted, does poor job and over charges etc etc. You then quote them and hear back 2 weeks later saying they are staying where they are presumably after using your quote to get their fee knocked down £50.

Restricting your first meeting as Shirley does is a good practice to get into in and one I must get into.

 

 

 

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By neileg
09th Sep 2013 09:58

You have to kiss a lot of frogs...

Before you find a prince

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Replying to DJKL:
Red Leader
By Red Leader
09th Sep 2013 10:17

first meeting

I tend to take a fair bit of information over the phone before agreeing to a meeting. I have various "excludes" so I need to make sure the meeting isn't a complete waste of time for both of us. There's no point me meeting someone in CIS, for example.

That said, I never stint on giving advice in the first meeting. This hasn't been a conscious decision, it's just the way it's turned out for me. As far as the client is aware, the advice given could be just the tip of a valuable iceberg of advice.

As others have said, I think it's best to see it as a marketing meeting, rather than chargeable time that the prospect has wangled for free.

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Man of Kent
By Kent accountant
09th Sep 2013 10:07

Win some lose some

I suppose it comes with experience. I've found that a telephone conversation beforehand is a good way of weeding out most timewasters, If I'm getting an indication they may be (timewasters) I'll give ballpark fee estimate and try and gauge the response.

Good idea to limit the initial meeting, I tend to find an hour is more than most people need. Those that take up more than this time are either time wasters, freeloaders or just plain clueless.

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By Peter Kilvington
09th Sep 2013 10:09

Don not be concerned

I tend to look at this around the other way.  Your prospective client is more than likely going to spend in excess of a £1,000 per year with you and may stay with you for 10 years.  

Would you want spend a £1,000 and only meet one person for half an hour?  Personally if am spending a £1,000 I would want to research the market before committing.

I also question whether you have wasted an hour and a half of your time.  Your objective is to get a new client, if you do not succeed in this then go back to the prospect and find out why you did not get the succeed.  This information could be well be worth more than the fee you would of gained.  If you do gain the client I would again ask them why they have chosen you over the other firms that they have seen.  This will give you an idea of your strengths and other firms weaknesses, again invaluable information.

A beauty parade is not a bad thing if you use it to measure yourself against other firms.  If you are constantly involved in beauty parades (and I am not saying that your are) you have not gained or used the information from past parades that allows you to be the first choice of prospective clients.  A prospect will always shop around before buying you need to ensure that you are one of two or three firms that they are seeing.

 

We record every job that we win and lose and the reason why.  Jobs won also include the recurring work from current clients; why did you decide to use us again this year.  Over the years we have learnt that the prospects that we did not convert to clients was down to either being to slow to price, not hitting it off with the prospect as well as other accountants or being slow to respond.  The vast majority of clients we have lost have been down to being too slow in producing accounts etc.  We have now built in agreed time tables for all jobs.   

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Replying to legerman:
By jon_griffey
09th Sep 2013 18:04

You don't know you're born...

Peter Kilvington wrote:

I tend to look at this around the other way.  Your prospective client is more than likely going to spend in excess of a £1,000 per year with you and may stay with you for 10 years.  

That's exactly right.  As a profession we are in the enviable position that our fee income is recurring.  If a builder quotes for a new patio, he will go and advise, measure up, prepare a quote for £1,000 and basically take up a few hours of his time, and may or may not win the job.  If he does, he just earns £1,000  As a profession the client comes to our office, has a chat and we quote for £1,000.  Again we may or may not win the job - but if we do win it we may get £1,000 x 10 years.  How many other trades/professions have that luxury?

Okay, everyone has to put up with timewasters - its just part of the job, but it is well worth wasting a few hours for the good recurring work we do sign up.

 

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By Moonbeam
09th Sep 2013 11:16

Phone discussion first

I usually have a good initial discussion by phone with the prospect themselves -not their spouse and that is one area I shall insist on in future. I shall type up Andy Partridge's spiel and use that - really excellent!

Only one person I've quoted for tax so far has gone somewhere else. She told me other accountant would help her with marketing, but I thought it was really down to his personality and his charges being less than mine. However, I'm not boasting, as I've only interviewed around 15 prospects so far.

The person I met last week was so obviously going to go to a bigger firm, but he is a Scot, and may well prefer my charges. Who knows!

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Replying to RedFive:
By JCresswellTax
10th Sep 2013 09:26

Agree Euan

Euan MacLennan wrote:

Moonbeam wrote:

The person I met last week was so obviously going to go to a bigger firm, but he is a Scot, and may well prefer my charges. Who knows!

That is an outrageous insult to us Scots!

Disgraceful!

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Replying to RedFive:
Morph
By kevinringer
16th Sep 2013 13:15

Charges? Scots?

Euan MacLennan wrote:

Moonbeam wrote:

The person I met last week was so obviously going to go to a bigger firm, but he is a Scot, and may well prefer my charges. Who knows!

That is an outrageous insult to us Scots!

Indeed - Scots don't like any charges ;-)
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By iaccounts
09th Sep 2013 13:22

Plain cheeky

I had an odd experience, an enquiry from a businessman who had several businesses, one of which was a bookkeeping company, approached me to do his accounts (3 companies) as he was concerned that be doing them through his own bookkeeping company would present a conflict of interests and therfore wanted the accounts completed and submitted by an unrelated company.  They engaged us and we liaised with the bookkeeper, who was training towards her AAT, regarding the information required and had several in depth telephone calls with her whilst she was getting ready to pass the records to us, when the paperwork was ready she called the office and we arranged a date to collect it, the appointment was paused by the client as she realised something was missing and asked us to call to rearrange the following week.  When we called we were met with the answering machine, we left several mesages and finally got a reply stating that she had since qualified and submitted everything herself!!!!!  During the 2 month period this woman bled us for information and advice and although a lot of time was spent to-ing and fro-ing we actually did not complete any chargeable work.  When they engaged us it was on the understanding that we would be completing just this one year for the 3 companies and once the bookkeeper was qualified she would take over the following years which we did not mind doing, we certainly never expected to be used like this!

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By Maslins
09th Sep 2013 15:13

Won't suit everyone but...

...we don't really have this problem anymore.  Main reason being what we do together with the price for doing it is clearly stated on our website.  Of course we'll happily have a (free) chat with a potential client before they sign up...but I do think seeing the fees in advance puts off most timewasters who never have any intention of paying.

For those of you with more bespoke offerings I appreciate this is either impossible, or certainly a lot harder.

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Teignmouth
By Paul Scholes
09th Sep 2013 15:13

Would you interview a prospective employee without having a CV?

Hi Moonbeam, when you look back on this I think your biggest regret will be not having been firm about getting sufficient info before you met.

I too have had similar situations but only from "cold" leads from the web or Yell (unlucky Miss Accounting) and, if it's just not possible to have the chat before hand, I will always email a set of perhaps 10 key questions I need answers to, when they arrive.

That's business, people are entitled to shop around but I don't state, from the outset, that there's a time limit.  I've obtained some excellent clients having spent hours in a meeting and follow up emails because there was so much info to gather and had I said, you'll only get 40 minutes before the clock starts ticking, there's a chance they'd have gone elsewhere.

As in so many things, it's judgment rather than rules that establish a good relationship.

 

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By zebaa
09th Sep 2013 15:27

Ask...& listen

Ask the prospective customer what they want. By that I mean - at an early stage - mention price. This can be a 'how important is the price to you'. Usually they will waffle about wanting a good deal but some will say, simply, I'm looking for the lowest price . Even with waffle it can give you some idea if they even know the basic stuff. It also give you an 'in' with the price vs true cost angle - Joe Bloggs is cheap but no-help. Or beware of the add-on, where a cheap basic price is quoted but there will always be extra add-on, its just the prospect does not know it, yet.

You may want to do a basic selling script. This is NOT for following word for word but is how to present your services in the best light. It is in the form of paragraphs of best answers, or better still, best questions - And DO listen.  Selling is about listening as much as talking. Why do you charge more than Joe, down the road? It may help to say it out loud in your own room too. Does it sound not right ? then change it until it does sound right.

Lastly, good luck.

 

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By I'msorryIhaven'taclue
09th Sep 2013 17:24

Financial Acumen?

Clients know that accountants are a pushover when it comes to negotiating a price; and, come to that, negotiating what accountants will do for that price (I've seen accountants prostitute themselves by offering "all-inclusive fixed fees", "unlimited access", and "money-back-guarantees" - everything except a soft toy! No wonder clients no longer rely on this profession for business advice).

It looks like your prospect is off to start a reverse auction - "I'll name that tune in 5", "I'll name that tune in 4" and so on until one "lucky" contestant nets him with a bid of 1.

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Man of Kent
By Kent accountant
09th Sep 2013 20:53

There is a big difference

between seeing a genuine prospect, spending time with them and they decide to choose a different accountant

and

the 'prospect' who has very little intention of signing up to a service but seek to get as much information as possible from you for free.

It's experience which enables you to distinguish between the two, by setting parameters you allow yourself to follow a consistent approach which you may vary depending on the feedback, client uptake, time and numerous other factors.

By setting parameters you can weed out the (perceived) time wasters, depending on how keen you are on getting new clients will determine how far you're prepared to go to secure that client - that can include time spent up front and price cutting.

So for some 2-3 hours may be considered a reasonable amount of time, for others it may be 5 minutes if they are the wrong type of client.

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Replying to Ruddles:
Red Leader
By Red Leader
09th Sep 2013 21:03

rare

Perhaps I've been lucky but I've not come across many real time wasters. I can't believe there are that many people who willingly spend hours of their time in accountants offices if they have a choice!

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By andy.partridge
09th Sep 2013 22:13

Really?
It's not the norm, but I've certainly had a few people come in with a list of technical questions they tick off as the 'interview' progresses.

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By DavidGilligan
09th Sep 2013 22:56

Read most of this thread before I went out to see a potential client (1st Service start prospect pursued).I don't have that many clients and most have came from referrals. Small builder who has obviously decided, for whatever reason, that he needs to find the straight and narrow and stick to that path. In my view you can only go with the situation you find - he and partner very friendly and we spent a couple of productive hours and settled on a course of action.  I will set her up to do the book-keeping in a more structured manner (she has been running an Excel spreadsheet to record expenditure and income) and check each three months on their profitability. Probably VAT registration before too long. Maybe worth £850 in first year, but as Peter Kilvington and Jon_grilley say if it lasts 10 years then that is worth having.  

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Giraffe
By Luke
09th Sep 2013 23:18

Moonbeam - thought I'd wasted 1.5hrs on the same person as you on Friday until you said he was a Scot! I too arranged the appointment via his wife.

As promised I emailed over loads of info to which he was meant to reply before i was sending the engagement letter. No email response at all yet.

I was debating giving him a quick ring tomorrow but can't decide if I actually want him as a client so whether or not to bother. (Not just for this reason)

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By Moonbeam
10th Sep 2013 08:04

Before starting work..

Luke - I have every sympathy with you and know how angry you must feel. I make it very clear that it takes me lots of time to do the engagement letter and I will only do this if they really want to go ahead. That seems to be your approach too. I also now say I won't do any work until they pay the first monthly instalment.

I had a tree surgeon who came in on Friday, signed and returned the engagement letter by hand over the weekend and by Monday had had a serious fall from a tree and had been admitted to hospital for various operations. I did quite a lot of work on the Monday morning before his wife told me what had happened. Fortunately (not just for me but for him!) he will survive and is keen to get started, but that made me think that apart from signing up with HMRC I will not do anything until I see cash in my bank account. This format might have helped iaaccounts and stopped him being messed about. (I charge a subscription of 12th of the fee each month).

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Replying to Manchester_man:
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By I'msorryIhaven'taclue
10th Sep 2013 12:12

How to Save the Other Hour and a Half on Engagement Letters

Moonbeam wrote:

Luke - I have every sympathy with you and know how angry you must feel. I make it very clear that it takes me lots of time to do the engagement letter and I will only do this if they really want to go ahead.

I too used to spend hours on engagement letters - not least on read-throughs to ensure name, address, and other variable fields had been inserted correctly, and non-applicable sections properly amended or removed. Lack of attention to such detail had in the past got us off on the wrong foot eg with clients returning engagement letters addressed to "Mr Insert Name", or perhaps mixing up its pronouns "he" and "she". I invested a little time on standardising our MS Word documents with colour coded insertion areas and "tagged" optional sections - one is able to highlight and tag such areas with a "comment box", which is something akin to a speech bubble. With all the key variable fields colour coded or tagged and jumping off the screen at me, preparing and checking engagement letters is now a two-minute job.

Moonbeam wrote:

I had a tree surgeon who came in on Friday, signed and returned the engagement letter by hand over the weekend and by Monday had had a serious fall from a tree and had been admitted to hospital for various operations. I did quite a lot of work on the Monday morning before his wife told me what had happened. Fortunately (not just for me but for him!) he will survive...

Reminds me of when I once signed up a small business client who dropped dead of a heart attack the following day!

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By DerekChaplin
10th Sep 2013 11:44

Really wasted time?

Surely even if you have not gained the client this time, you have met someone new who may bring your name up in conversation with someone else. You have made an impression with this potential client and even if they decided another was best for them, they may still recommend you to someone else to whom they theink you would be a good fit. All depends on the feeling they left the office with.

I disagree with Jon Griffey in that builders quote once and only get one lot of work. We had a builder quote many years ago and have regularly used him since (without getting competitors quotes since the first time), as he was excellent. The only firms I've ever used just once were for one-off items, or their service was poor and I would refuse to use them again.

 

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Replying to Martin Madden:
Red Leader
By Red Leader
10th Sep 2013 11:56

estate agents

One told me that for every 8 property valuations he does, he gets one job.

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Replying to Mr_awol:
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By I'msorryIhaven'taclue
10th Sep 2013 12:44

You Can't Win Them All

Red Leader wrote:

One told me that for every 8 property valuations he does, he gets one job.

Ask yourself why that is:

Maybe he's deliberately pitched his quotes for a decent profit. (Let's face it, he could get all eight jobs if he were to pitch his quotes so low that the householder couldn't resist);

Maybe the householder and he didn't gel. (The "birds of a feather" principle - unless you're a very good actor, there's not much that can be done if your personality / demeanour / ethics / principles / character / outlook do not accord with those of your prospect);

Maybe he's just not very good at selling (next time you're out shopping, ask yourself what makes you feel uncomfortable in a shop. Over-attentive staff? Staff who don't listen? Pushiness? Casual attitude? Too intense a pitch? Likeability?)

OC, how confident and comfortable are you when chatting-up the opposite sex? What's your success rate? Have you ever liked the look of someone, but changed your mind after talking with them? Do you expect every prospect to fancy you? 

 

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By David Winch
10th Sep 2013 15:15

When You Understand What Your Niche Is ...

... you can put effort into your promotional material to discourage those who don't fall within it.

I openly put things like "Not everyone is allowed to attend this course", "The information we share during the day will only be relevant to ...", "I deserve a place on David's course because ..." and "I'm ready, willing and able to invest serious time and money in growing my business", in my promotional material.

Getting the prospects to self-differentiate saves you the effort.

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Replying to jcace:
By ShirleyM
10th Sep 2013 16:02

Turn off!

David Winch wrote:

... you can put effort into your promotional material to discourage those who don't fall within it.

I openly put things like "Not everyone is allowed to attend this course", "The information we share during the day will only be relevant to ...", "I deserve a place on David's course because ..." and "I'm ready, willing and able to invest serious time and money in growing my business", in my promotional material.

Getting the prospects to self-differentiate saves you the effort.

Sorry, David, but I would find those phrases a complete turn off. It sounds a bit arrogant, and gives the impression that you are doing them a big favour, which in turn would make me wonder if you would put your needs & interests first, and last!

It may be just me that thinks that way ... but maybe not.

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Man of Kent
By Kent accountant
10th Sep 2013 15:33

My niche

Anyone with a pulse...

That narrows it down a bit :)

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By I'msorryIhaven'taclue
10th Sep 2013 15:50

My niche

Anyone with a purse...

That narrows it down a bit better :)

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By David Winch
10th Sep 2013 15:52

Have Fun!

Have fun with all your time-wasters then, Ka!

You're as free to choose your clients as they are to choose their Accountant.

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Man of Kent
By Kent accountant
10th Sep 2013 16:15

I obviously don't

deserve a place on David's course :(

I'll just have to carry on wasting my time...

...and checking pulses...

...and remembering to hard sell and then get a bit miffed when someone takes the mickey

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By I'msorryIhaven'taclue
10th Sep 2013 16:21

Reverse Psychology

Shirley, surely David is just using a well known soft-sales technique by making his courses "exclusive" so that his prospects want what he is selling even more?

I used to use a similar technique at interviews back in my employee days. When asked the inevitable question "why do you want this job?" my stock reply was that, with respect, I was simply replying to an advert and couldn't possibly know whether I wanted the job until I found out more about it during that interview. See the subtle shift? It makes the interview process a two way rather than a one-sided affair, in which the interviewer (or, in David's case, his prospect) does not have the luxury of just being the buyer, but also has to "sell" his company

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Replying to FirstTab:
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By MissAccounting
11th Sep 2013 10:15

Odd...

I'msorryIhaven'taclue wrote:

Shirley, surely David is just using a well known soft-sales technique by making his courses "exclusive" so that his prospects want what he is selling even more?

I used to use a similar technique at interviews back in my employee days. When asked the inevitable question "why do you want this job?" my stock reply was that, with respect, I was simply replying to an advert and couldn't possibly know whether I wanted the job until I found out more about it during that interview. See the subtle shift? It makes the interview process a two way rather than a one-sided affair, in which the interviewer (or, in David's case, his prospect) does not have the luxury of just being the buyer, but also has to "sell" his company

 

If you said that to me in an interview then your letter of "sorry you were unsuccessful" would be printed off before you got in your car and drove away!

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Replying to _Andy_:
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By I'msorryIhaven'taclue
12th Sep 2013 01:56

Yes, Minister?

MissAccounting]</p> <p>[quote=I&#39;msorryIhaven&#39;taclue wrote:

If you said that to me in an interview then your letter of "sorry you were unsuccessful" would be printed off before you got in your car and drove away!

Pah! Who says I had a car, or for that matter was in any fit state to drive away? I always made a point of arriving at interview by taxi, and fortified by a minimum imbibe of two dutch shots of Dutch Courage.

It's interesting that you would have rejected a candidate out of hand for haggling. Why would you not view that positively as simple business acumen?  Perhaps the first and last and only time that your prospective employee is able to negotiate with you on a level playing field. A demonstration of sound negotiating skills, combined with the nous and savvy to deflect amateur interviewing techniques / ploys / gambits. Or would you prefer to hire an agreeable nitwit? 

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By kewcumber
11th Sep 2013 11:58

I tend to put more effort into a thoughtful email up front (which of course can be written at midnight when you're not so busy) and very clearly explain by charging structure up front.  That scares about 50% of people off with no need for a meeting!  And I'm really very cheap.  I personally offer a 1 hour meeting but stick to a time when I am no too busy and the hour is more likely to be stuck to (eg 5pm!)

 

Having said that I've put enormous effort into pitches for larger pieces of work which came to nothing as it became obvious that they are a car crash waiting to happen and that I really didn't want to get involved... sometimes I just can't help getting myself sucked in though.

 

I limit myself to a certain number of proper pitches a quarter as I'm a one woman band and realistically can't give new clients the attention they need unless they are spread out.

 

My worst nightmare are parents of school friends where you feel obliged to at least see them.  Big, big time waster.

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By Moonbeam
11th Sep 2013 13:38

Feeling obliged to see people

@kewcumber - It's worth us thinking about how to avoid seeing people where we don't really want them on our books but we have to pay them some attention.

Last year I acquired a "hobby" self employed person, who was recommended by a very dear client. Hobby client is of course irritated by having to pay my fees when she's made a loss. Is also very late in sending me complicated bits to go with her tax return, and I will politely say goodbye to her once return is done. It was obvious I was going to have this trouble when she visited me.

So what about insisting on a telephone conversation first, and then saying to the "hobby" clients that unfortunately you only do accounts for full-time businesses, as you feel your fees are going to be too high for prospect. If asked to quote, then a minimum of £500 plus VAT should do the trick. You've then just had a phone call, rather than wasted lots of time. You can have other excuses for other people you don't want to work for, such as you don't do personal tax on its own, or you don't handle clients with just lettings, or whatever it is.

 

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Replying to ohgoodgodno:
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By I'msorryIhaven'taclue
12th Sep 2013 01:54

Do Me a Favour,,,?

Moonbeam wrote:

Last year I acquired a "hobby" self employed person, who was recommended by a very dear client. Hobby client is of course irritated by having to pay my fees when she's made a loss. Is also very late in sending me complicated bits to go with her tax return, and I will politely say goodbye to her once return is done. It was obvious I was going to have this trouble when she visited me.

D'you know, you've just summed up what's wrong with all the pundits' recommendations that one should obtain new clients via recommendations.

A new recommended client is sometimes a pain in the posterior, but you often feel obliged to soldier on with them for the sake of the dear and valued recommender.

Further down the line, if recommender were to get shirty over eg the matter of fees, or something equally vulgar, and opt to bless the practice up the road with his ever so valuable custom; everyone down-line who has ever been recommended by him might well follow suit by also changing horses.

Call me Mr Ungrateful, but I'm always wary of recomendees, as their tenure can so often be both brief and transient. Your story evoked painful memories of dutiful hours expended on undeserving cases whose merit rested solely upon the nepotism of a client recommendation.  

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By whatdoyoumeanwashe
11th Sep 2013 17:19

Tell me about it...

I had a prospective client recently who I travelled to London (an hour door to door) to see twice, and they've never even had the decency to give me any response whatsoever, despite sending 4 or 5 emails, leaving a voicemail and leaving a message with a secretary over the last 3 months. It's just plain rude. Given it took about 6 weeks for them to get themselves in gear to set up a time to meet in the first place I'm half expecting them to come back to me any day accepting my proposal, but I'm going to tell them I can't work with people who ignore my calls and emails for months on end.

Re the idea of limiting time for a prospective client, I have to say if I was a client and was told by a accountant or any other professional that they were effectively using a stopwatch at our first meeting, I'd walk out. You can achieve the same effect rather less bluntly by saying you have another client to see...

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By Moonbeam
12th Sep 2013 08:51

Good Point on the dangers of referrals

I think your remarks on referrals are a very good point. I shall be wary of my ratio's here.

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By andy.partridge
12th Sep 2013 11:41

@ I'm sorry

I think you are way off on the interview issue. Interviews are a two way street and they give both parties the opportunity to impress the other, not demonstrate PITA potential.

I like your views on referrals. Who hasn't wondered about the fall-out of getting tough with a client who has referred in the past?

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