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Where did my ex client go?

5th Jun 2013
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Following on from my last blog post on the client I lost, I now know who the client has chosen as their next accountant. 

They have moved to Crunch - online accountants. Till today, I did not know much about them. So I signed up for the trial account to look into what they are all about. I am impressed. At the same time, currently it does not match Xero's ease of use. On the plus based side since Crunch is UK based and targeted to UK market it covers UK aspects well - such as estimates of tax bills. 

The question I am asking myself is what is that the client got from me that they would not get from Crunch. I find it hard to say this - I think they would get more value from their new accountants. The additional value comes from 

1) Online software - that is good. Helpful guidance, automated documents produced such as dividend vouchers and board minutes. 

2) Of course they have halved their fees

3) They will not have an accountant put the phone down on them! Moonbeam - thank you for picking up the background I did not provide. The client was just getting too much over the past few weeks. The call was the last straw. This in no way excuses me for putting the phone down on the client. 

Does all this mean I should revisit my fee structure and look into how I can provide additional value? I will reflect on all this.

Competition is good for clients. It has really made me sit up and say to myself  huh? I will need to think further. 

Thank you all for commenting on my last blog post. They are some helpful pointers. 

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Replies (7)

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Stewie
By Stewie Griffin
05th Jun 2013 17:53

Don't review your fees but maybe review your value

Firstab, Crunch will appeal to a certain type of client - those who just want it cheap.  I've read the website and I doubt that the client will get the same level of personal input they had from you.  I suspect that they have taken the mickey a bit with that support and that's why you put the phone down on them? (rightly or wrongly).  The Crunch website does talk about a dedicated account manager and email support, but with the volume they'll have to deal with there is unlikely to be the same level of knowledge of his business that you had.  It's a call centre thing.  Having said that, it wouldn't harm for you to review the value you bring to the client.  After all, if you don't add anything over and above what Crunch do and can't articulate it, then the client will just pick the cheapest

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By B Roberts
06th Jun 2013 09:35

Why did your ex client go ?

Just because a client leaves you does not mean that you have to change to be the same as the new accountant.

The reason that your ex client left was because they received an additional bill that they were not expecting and when they rang you to query the charges you got angry with them and slammed the phone down !

A self employed freelancer does not really care what "system" you use.  I also assume that they were happy with your fee structure until the additional bill arrived ? (otherwise they would not have engaged you in the first place or would have left sooner).

 

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By MissAccounting
06th Jun 2013 14:19

If you nothing to offer over

If you have nothing to offer over a "faceless" internet firm of accountants then you have BIG problems Firsty!  Im sure you have many however and you are still beating yourself up about the lost client but dust yourself down and put it down to experience and learn from it.

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Locutus of Borg
By Locutus
06th Jun 2013 15:15

What do clients really want from us?

All of my clients really value the fact that if they have a question, they can just pick up the phone and call me on my mobile, or e-mail me.

That's what differentiates me (and all of us on here) from an internet firm, which would find it difficult to offer that sort of personal service.

FirstTab - when you had that difficult conversation with your ex-client on the phone, you effectively threw away that thing that makes you different from Crunch.

Once that was gone, the question in the ex-client's mind would have become, why exactly am I paying FirstTab twice what Crunch is proposing to charge?

Some clients don't want / value the personal service and that's fine, the likes of Crunch will pick up many of those.  For everyone else, they need and value a "real" accountant and are prepared to pay a bit more for that.

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Teignmouth
By Paul Scholes
07th Jun 2013 14:06

How do you know they don't do what "we" do?

Surely aren't Crunch just a bunch of accountants in an office, like "us"?

From what I can tell, they offer the same service I offer the majority of my clients, for most of the time.  Chances are that, with my experience, I can offer a bit more but, as as been said many times on here, much of what we do is not specialist so it's down to efficiency and helping the client make it all as hassle free as possible.

If I was starting in business I'd certainly give them a go.

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By redman7
07th Jun 2013 17:23

I've had a couple of enquiries from people leaving Crunch

Have had a couple of enquiries from people leaving Crunch and both have said that they are not getting a decent level of customer service - and by that they mean prompt replies to queries. By prompt I mean no replies for more than a few days....

My pitch to clients is that I'm not the cheapest or the dearest but they get a high level of personal service - and most of the time I only need to reply to email queries within, say, 48 hours to impress them...

RM

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Man of Kent
By Kent accountant
07th Jun 2013 21:18

Similar experience

@redman - I has a similar conversation with a business owner who was using Crunch - poor level of service which I think is down to their offering being a volume one. They offer a great service but don't deliver and I would imagine they have a high turnover in clients.

Crunch offer their software for free and then look to take the user on as a client. So they've got the lead generation sussed but not the back office.

I

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