We meet with lots of potential clients, and happily plenty of them become customers. However, over the years we’ve noticed a number of warning signs that a potential client may not be tremendously desirable. We try to be alert to them (though we don't always get it right), since it’s not in anyone’s interests - ours or theirs - to work with someone that’s not a good match. Here are some of our red flags.
Cancelling the first meeting
We do probably have a few great clients who had to reschedule their initial meeting with us; emergencies do crop up, of course. However, more often, when the first meeting is cancelled it’s because you and what you do aren’t really very important to them, which is never going to lead to a good relationship. We’ve come close in the past to implementing a “one attempt to reschedule the initial meeting and you’re out” policy, but haven’t quite gone there – yet!
Arranging a meeting on the quarter hour
Actually, this is a bit more general. People who try to arrange meetings with such precision are often taking too much on. It’s no surprise when these ones get rescheduled. We usually predict in the office that an initial meeting arranged on the quarter hour isn't going to happen, and we're almost always right!
“I just need someone to do my CT600”
This is a really big one. As we’ve written before, doing a company’s accounts, abbreviated accounts and CT600 (its tax return) is one job, not three. If someone comes to you saying that they just need you to do their CT600, that very often means that they’ve put some abbreviated accounts into Companies House themselves, which automatically means they don’t appreciate the “all in one” nature of doing a company’s accounts and tax return properly. Very occasionally, maybe they’ll end up valuing what you do. Probably not though.
Long delays in correspondence
Sometimes someone expresses an interest in your services, disappears for ages, and then reappears, wanting to pick up the discussion again. Don’t get drawn in! What you do is not important to them.
They won’t tell you why they’re leaving their current accountant
Usually, people switching accountants are happy to talk about why that is. Sometimes, you can’t get any clue from them at all why they’re moving. We reckon there’s a pretty good chance that it’s because their current accountant has told them to move on!
Similarly - people who seem to have moved from accountant to accountant every year or two. Not worth it, move on.
“I don’t need to meet up, I just need a price”
You’re explicitly just a commodity to them. That’s fair enough – there are services that I think of as commodities that other people think are far more important. If you’re in the business of doing compliance and competing on price, then “I don’t need to meet up, I just need a price” isn’t a red flag. But for the way we work, it is.
If you've any to add to the list, we'd love to hear them!