BY Jamie Waggoner
When considering taking on a new business owner tax client, it is wise to
consider a few things before accepting the job.
Many business owners would be what you call “high maintenance people”
especially when it comes to taxes and accounting.
Here are some tips for you when dealing with high maintenance business tax clients:
Empathy, Not Sympathy
When working with business owners and their tax needs, be careful of buying
the whole “woe is me” story.
Business owners often hate taxes and they complain a lot.
You want to be careful to portray empathy but avoid excessive sympathy.
Yes, there is a difference between the two words.
When considering sympathy, think of feeling bad for someone.
Then when considering empathy remember it is to feel their pain, you have
been there too.
When the business owner comes to you freaking out about their taxes, they
don’t need you to feel sorry for them, but it will create a bond if you can tell
them you understand and you have been there too.
Solutions Oriented
Being able to tell your client how to fix the issues is a key quality to have
when dealing with a business owner.
Listen, not everyone will have their documents all in order or correct for you
to do their taxes, and there are a million other challenges that come up in
working with business tax clients.
Telling the client everything that is wrong will only upset the client and you
won’t be getting any referrals that way.
Move your mindset from being a problem finder to a problem SOLVER.
Setting Expectations
High maintenance business tax clients are like children, they need boundaries
and regularity.
Make sure to tell the client the specifics, meaning set times to call or meet.
Discuss with your client your availability down to how long of a wait time you
may have; if you don’t respond to calls or emails on the weekend, let them
know that, too.
Telling your client this information ahead of time will make sure they are
secure about everything going on.
Setting expectations prevents (for the most part) high maintenance clients
from running all over you.
Like Learning How to Make Business Owner Tax Clients Happy?
Remembering these easy tips will make you and your new business clients
happier together—even during the pain of tax season.
If you like learning about how to make business owner clients happy to use
your tax services and pay you whatever you say they should pay you, jump
into a free trial of the new Business Tax Verified Training Program with CPA Adam Shay.
Adam works with entrepreneur tax clients all day every day and this training
program shows you not only how to do the technical work, but even more
importantly how to handle the clients themselves.
