After practicing for over 30 years I can unequivocally say we’ve never had a ‘perfect client’. One who always applied the accounting principles correctly, on time and provided the requisite support. Without exception. (The other assurance partner claims he had one, once, but he drinks heavily.) The only perfect client is the one you are doing a proposal for. He’ll promise to do everything perfectly.

In the proposal process, the Company’s obligation is to get the ‘highest level of service for the lowest possible price’. So of course they are motivated to commit to a course they are entirely incapable of keeping and the assurance team has to endure the shortcomings.  In a time sheet environment this may get passed on to the client, but not likely. And of course if it does the client squeaks that it is not consistent with the original proposal, and you have what my friend and mentor Ron Baker euphemistically refers to as ‘bill and duck’ (and hope they pay). For pricing firms, as we are, it results in scope creep.

My point is that ultimately no client is perfect. Propose based on what they commit to but invoice them for what they actually do or don’t do. Don’t whine because they aren’t perfect. Just implement a system that accommodates that imperfection without penalizing your Firm or creating animosity with your client(s). You might want to try Client Service Agreements. (Oh, and to all you seniors – ‘imperfection’ is why you get paid the big bucks! If all our clients were perfect we wouldn’t need your gray matter. We’d just use checklists. )

But most of all, I thought it also shows the value of criticism.  I read the other day, that the best thing you can hear as a company is a criticism, because that’s when you have the chance to improve.  If you never hear them, you can never get better.

So many times we dismiss them and make excuses for them (like this partner in her story), but a lot of times they can be the most valuable thing we can use to improve our company as a business.  The problem is a lot of times our customers don’t tell us what they don’t like about us, or even more often, we discount them when they do.

As Client Services Manager for my firm, I would love to be able to capture them from the clients and figure out a way to go above and beyond in making them happy, and also changing the way we run our business.  A bank rep once told me that if they make a customer upset, they have a basket with gift cards to restaurants, movies, Starbucks, etc.  I think they ought to go a step further and implement procedures, etc. to make sure that that situation never happens again to the client.

I imagine how I feel as a customer when I am upset about something.  I want to rant and rave to all my friends about.  But if I’m given something to appease my by the company, I rant and rave to all my friends about how generous they were and how much they made up for their mistake.  This makes the company look great- even though they made a mistake.