When your firm began, you probably took any client that could use your services. A few years on however, you’ve likely realized that not all clients are created equal, and some can even harm your firm by hurting revenue or decreasing staff morale.

Some clients have unreasonable expectations about what your firm should do and how much you should charge for your services. Perhaps they are in an industry your staff is unfamiliar with, requiring them to spend time on the client’s work that is not billable at best, and frustrating at worst.

Once you’ve defined who are your ideal clients, and are ready to focus your firm on providing the best services for them, the last piece of the puzzle is to spend some time considering what to do with your current clients who might be less than ideal.

Here are some ideas to help you make this transition smoother for you and your clients.

Focus your team

Move your ‘niche clients’ to one or two staff members who can solely focus on those types of clients. Perhaps the clients are in an industry that you may want to work in later, or maybe they are in the right industry but aren’t the right size client just yet. If your firm’s size allows, and you have a couple staff who are looking for a challenge, this could be a great way to grow these clients and staff members. Be sure to measure results, to determine the group’s success, looking for improved employee morale, customer satisfaction, or efficiency, and perhaps even sales growth as the team finds additional services for these clients.

Refer them to another accounting practice

Provide a referral to another firm who can better meet their needs at this time. If you no longer wish to provide certain services anymore, or use older systems, referring your existing clients who need these services to them to another high-quality firm is a great way to transition these clients out of your firm. Perhaps look to network in with other accounting firms who are going through a similar process to see if you can have them refer their ‘non-ideal’ clients to you when your firm would be a better match.

Re-shape them into an ideal client

Letting some clients know that they are on the verge of being dropped may be just the nudge they need to convert to the cloud platform you are using or improve their working relationship with your staff. Explain the focus of your firm, the specific services you will be offering and the potential benefits to them, and they too may decide they are ready to change the way they do business. This particular exercise should really be done each year, to ensure that all clients are growing with your firm.