I want to talk with you about some important steps to providing exceptional tax resolution client care. Before we begin, let's clarify the difference between a customer and a client.

Definition of a Client vs. a Customer

A customer is someone who comes to you and has one transaction. Think of it like a retail store and a customer comes in, buys something off the rack, pays for it and that's it, you never see the person again.

A client is defined as someone that you have an ongoing relationship with, which is what we do especially when someone hires us to resolve their tax problems.

One of the first steps to exceptional tax resolution client care is to share your commitment to providing exceptional client care with your entire team. Take what's in your head about your vision of what exceptional client care looks like and put it on paper, and have a meeting to make sure everybody else knows exactly what’s expected of them.

The second thing you need to do is to ask your clients what they consider exceptional client care. And you can do this through like a stealth survey about their experience with your firm, with your front office, etc. In my firm we had something that we called the 14 Touchpoint Client Assurance System, where we actually got the person on the phone in real time or they came into the office and we gave them a status case update, every 28 days.

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When I had my tax resolution company, we had physical, or live phone, contact 4 times within the first 96 hours of being retained. We made sure we told the client what was going on with their case, especially when nothing was going on with their case. The most important time to communicate with your client is when you’re in a holding pattern with the IRS or there's nothing to be done on the case at that point. It’s important to remember to do this because if you are you're charging their credit card on a monthly basis or initiating an ACH automatic bank debit for the recurring monthly payments; the client wants to know what they're being charged for. Communicate consistently and frequently during these periods of inactivity (through no fault of your own).

One of the other things that you need to do is you have to accept that quality is going to cost something. I mean think about it—what's the difference between staying at a Motel 6 versus a 5 Star hotel experience? Clients are willing to pay more for better service and better quality.

It’s important to keep these things top of mind when we're talking about how you provide exceptional client care. It's all about how the client perceives their experience with you firm.

Teddy Roosevelt famously said “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care”.

Click to watch my PROVIDING EXCEPTIONAL CLIENT CARE video!