I have been working for one of my clients for the last two years, over the last six months he has become really disorganised, losing receipts, bank statements not received etc etc, very late in paying creditors due to cash flow.I go to his office on a weekly basis, I just cant seem to get on top of the work, and I am finding this very stressful.Although work is hard to come by, I want to quit working for this client, as anyone been in a similar position.Any advice on how to ditch this client would be much appreciated.
Thanks Remington
-- Edited by remington on Saturday 30th of June 2012 05:30:48 PM
I feel your pain; I've had to red card a few of mine in the past. It's a tough one, especially if you are reliant on the income and really need the work. I always try to have faith that someone more deserving will come along to fill the gap. Life's too short to put up with nonsense that's clearly pushing you over the edge.
Dear Client,
You've become impossible to work for; your disorganization is making my position as your bookkeeper untenable; time to find someone else. Hasta La Vista.
Regards, Remington.
I wish you all the best with finding more work if you do decide to chuck this one in.
Thank you for thoughts and advice, with this client at the moment, he is so slack in his attitude to business, he is slow at providing me with the required paperwork, it is just making my job twice as long I could say well I am still getting paid for my time, but I would much rather complete the work each week and keep things up to date, it really gets me down when I am being slowed down by other people, dont get me wrong the client is very nice and I always get paid on time.But you are right I will have to give him the red card, I will have to think of a polite way to tell him that I am finishing.
Just a suggestion but you could always sell the client and then tell them that you have consolidated your client portfolio.
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Shaun
Responses are not meant as a substitute for professional advice. Answers are intended as outline only the advice of a qualified professional with access to all relevant information should be sought before acting on any response given.
Sell the client to another bookkeeper or to an accountant.
You have a client that pays on time so they are a sellable commodity.
Normally people buy and sell blocks of clients rather than singles but I can see no reason why you can't just sell a single if you can get any interest.
You don't tell the client that they've been sold, you tell them that you are consolidating your portfolio. You then really need to "big up" the practice that you've sold the client to to make them feel as though the move is in their best interests as if the client leaves within 12 months you will need to repay some of the fee / not get some of the deferred fee.
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Shaun
Responses are not meant as a substitute for professional advice. Answers are intended as outline only the advice of a qualified professional with access to all relevant information should be sought before acting on any response given.
@Remmington - how about you write a letter and explain that the nature of the work is different to normal so you need to agree a new fee. Quote a figure that makes the stress bearable.
In the letter acknowledge that you understands if he moves to another firm and you are prepared to keep the same fee if the nature of the work changes. Then it's his choice, sort his act, dig deep or move on.
Why do you think this client has become disorganised when he wasn't initially? You mention cash-flow, is there anything extra you can do to improve this? If there is more to it, such as family problems then I suggest he'll be grateful if you stay the course. It might just be that he's come to rely on you and if work is hard to come by then why not take whats going? Obviously, if he is being deliberately obstructive then times up.
Very long time since I've done it but consider having the bank statements sent to your address. You'd have no greater access to his account than you do already. That'd be one major item sorted. Alternatively, get a letter signed by him asking that the statements are written up to say 4th each month so you attend shortly when they might still be on the doormat.
Suppliers will email or fax copy invoices if it helps them to get paid.
