Why do bookkeeping firms lose clients in the first busy season after a sale?
Clients leave when the person they trusted disappears, when deadlines slip while the new owner learns the files, or when something changes without warning. The first busy period exposes all three, because there is no slack to fix mistakes while learning.
The busy season is the worst time to be new. Staff are stretched, clients send questions at once, and any change in who answers the phone is noticed. If the previous owner leaves the day the sale closes, nobody is left to explain why a file was done a certain way.
Some losses are quiet. A client who liked a particular bookkeeper drifts away after a missed call. Another is irritated by a new portal, a new fee schedule or a changed way of sending documents. Others were only ever loyal to the former owner, and your own work does not matter to them.
You can lessen this. Ask the seller to stay on through the first busy period and to introduce you personally. Keep staff, tools and billing as they were until the season ends. Contact the largest and most complicated clients early, and note who has not replied. Hold changes until after the rush. A calm first season usually builds more goodwill than any improvement. Ask the seller for a list of clients lost around any earlier change in staff, since that history is the best clue to what could happen again.
Key takeaways
- Keep the seller involved through the first busy period.
- Hold back changes to tools, fees and staff until the season ends.
- Contact the most complex clients personally and early.
- Leave extra time in the schedule for questions and fixes.
Related reading
15 pages on the same subject, grouped by topic.
Selling
- Expert answerCan I sell my bookkeeping client list without selling the whole firm?
- GuideSelling a bookkeeping firm in Canada
- Expert answerHow do I hand my bookkeeping clients' software logins to a buyer safely?
- Expert answerHow do I tell clients my bookkeeping practice is changing hands without losing them?
Buying
- GuideBuying a bookkeeping firm in Canada
- Expert answerShould I meet the biggest bookkeeping clients before I commit to buying?
- Expert answerHow is cloud accounting software handed over when a bookkeeping firm is sold?
- Expert answerHow do I check whether a bookkeeping firm reconciles its clients' bank feeds on a schedule?
- Expert answerWhat should I look for in a bookkeeping firm’s shared-folder and file naming habits?
- Expert answerWhat should I ask about the chart-of-accounts templates a bookkeeping firm built for clients?
Due diligence
Sources
This answer is checked against primary sources. Links were last confirmed on the dates shown.
- 01Business Development Bank of CanadaGovernmentHow to conduct due diligence when buying a business
- 02Business Development Bank of CanadaGovernmentAfter buying a business, what is the next step?
- 03Business Development Bank of CanadaGovernmentUnderstanding post-merger operational integration
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