How do you make — and keep — your clients satisfied?

Tough question, especially for professionals like CPAs. While searching for an answer, it might be useful to ask, “What might cause a client to become dissatisfied?”

Daniel Laufer, a CPA and an associate professor of marketing at Yeshiva University in New York City, takes a closer look in this article. In it, he boils down the main reasons for client dissatisfaction to this: Performance does not meet expectations. The article is an insightful look at what happens when expectations aren’t met and how CPAs can remedy the situation.

But what, exactly, are those expectations? Rick Telberg is on a quest to find the answer. He recently asked more than 2,000 finance and accounting professionals this question: What do clients want?  “The responses,” writes Telberg, “indicate a general, if not unanimous, consensus: Clients want service. Lots of it. Now. And it better be good. … and cheap.”

Read the various responses to Telberg’s question, then add your own by clicking “Comments” below.