No accountants set out to work with the wrong clients. But, I have lost track of how often I have heard accountants announce that, with hindsight, they wish they had been more selective when they started out.
I have heard this repeatedly, in 1-2-1 conversations and also from many of the dozens of accountants I have interviewed on my podcast.
And, to be fair, this doesn’t only happen early on. Even established accountants can find themselves drawn into working with clients that, on reflection, were never quite right.
A new enquiry comes in. It feels easier to have a quick call than ask too many questions. Or a referral lands and carries an unspoken obligation.
Before long, you are committed to something that was never especially viable, but now occupies time, attention and energy that could be better spent elsewhere.
You rarely notice the cost in one moment. It reveals itself over time in slower growth, tighter capacity and the uneasy sense that you are working harder than the numbers justify.
If time wasters are not accidental but allowed, the real question is how to design them out of your process. This is harder to do of course if you need to generate additional fees, and feel you cannot afford to be choosy about the quality of the work or of the clients.
But, even if you are feeling desperate, remember that you are the professional so it’s up to you to manage expectations.
Here are ten of the most practical and commercial ways I would encourage you to do exactly that:
1. Make the first step require effort
One of the more useful shifts is to make initial engagement slightly more demanding.
Not obstructive, but deliberate. A short pre-call questionnaire, a request for basic financial information, or even a modest upfront fee for a first consultation will tell you far more than a casual conversation.
Yes, I’m aware there is a school of thought that says you need to make it as easy as possible for prospects to get in touch. I agree.
This isn’t about making it hard to contact you. Rather it’s about ensuring that once a prospect has made contact, you do not simply ‘roll over’ and make it too easy for them to join your client list.
One of my mentoring clients invites all prospects to meet him at his office. He says that anyone unwilling to do this is probably seeking a low quote. It helps that he is not seeking new clients based too far afield!
This is not about filtering people out. It is about observing behaviour. Interest is easy to express; effort is far more revealing.
2. Ask commercial questions early
Alongside this sits the discipline of asking better questions, earlier. Not technical ones, but commercial ones such as:
– Why are they changing accountants?
– Beyond what’s prompted them to switch, what did they like about the service they get form their previous accountant?
– What does “better” look like?
– How do they typically make business decisions?
You are not interrogating; you are testing alignment. Vague answers at this stage rarely improve with time.
3. Watch how they respond to structure
Pay close attention to how prospects respond when you explain your onboarding process (You do do this don’t you?!)
If something that feels clear and reasonable to you (and has been accepted by other clients) meets resistance or repeated attempts to bypass it, that is useful information.
Good clients may ask questions. They rarely resist against sensible boundaries.
4. Slow down the ‘yes’
I am a big supporter of the idea that ‘speed stuns’.
Whilst this is true in terms of the speed of your initial response to an enquiry from a prospect, it doesn’t mean you also need to make immediate decisions re prospective new clients.
There is often an unspoken pressure to respond quickly, particularly when work feels scarce or referrals are involved.
But taking things at a considered pace communicates that you are selective and that you are not desperate for new clients
Rushed decisions tend to favour the prospect, not the practice.
5. Accept that referrals are not obligations
It is perfectly acceptable to say ‘thanks but no thanks’ to a referral.
The fact that someone has been introduced by a trusted contact does not automatically make them a good fit.
Taking on work purely out of politeness, or fear of missing out on income, often leads to working hard for very little return. That is not a relationship; it is a slow erosion of margin.
If you do reject a referral you should, of course, still thank the introducer and explain why the referral wasn’t a good fit.
6. Be clear on pricing earlier in the process
Most time-wasting relationships begin with a small compromise. A fee that feels slightly too low or a scope that is not fully defined.
I always encourage my mentoring clients to decide on the minimum fee they will require new clients to pay.
For example, if you know you only want to take on new clients who will be paying you at last £500, £1k or £5k a year you need to clarify early on if this is within the prospect’s budget. No point investing an hour of your time before you do that and only later finding out there’s a huge mismatch. That can be embarrassing as well as frustrating.
Raising pricing earlier in the conversation, in a calm and matter-of-fact way, allows prospects to self-select. Those who resist at this stage are unlikely to become easier once engaged.
7. Make your way of working visible
Don’t wait to reference timelines, responsibilities and communication standards. Discuss them rather than leave them buried in your engagement letters.
The more visible your way of working is, the easier it becomes for the right clients to lean in and for the wrong ones to step away.
8. Introduce a little friction into your process
There is a natural temptation to make it as easy as possible for prospects to engage. In practice, a small amount of friction can be helpful.
Requiring documents in advance, setting defined meeting slots, or limiting availability creates a subtle but important signal. Serious clients adapt. Time wasters tend not to.
9. Qualify before you advise
Many accountants give away too much too early. A long exploratory call, generous initial guidance, or informal problem-solving before any commitment has been made.
This often attracts clients who are seeking free advice rather than a working relationship. I’d encourage you to always qualify first, then advise.
This is one of the reasons I recommend that accountants only offer a free ‘initial meeting’ rather than a ‘consultation’. And that you avoid giving more than a token amount of free advice to anyone BEFORE they become a paying client.
When you give away too much too soon you risk educating clients to think that you always give advice for free. Why should they expect to pay for advice as a client if you don’t charge when you give it to prospects?
10. Trust your early instincts, but apply discipline
Most experienced accountants can sense when something feels off. Your gut often tells you. The challenge is not spotting it, but acting on it.
Experience brings both intuition and the ability to rationalise it away. The skill lies in recognising patterns and giving them appropriate weight before you are committed.
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None of this is about becoming difficult to work with. Quite the opposite. The aim is to make it easier for the right clients to engage, while allowing the wrong ones to fall away naturally.
Over time, this becomes less about avoiding poor-fit clients and more about shaping a practice that is commercially stronger, operationally smoother and ultimately more enjoyable to run.
And that tends to be the real measure. Not how busy you are, but whether the work you are doing genuinely justifies the time and effort it involves.
If this is something you are wrestling with, it is often easier to work through it with someone slightly removed from the day-to-day.
A mentoring conversation can help you identify where small changes in process or positioning would make a disproportionate difference, and give you the confidence to act on them.
