You know the type of call. It starts innocently enough, and within a minute or two you can feel the energy shift. The language gives it away. “I just need a quick bit of free advice.” Or “my last accountant didn’t help reduce my tax bills.” Before long, you’re no longer curious about the opportunity; you’re wondering how quickly you can bring the conversation to a close without sounding abrupt.
Most accountants recognise these moments, usually because they’ve lived through the consequences of ignoring them. The client who resists every process, sends everything at the last minute, and tries to make their urgency your problem (which is another topic for another day!) The one who treats your role as transactional and assumes that rules are flexible if it suits them. None of this is unusual, but it is avoidable more often than we admit.
Why most accountants deal with this too late
I’ve lost track of the number of conversations I have had with accountants who need to retrain their clients. So you’re not alone if you have a bunch (or many) clients who take liberties, make you cringe when they call, or are problematic in their own way.
The more clients you have the easier it is to start that retraining process but that’s not the subject of today’s blog post.
Instead I’m going to encourage you to start to make your expectations explicit before you agree to take on new clients. Not bluntly, and certainly not rudely, but clearly enough that the wrong people recognise themselves and opt out. This requires a degree of self confidence and belief in yourself, in your experience and in the right you have earned to be respected.
Many accountants are reluctant to do this and that’s understandable. You might scare off some prospects. They might give you a bad online review. And none of this is good when you’re still building up your portfolio of clients.
But in most cases, the opposite tends to happen. When you articulate who you’re not for, you give your ideal clients something surprisingly reassuring: clarity. And, in the unlikely case that a prospect posts a negative review anywhere, you can respond professionally and move on.
Using your website and proposals to set expectations
Not everyone reads your website carefully before getting in touch, which is why a client service charter or a short section within your proposals can do a lot of heavy lifting. It doesn’t need to be long. It simply needs to reflect how you work and what you expect in return. If you value timely information, say so. If your advice is meant to be followed rather than debated endlessly, make that clear. If you operate structured communication channels rather than ad hoc emails at all hours, explain why.
These aren’t petty preferences. You’re an experienced professional and these are all indicators of how the relationship will function. And more importantly, they signal whether a client is likely to value what you actually do, rather than just what they think you do.
Many of the interviewees on my podcast have shared examples of what they do here to avoid taking on anyone who will cause them disproportionate grief. And members of my online Sole Practice Club have also shared related tips when we have discussed such issues.
The real issue is misalignment, not behaviour
When you step back, most frustrations you have with clients aren’t really about their behaviour in isolation. They’re about misalignment. A client who ignores your systems isn’t just being awkward; they’re showing you that they don’t believe your way of working adds value. Someone who constantly questions your advice isn’t simply inquisitive; they’re unsure whether you’re the right adviser. Left unaddressed, these tensions don’t disappear. They settle into the background and erode the quality of the work on both sides.
Being clearer earlier changes that dynamic. It allows you to have a quieter kind of confidence in your positioning. You’re not trying to be everything to everyone. You’re describing a way of working that suits you and inviting the right people to opt in. Inevitably, some will opt out, and that’s precisely the point.
What this looks like in practice
I see the same patterns in my own world. There are people who come looking for mentoring when what they really want is a place to vent. Running a practice can be isolating, so that instinct makes sense, but it’s not what I’m there to provide. The value comes from helping someone move forward, not from validating why they’re stuck. Similarly, there are those who expect a pre-packaged framework, something neat and repeatable. That’s never been how I’ve worked. Advice needs to reflect the situation in front of us, not a model built years ago and applied regardless of context.
Even within the Sole Practice Club, the dynamic matters. The strength of that community comes from shared experience and mutual support. I have never yet invited anyone to join who would treat it as a platform for self-promotion, or as a substitute for one-to-one time. Being clear about that isn’t exclusionary; it’s protective.
One of the simple documents i share with prospective mentoring clients is a one-page agreement that sets out our respective responsibilities. I may be a member of The Magic Circle, but I cannot wave a magic wand to solve anyone’s problems or to help them achieve their objectives. So I make clear before we start that I can advise, offer insights, support and guidance, but my clients have to take action between our meetings.
Why repelling the wrong clients improves your practice
This is where the idea of “repelling” comes into its own. It sounds counterintuitive at first, but it’s one of the more effective ways to improve the quality of your client base. When people understand your boundaries, they can make an informed decision about whether they’re a good fit. The right clients tend to appreciate that. They’re not looking for the cheapest or most accommodating option; they’re looking for a professional relationship that works.
There’s also a practical benefit. Every unsuitable enquiry you avoid is time and energy preserved for the clients who do value what you do. Over time, that compounds. Your systems run more smoothly, your advice lands more effectively, and the overall tone of your practice becomes more stable.
Once again I would note that I have heard this (or something very similar) during countless interviews with sole practitioner accountants on my podcast.
A clearer way forward
So rather than waiting for the next difficult conversation, it’s worth asking yourself a simpler question: where could you be clearer earlier? It might be a paragraph on your website. It might be something you discuss and then repeat in your proposal email or document that outlines how you work and who it suits. It doesn’t need to be confrontational. It just needs to be honest.
If you’re finding that certain negative patterns keep repeating in your client base, it’s rarely a coincidence. It’s usually a signal that something in your positioning is too open to interpretation. Tightening that up isn’t about turning people away for the sake of it. It’s about creating the conditions for better relationships.
And if you’d like to explore how to define those boundaries in a way that feels commercially sound rather than restrictive, that’s exactly the kind of conversation we could have 1-2-1 or within the Sole Practice Club.
