The Practitioner: Should we stay or should we go?
With much change at the firm, The Practitioner is concerned that taking the eye off the ball with a major client
WHILE THE COUNTRY begins to get whipped into a frenzy by the media about whether Britain should stay in the EU or not, I have had my own debate – in my head – about whether we should stay with a particular client or not.
The client in question is, and always has been, our big ticket client, a game changer. We have benefited from their growth over the past 15 years and we have always been their trusted advisers.
But recently I have started to feel as though the trust was being questioned. It’s begun to niggle me, as several little things have been picked up on that would normally pass without mention.
Our team has seen a few changes over the past 12 months and, if I’m being honest, we have struggled to find the right staff mix to service the large client effectively. As owner I have been pulled in other directions as we have looked to expand, and have probably taken my eye off the ball.
It’s been a tricky situation to deal with in as much as I want the practice to keep on growing…I need to make sure my time is spread evenly while also keeping the biggest client satisfied.
As you can probably guess this hasn’t happened successfully recently.
Juggling tasks
In an attempt to keep all the balls in the air I’ve put in more motorway miles in the past six months than I did in the whole of the 2014/15 tax year. A downside of driving long distances is that it makes me think too much about things and I have almost talked myself into thinking we need to walk away from our big client. Crazy I know, but I feel like it’s getting to that point where our efforts aren’t appreciated or valued.
Of course I know the solution to most things is to talk about them instead of pondering on problems and letting them build up. I find this hard to do sometimes especially if I don’t have a back-up plan straight in my head if it all goes banana-shaped.
That is a UK-accepted banana shape of course, not an EU-shaped one.
The Practitioner’s uncensored thoughts come from within their own practice, having left a regional firm in the heart of England