Difficult client conversations — fees, scope, bad news
Lesson 3 of 4 in Client Advisory & Stakeholder Communication · 22 minutes
CPAs face hard conversations: raising fees, declining scope creep, delivering bad news, ending engagements. This lesson covers the language patterns that work.
What you'll learn
- Communicate fee changes professionally
- Decline scope creep without damaging relationship
- Deliver bad news to clients
- End engagements respectfully
From the lesson
Hard conversations are part of the work. Strong advisors handle them professionally — clients respect direct, fair communication even when content is difficult. Weak advisors avoid hard conversations until problems escalate. This lesson covers the patterns.
1. Fee increase conversations
When fees should increase: • Inflation-driven cost increases. • Increased complexity of work. • Market rate changes. • Annual adjustments.
When NOT to increase fees: • Just because client is large. • To make up for unrelated firm losses. • Without value justification.
Standard fee increase conversation:
1. Schedule the conversation. Don't surprise client in invoice. Plan a brief meeting or call.
2. Open with…