Want to Be a DC? | Adapting to a Growing Client Base
Do You Want To Be A Debt Counsellor cont.
Due to the current fee structure, it is beneficial to your profitability to take on new clients regularly.
This is because of the initial ‘restructuring fee’. This fee realistically represents half the funds that you will ever receive from a client for your services.
You will find that running your practice solely on your aftercare monthly retainer fee will strain your resources. So, over time you will take on more and more clients (when you can find them). Without their financial input, your practice may face challenges.
‘As the number of clients you are caring for grows, so too does the workload’
As the number of clients you are caring for grows, so too does the workload. This forces you to find suitable administrative assistants to help carry the weight.
As your practice grows, this brings its own challenges. Who manages your support staff if you are busy doing the debt review? Who oversees the finances if you are busy doing debt review? Who finds new potential leads and handles your social media and online branding while you are busy doing debt review?
For the Debt Review Awards, the debt counselling practices are considered in various size categories (Boutique, Small, Medium, Large and National). This is because practices do change as they increase their client base.
Managing these changes will become one of the main factors in whether you “make or break”. And it is not something you can be trained for during the NCA course. You will have to find out the hard way, try it and see what happens.
Bringing on the right people to help you manage these transitions will be key, and realising when you need to contract or expand, and how you balance that with managing your costs makes all the difference.
Some practices have found that they have a preferred number of clients that matches their skills and resources. If you can find the sweet spot by bringing in enough new clients to stay in business, then you will be able to adapt to an ever changing client base.
