Pitching a chain of car dealerships in Charlotte — 6 locations on Duke Energy. The owner said he'll sign the engagement but only if I guarantee a minimum recovery of $20,000. If I find less than that he doesn't want to bother with the paperwork. I think there's a good chance the recovery exceeds $20K based on what I've seen in similar businesses but I can't guarantee anything before seeing the bills. How do you handle this?
Client wants me to guarantee a minimum recovery before they'll sign
Never guarantee a specific recovery amount. You can't know what you'll find until you see the data. What I do instead is show the prospect data from comparable engagements — anonymized of course. Something like: in 8 out of 10 audits of businesses with similar utility spend I found recoverable errors. Average recovery was X. That sets realistic expectations without making a promise you might not keep. If the client still insists on a guarantee, walk away. That's a client who will be difficult to collect from regardless.
Karen is right — never guarantee. But I understand the client's concern. He doesn't want to waste time signing LOAs and gathering bills if there's nothing to find. I sometimes offer a free preliminary review: the client sends me their 3 most recent bills, I spend 30 minutes looking them over, and I give an honest assessment of whether I think a full audit is worth pursuing. Most of the time I can spot red flags in 30 minutes. If I see potential I tell them so and they're more willing to sign. If I don't see anything obvious I tell them that too and move on. No hard feelings.
Frank's preliminary review approach is excellent. It costs you 30 minutes but it builds trust and screens out accounts that genuinely don't have issues. The client gets a professional opinion at no cost, you get a qualified prospect who's more likely to sign. Never guarantee dollar amounts, but you can and should share your professional assessment of whether an audit is likely to produce findings. Honesty at this stage builds the relationship and protects your reputation.