Welcome to Beyond the 10-Key, a regular article discussing powerful and unique ways to utilize AI in the tax, accounting, and financial services industry. With the influx of new AI-based platforms and the ease at which these tools can be used, hardly a day goes by where a typical conversation doesn’t migrate to how AI can improve our processes, client interactions, and more.
Topic: Allow AI to Make Those Tough Disengagement Decisions
We are all human. And whether we like to admit it all the time or not, we all have human feelings and emotions. As we entire the time of year when we evaluate client engagements and make decisions as to which clients we invite back and which clients we disengage, those emotions sometimes leak in. We forget why Client A was a challenge or why Client B has an uneasy feeling in the back of our mind. Or we have had months to calm down and the emotions and frustrations from a client interaction in April seem less frustrating.
We shifted our process and now allow AI to assist, especially for clients to whom we may have historical or emotional attachments. We also recognize that we may be slightly emotional and strained during filing season so sometimes that “no” really wasn’t supposed to be a no; maybe we just forget our coffee or tea that morning.
During season and through the remainder of the year, we add notes and comments to the note section of our software (we primarily use two applications for notes). We type actions, decisions, and client comments. We also enter our feedback and thoughts from the conversation or interaction.
At the end of the year (now), we utilize AI to review that data and provide preliminary feedback on client retention and disengagement.
The Basic Process
You can perform the similar analysis using the standard interface in ChatGPT, Gemini, CoPilot, or any of the dozens of other tools. No matter the tool or platform, the process is pretty much the same and this week is much simpler than last:
We upload and export of notes from our software and perform a basic redaction. Our redaction process will be discussed another week. Then, use a prompt similar to below. Note that the prompt will shift by platform and as new or different version are released. You should tweak and adjust to your needs.
Assuming the role of an experienced tax professional and accountant, you need to review and analyze your client relationships to devaluate retention plans. You are to be impartial from emotions and rely heavily the facts.
The attached document includes the following information for all of our anonymized clients:
- Initial Client Start Date (improved evaluation criteria)
- Enrollment Date
- Document Drop Off Date
- Return Completion Date
- Number of Minutes for Return Completion (strengthened evaluation criteria)
- Number of Contacts (strengthened evaluation criteria)
- Thorough Client Notes (strengthened evaluation criteria)
Out of the total clients, we wish to retain 80%. Review the client data and provide an Excel document back including an additional column for a "Yes/No" for client retention and a second column with a brief reason.
Provide citations where possible. Please humanize all of your responses to a 10th grade level of comprehensive and speech. Additionally, think about your responses a second time prior to creation. Finally, if anything is unclear, please ask questions.
Given that we use an API, we format the returned response into a clean PDF. You could simply modify the prompt to request the response in a formatted version to your layout and liking. And, obviously, once we receive the response, we still review it for accuracy (but that is a conversation for another day).
Sample Output
While the output is comprehensive, it is also, quite long. Here are some sample outputs you may receive:
Reminder that the prompt is thinking a second time:
Summary of Delivered Product
Explanation of Evaluation Process
Sample of Output / Results
This is just partial output, but you can see the analysis is detailed and can provide significant insight.
What Would You Do?
We hope you are enjoying Beyond the 10-Key. Now, we would love to hear your thoughts? How would you adjust the prompt for your needs?
Thanks so much!
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