plus 21 ways to get additional business clients.
by ed mendlowitz
the 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 practice doctor
a target is the result of a plan.
more on marketing: bundle tax services with financial planning | when clients haven’t filed taxes for years | how to help a client start a new business | second opinions: an old service under a new label | help clients with employment compensation | help clients with basic budgeting | questions for after tax season | 28 data points for a financial planning discussion | four additional services to suggest
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so, what is your plan?
- you can target an industry, or a service, or their subparts.
- pick the type of taxes you want to specialize in, and then let everyone you know know that that is what you do.
- if you meet someone who hears you are an accountant and they inquire whether you do individual taxes you have to tell them something like “i don’t, but one of my partners does and she is really great at it. i specialize in divorce and business split-up taxation, advice and litigation support. hopefully you never will need my services. by the way, if you give me your number, i’ll have nicole give you a call about your taxes.” and then put her on your specialized list for newsletters, alerts and whatnot – all regarding specialized tax services.
- meeting with attorneys specializing in your areas is highly effective …
- as is developing relationships with other accountants who do not provide these services.
- merging or joining a larger firm where their client base could jump-start your growth into that specialty could be a consideration.
- hire someone with a reputation and following.
11 ways to get additional tax clients
- send an extra blank organizer to your tax clients asking them to pass it on to a friend. if you use a minimum fee schedule, include that with organizer (if you want a sample minimum fee schedule email me for it).
- ask each client you meet with to recommend you to a friend (if they recommend you to an enemy you should rethink what you are doing).
- ask attorneys, insurance agents, real estate brokers, business brokers and other people you interact with professionally for referrals.
- mail flyers to new home owners – this is a common technique and usually yields some clients to make the mailing a break-even effort for the first year; the profit comes with the retained client.
- advertise for small business clients and include in a less prominent position that you do individual tax returns. i find that people think that accountants who do businesses will do a better job on their 1040, and they expect to pay a little more for their return.
- advertise for quickbooks consulting and include in a less prominent position that you do individual tax returns. same reason as previous. you can test this and the previous ad and see if one does better than the other.
- hire a telemarketing service.
- if you have an accessible office or storefront, put up a sign that you do tax returns and that walk-ins are welcome.
- join organizations, go to meetings, get to know people and the business will come.
- ask business clients to hire you to do tax returns for their employees as a benefit and make a “volume” price arrangement.
- buy a tax practice.
some ways are more effective than others. at one time or another i used every method above except the sign in window and got some business from each one. note i could have used the sign but never thought of it when i had the opportunity.
21 ways to get additional business clients
some of these methods duplicate the above checklist. when something works, keep using it.
- ask each client you meet with to recommend you to a friend who has a business.
- ask attorneys, insurance agents, real estate brokers, business brokers and other people you interact with professionally for referrals.
- mail flyers to new home owners promoting that you handle home-based and small businesses.
- advertise for small and home-based business clients.
- advertise for quickbooks and peachtree consulting.
- hire a telemarketing service.
- hire a commission-based new business marketing company.
- hire a salesperson.
- if you have an accessible office or storefront, put up a sign that you do tax returns for businesses and they are welcome to come in with any questions about your service.
- join organizations, go to meetings, get to know people and the business will come.
- look at a listing of businesses that have tax liens and contact them to see if they need a “good” accountant.
- walk into a business, introduce yourself and ask if you could spend 10 minutes with the owner – not a second more. try to have a book to give them that might help them. you can give them a current best-selling business book or you can buy prepared booklets with your name printed on it.
- circulate a news release and advertise the two free books that are available at your office. they can come in and pick up a copy – no obligation and no names will be taken. while there if they want, they could speak to a cpa for 10 to 15 minutes, also no charge and no obligation. put a price on the cover, e.g. $15.95, and sell it to those who don’t want to come into your office. don’t charge extra for postage.
- hold a breakfast seminar for business owners at a local hotel.
- host a “how to read between the lines of a financial statement” breakfast or lunch and learn for a law firm or business or trade association.
- present a speech at a local group, and publicize it yourself and send handouts afterward to clients and targeted prospects.
- introduce or strengthen your brand using social media including a regular blog.
- mail and/or email a newsletter.
- mail or email reprints of articles you wrote or were quoted in.
- buy a practice.
- ask for referrals – you cannot ever ask too many times.
most of these ways will get some results. even if the initial cost is not recouped, do not consider it a loss because the costs will be recovered over the life of the client because most work we do is repetitive, even if only once a year.