TaxCoach Briefs:    September 4, 2008

Volume 3, Number 35

Attention All-Stars and Hall of Fame members: Our next conference call will be Tuesday, September 9, at 4PM. Michael Gerber, author of the bestselling E-Myth books, says that building and refining systems is the key to transforming your practice into a business. So we'll be talking systems. Specifically, what systems have you created to market and manage your business? What systems do you wish you had in place? What systems are your All-Star and Hall of Fame peers using? As with our July and August calls, this one will be "mostly mastermind." So be sure not to miss it!

TaxCoach Briefs archives.

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MARKETING MINUTE (EAL)
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FEEDBACK ABOUT UNSOLD COLLEAGUE

Last week, we printed an email from a new member, Bill Constance, just outside San Francisco. Bill joined on July 31, then ran the program past an older CPA friend with a mature practice. Bill was disappointed because his friend saw it as "just another arrow in the quiver of a well-rounded practice," and priced pretty high for the plans he could see himself doing.

We spent the bulk of last week's issue addressing the "unsold colleague" objections, point by point. We thought we did a pretty good job, especially when it came to defending TaxCoach's price. (Keith told me that when he was a consultant, he learned never to apologize for his fee. I told him that when I was in law school, I learned the same lesson -- I took classes in torts, contracts, sales, and topics like that -- but I never took a class in "apologies." I don't think they even teach "apologies" in law school!)

Apparently we did do a pretty good job, because we got a raft of positive emails in response. We were gratified by your comments, and we thought it would be worthwhile to reproduce some of them here.

One member in New York writes:

"I see why people like (a well-known vendor to tax professionals) and others always pitch their products and services to the tax industry like everybody is 15 years, old as this 'CPA' does not have a clue about TaxCoach. . . . Even though I don't have the time to sell the TaxCoach planning like I want to (too many new and existing clients), I keep the service all year now for the weekly emails which are priceless. . . . Of course I would like to utilize more of TaxCoach and that time will come; however, to be able to receive all that you two gentlemen put out for less than $1k a year is worth it to me."

Another member, appropriately located in the "Show Me" state of Missouri, reports:

"The CPA in the case you discussed has a very limited view of his practice. He is obviously content to do things the way he always has. In aerodynamics we call this "dynamic stability" -- an object's tendency to return to a state of neutrality following a displacement. You can push up and down all day . . . but without continued pressure . . . they move back to where they are most comfortable, his original course. He will stay that way until something drastic happens to his practice . . . like running out of air.

If he had any real vision, your program would be very attractive . . . the cost is minimal and the support is great."

(Wow. You can't buy testimonials this good. I hope when you get praise like this from happy clients, you ask for permission to use it in your marketing. Nothing you can say about yourself carries as much weight as the same praise coming from someone else.)

A third member from Chicago writes:

"I have been a subscriber to TaxCoach for a little over a year, so as of right now I have paid the annual fees for two (2) years. On my P&L I have a separate line item for any income I directly receive for any TaxCoach plans, in whole or in part, that I sell. As of this date I am about break even with my cost . . . . I do not fault TaxCoach with the fact that I haven't made a lot more money as I have not had the time to make the effort to expound on some of their ideas. I have also given some plans away at no cost to close a sale on an investment product.

I feel that I have earned a great deal of extra income and in some cases avoided possible lawsuits because of the knowledge, expertise, and fresh ideas that I have woven into my practice due to my affiliation with TaxCoach. I look at the yearly fee as an added value cost, value to my practice, and not as a user or service fee."

Finally, a fourth member from Iowa reports how fast he saw the system's value:

"I signed up for the TaxCoach program on August 14, and in my first two weeks I have set up eight TaxCoach seminars (five with self-employed associations, two with retiree centers, and one with a real estate investors group).

Also, I mailed out 50 letters to business owners in my area that I wanted to target and offer them tax coaching services and two of them called me and booked appointments! As a young accountant starting out in his own business I have never been more excited about the future."

Okay, we write "Marketing Minutes" to help you market your practice. So aside from using this as a sublimely satisfying exercise in patting ourselves on the back, where's the lesson? There are several here, for all of us:

  1. TaxCoach members have all sorts of goals for their practices. Some are looking to ramp up new practices. Some are looking to reinforce their value to their current clients. Others are looking to reinvent their practices with more monthly business clients or financial-planning services. Ask yourself what your specific goals are so that you can integrate TaxCoach into your unique practice. (This is good advice for any practice development program, seminar kit, or web site template.)
  2. TaxCoach offers so many tools that no single member has used them all. Don't let them overwhelm you. Use your trial month to see which parts you can put to work now, and for heaven's sake, take advantage of your personal consultation. (How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time . . . . )
  3. Understand that TaxCoach -- like any good marketing tool -- is a year-round resource you can use whenever you need it, even if you don't expect to need it. (Is car insurance a waste of money if you make it home safe tonight? Probably not. Is TaxCoach a waste of money if you don't use it today? No, if you have it when you need it to win a long-term client.)

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SNEAK PEEK (EAL)
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HELP YOUR CLIENTS MAKE SENSE OF THE ELECTION

Apparently this whole "election" thing is heating up. Who will win the White House? Who will get voted off the island? Which candidates are smarter than a fifth-grader? The next 60 days promise to reveal all . . . .

We've already rolled out a customizeable chart comparing the McCain and Obama tax proposals. (You'll find it in the TaxCoach Playbook, under "Sample Letters in Microsoft Word.") And we've started work on more tools to help capitalize on the election to demonstrate your value to your clients. At this point, we anticipate a Client Alert, customizeable Outlook Letter, and perhaps even a seminar kit. We're working on both "McCain" and "Obama" versions, so you'll have them within hours of the actual results.

Why are these so important? We've said it before: because you can use the news to keep your name in front of your clients, build loyalty, and generate referrals. The key is to use them as soon as they become available. And why is that important? Because the difference between salad and garbage is timing.

Do you have an idea for an election tool -- or any other kind of tool or template -- that we can create? If so, email support@taxcoachsoftware.com and let us know what you'd like to see!

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MEMBER EVENT (EAL)
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"POWER USER" ROUNDTABLES

Keith and I are pleased to announce that we'll be hosting a series of six "PowerUser" Roundtables across the country this October.

PowerUser Roundtables are full-day meetings in small-group settings dedicated to exploring TaxCoach's unique combination of tax-planning and business development tools. No outside speakers. No outside sales pitches. Just Keith and I, walking you step-by-step through using TaxCoach from start to finish.

We're especially excited to present our roleplay on selling tax-planning services. This was the highlight of the Spring Training 2008 boot camp. Keith and I sat on high stools in front of the room, and I actually "interviewed" him, just as I did nearly 10 years ago when I first engaged him as a client. But every few sentences -- in fact, in some occasions, every few words -- I held up my hands for a "time out" and detailed exactly why I said what I said. Keith threw in his two cents on his personal experience from the client's perspective. Then we opened up the discussion for your questions and comments. Our Spring Training audience told us this was exactly the sort of information they were looking for when they signed up in the first place! And if you're looking for a turn-by-turn "MapQuest" for selling tax-planning engagements, that's what you'll get from the Roundtables.

We've chosen six locations across the country to make day trips practical for as many of you as we can:

We've been pleased with the response we received since we first announced the roundtables. But seats really are limited -- after all, shouldn't "roundtables" be limited to the people who fit around the table? So if you're serious about giving your clients proactive tax planning, don't wait: click here for complete details!

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WE'VE MOVED! (EAL)
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Years ago, before my grandmother died, she told me a story about how she and her family moved from Arkansas to Oklahoma -- in a covered wagon. (At the time, I didn't realize any living people still had those memories -- the whole thing had a sort of "Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All" air about it).

Last week, Keith, Catherine, and I packed up our own stuff and moved to new offices. The move wasn't quite as exciting (or bumpy), but we want to make sure you have our new address:

TaxCoach Software, LLC
2619 Erie Avenue, Suite 2D
Cincinnati, OH 45208

(Our phone, fax, and email all remain the same.)

Please make a note of it -- we look forward to continuing to serve as your tax-planning and business-development partner!

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We're happy to answer your questions on TaxCoach content, features, or marketing. While we give first priority to our All-Star and Hall of Fame members, we work to answer all questions. For best response, email support@taxcoachsoftware.com. If we can't answer immediately, or we think the answer will be useful to all of our members, we'll publish it (anonymously) here in the 'Member Q & A' section of TaxCoach Briefs.

Regards,

Ed Lyon
Keith VandeStadt

www.taxcoachsoftware.com
(513) 321-2820

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