TaxCoach Briefs:    September 25, 2008

Volume 3, Number 38

• Marketing Minute: Lessons from Starbucks
• Member Event: PowerUser Roundtables
• Member Q & A: Strategies for Real Estate Investors

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MARKETING MINUTE (EAL)
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LESSONS FROM STARBUCKS

My three-year-old son Oliver has a fever today. That's no fun for anyone, especially him! The little guy just had his first day of preschool two weeks ago, and now he gets to have his first sick day. (I told him not to make it a habit!)

Oliver didn't sleep well last night, which means my wife Mary and I didn't sleep well last night. So after I dropped my daughter Molly off at school this morning, I stopped to get Mary a coffee. There's a Dunkin Donuts just down the street from school. But I didn't stop there. I passed Dunkin Donuts, passed Caribou Coffee, and passed a couple of gas stations serving "gourmet coffee" -- all so I could drive through Starbucks, to get her a venti sugar-free hazelnut soy latte. (I don't even know what that is.)

We've all heard how Starbucks is taking over the world. By 2013, there will be a Starbucks on every corner in America. (Possible.) Some streets have Starbucks drive-throughs directly across the street from each other so drivers don't have to make a left turn for their fix. (Actually, I think that one may be true.)

When Howard Schultz created Starbucks, he faced a real challenge. How could he distinguish himself from his competition enough to justify premium prices for an ordinary commodity like coffee? (Does that sound like a question I've asked before?)

He did it by creating an image of a European coffee house. No frizzy-haired waitresses serving cups of joe. Nope, he's got "baristas" serving espressos and lattes, plus "mystos," "macchiados," and "frappucinos." (I don't know what those are, either. I drink Diet Coke in the morning.) Fancy pastries and "biscotti" at premium prices. (The biscotti just taste like dry cookies to me.) Comfy seats and lots of tables with wireless internet access. I've met clients there, and so have you.

Starbucks has set itself apart from everyone else and built a world-class brand. Even celebrities love their brew. (Google "Britney Spears Starbucks" and you'll get 1,120,000 hits -- along with several YouTube videos of her leaving the place, trademark cardboard-wrapped cup in hand.)

Bottom line: coffee places are a dime a dozen, but Starbucks is special. The other coffee places are apples. Starbucks is an orange.

What's the lesson? Don't be an apple! Do something to make yourself an orange and you'll be perkier when you get to the office.

Here are three cheap and easy ways to incorporate the "Starbucks" strategy to build your business:

• Your Name: I'm not a fan of spending money solely to build a brand. I include a true direct-response call to action in every marketing piece I produce. But choosing a name for your practice is a free opportunity to brand your "orange" identity.
  Most of us use something like "My name, LLC," "My Name & Associates, LLC," or "My Name Tax and Accounting Service, LLC." That's fine if you want to promote the value of a personal relationship with you. But you might consider putting the benefit you offer your clients right into your name ("Smith & Associates Tax Planners, LLC").
  If you put too much emphasis on yourself, you make it harder to shift work to staff as your client list grows. You also make it harder to sell your practice when you're ready to retire.
  Clients who hire a bigger firm, like the lawyers at Crane, Poole & Schmidt, understand they're hiring a team, not just an individual. They understand if Denny Crane doesn't do all the work on their case.

• Your Web Address: Most tax professionals choose straightforward web addresses that identify us, but do little more. The problem is, prospects searching for your services online aren't impressed by your name until they see how you can benefit them. If you're Sheldon Snively, and you want to offer tax planning to clients in Denver, why would you choose "www.sheldonsnively.com" when you could choose "www.denvertaxplanner.com" and telegraph your benefit before your prospect even reaches your page?
  Consider different domain names for different services or target markets. If www.denvertaxplanner.com pulls tax clients, consider www.denverquickbooksexpert.com to pull accounting clients. There's no need to build separate sites. You can point the different domain names to different pages on a single site.
  But even if you don't set up a website, for God's sake, use a real email address. Nothing screams "amateur" like a Hotmail, Yahoo, or Gmail email address. Your clients will probably see your email address far more often than your internet address or even your office, so make it professional. Registering a domain name with email will cost you 30 bucks a year. Nine cents a day.
  More about web addresses. Like it or not, it's a dot-com world. (If you use Internet Explorer, you can type any word or phrase into your browser bar, hit CTRL-ENTER, and IE will automatically turn it into a www.dot.com address -- but not a dot-biz, dot-tv, or other secondary domain suffix. And avoid hyphens, dashes, or other characters in your domain name -- they're hard to communicate and risk losing visitors.

• Your Elevator Speech: Most of us have a "30-second speech" or "elevator speech" we use when people ask us what we do. Don't just tell someone you're an "accountant," an "enrolled agent," or a "financial planner." Tell them how your clients benefit from working with you.
  If you're stuck, start with the "SUCCESs" story we outlined in last week's Briefs:
  "We help you stop wasting money on taxes you don't have to pay. We do it in plain English, without intimidating spreadsheets or IRS gobbledygook. We tell you what to do, how to do it, and when to do it. It's all court-tested and IRS-approved. We'll even show you where the law says you can do it! You can use the savings for your retirement, your kids' college education, or even that dream vacation you've always wanted!"
  Don't be afraid to rehearse this a bit, so you sound confident and professional when it comes up. Because it will!

You'll probably never have the budget to brand yourself like Starbucks. But you can still learn from them to set yourself apart from your competition. Put those lessons to work, and you'll have more time to enjoy your morning brew!

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MEMBER EVENT (EAL)
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"POWER USER" ROUNDTABLES

The first "PowerUser" Roundtables, at the Coto de Caza Golf & Racquet Club on October 8 and Silicon Valley Capital Club on October 10, are now less than two weeks away. Keith and I are excited to go "on the road," and while we can't promise we'll be as hip as Jack Kerouac, we can promise we'll help your earning power more. Sessions are filling up -- especially in Chicago and Tampa -- so make sure to book your seat at the table!

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:

• How to make tax planning the "secret weapon" of your marketing
• How to sell tax-planning services for premium fees
• How to deliver tax-planning services and build client loyalty
• Member "hot seats"
• Mastermind discussion

We've finalized venues for each of the meetings, and picked locations within driving distance for as many of you as we can:

• Mission Viejo, CA (Coto de Caza Golf & Racquet Club): Wednesday, October 8
• San Jose, CA (Silicon Valley Capital Club): Friday, October 10
• Chicago, IL (The Metropolitan Club): Friday, October 17
• Newark, NJ (Sheraton Newark Airport): Wednesday, October 22
• Baltimore, MD (Tremont Grand Hotel): Friday, October 24
• Tampa, FL (The Centre Club): Wednesday, October 29

We've been pleased with the response we received since we first announced the roundtables. But seats really are limited -- Keith and I are serious about limiting them 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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MEMBER Q & A (KAV)
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Q: Have a client with rental properties . . . How does this activity fit into your service and what type of strategies does it produce?

A: Hi - thanks for your question about TaxCoach. We see real estate investors as one of the primary "sweet spots" for tax planning, along with business owners/professionals and investors managing taxable investment portfolios.

Depending on the client's circumstances, TaxCoach recommends several strategies for rental real estate owners:

• Hiring a spouse to establish a Section 105 medical expense reimbursement plan
• Hiring children to shift income to their lower tax bracket
• Qualifying as a "real estate professional" to avoid passive loss limits
• Cost segregation strategies to accelerate depreciation deductions
• Entity formation to mitigate "dealer property" issues
• Exit strategies for managing capital gains liabilities

You'll find the complete list of all modules on the Reports screen within TaxCoach.

Q: Did I miss where on the questionnaire there is a question that triggers these strategies . . .

A: On page 3 of the questionnaire, there's a section asking about investment real estate and how it is held. The answers will interact with the answers to family and outside employment circumstances to recommend strategies.

Also, while TaxCoach's "artificial intelligence" will suggest specific modules for a client, you can always override those selections and include or exclude whichever modules you wish in the client's plan.

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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,

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