TaxCoach Briefs:    February 12, 2009

Volume 4, Number 8

• Marketing Minute: Smart Clients Are Smart Business
• Member Event: 2009 TAMMY Awards
• Subscriber Q & A: Clients Asking for Lower Fees

*****Attention All-Stars and Hall of Fame members ***** The February teleseminar is now available on the All-Stars page. We hope you appreciate the new webinar format, which lets us present visuals as well as the usual audio -- comments so far are quite positive. Our next teleseminar will be Tuesday, March 10. We understand that's a busy time for most of you, so we're looking to focus on management challenges rather than marketing. If you have questions or ideas for the group, let us know. See you on the 10th!

=====================================================
MARKETING MINUTE (EAL)
=====================================================

SMART CLIENTS ARE SMART BUSINESS

Last week, I wrote about how excited I was to spend most of this week in sunny San Diego. Back when I wrote that, there was a foot and a half of snow on our Cincinnati ground, and I was "California dreamin'."

On Saturday, the temperature here in Cincinnati shot up to 57 degrees and the snow melted. Sunday, when I left, it was warmer in Cincinnati than in San Diego. Last night I had dinner with a group of financial advisors in Del Mar, just a half mile from the beach -- and one of my dinner companions had to leave early to make sure he'd get home through the snow.

Bottom line here: if "global warming" were a product, Al Gore would have a hard time charging premium fees and making them stick! (I think he should he should stick with that "internet" thing -- I think it has a real future.)

None of this has anything to do with this week's lesson. I just want Keith to appreciate my sacrifice. Feel free to let him know next time you talk with him how easy he has it! (Ha ha -- he's in southern Cal and I'm the one with the car top down! -- Keith)

Today's lesson grows out of an email we got from a member in northern New Jersey:

"I wanted to drop you a quick line this evening. Primarily because you should know just how powerful TaxCoach is. I’m sure you are aware that not every professional who subscribes to your service is as knowledgeable as you guys are (that’s why we use you).

Last year, you helped me create a Real Estate flyer that got no response. This year, just a month earlier and a much different story. One of the brokers actually read my flyer and was very interested in the information about the seminar. He told my salesperson to have me contact him, which I did. We set up a seminar. I did my first seminar at Century 21 this past Saturday – they were so very impressed, and I got one agent (out of 12) to immediately set up an appointment to have his taxes prepared. He just left my office (no more than 5 minutes ago) and is extremely interested in the coaching also. He mentioned on several occasions, that my seminar moved him to come in. A second agent has an appointment for later this week. I think if I can improve my closing statements I will improve my appointments also.

But here’s where the success comes in. For me it is not just the signup of the clients, but for the knowledge that you empower me with. Although I have been doing taxes for a couple of years now, I still have much to learn. Your encapsulation of deductions, credits and most importantly strategies makes me come off as if I’m a seasoned CPA. In fact, I’ve learned more from reading your tax plan for myself, then I could have gotten by reading the various IRS publications (which is what I do to continue growth). But on top of that, I found myself repeatedly using the information in the seminar to educate my new client. Information, that quite frankly, was not a part of my knowledgebase (or at least so thoroughly ingrained) before familiarizing myself with the presentation.

Thanks so much for this coaching service, for me it’s much more than just sales, it’s also tax education!"

Here at TaxCoach, Keith and I have always worked to help you build your knowledge as well as your business. We know that giving you actionable ideas and usable information boosts our value to you -- even when those ideas and information fall outside our core premise. And I'm pleased that our member appreciates that.

That leads to my marketing question for the week. Specifically, how are you working to help your clients build their knowledge as well as their business?

This time of year, you and your clients are focused on deliverables. But you can still use the contact to build your clients' knowledge as well as your billings. Just spending five minutes discussing one or two items on a client's return -- and how they can use it to cut their tax -- goes a long way. And it protects you next time someone asks that client "when was the last time your tax advisor brought you an idea to save money"?

This is even true if you're just delivering basic information that you might take for granted. Remember, you aren't your client. So you can't assume your client knows what you know:

• You know your client who sells medical equipment should write off the cost of schmoozing doctors in her home as well at restaurants. Do you just assume she knows it, too? Or can you score points by making sure she knows how to maximize those deductions?

• You know your client who operates an insurance agency can cut employment tax by establishing an S-corp. Do you just assume he knows it too? Or can you make sure you keep his business by discussing the ins and outs?

Clients may or may not want to know what goes on "under the hood" of their 1040. But even if they don't, they'll appreciate your efforts to educate them about any tax-saving opportunities you find. This lets you charge premium fees (which, as you'll see below, is especially important in today's economy), command client loyalty, and boost the referrals that are probably the cheapest, most effective clients you can gather. That means smart clients are smart business.

=====================================================
MEMBER EVENT (EAL)
=====================================================

2009 TAMMY AWARDS

Entries are already arriving for the 2009 TAMMYs -- our coveted and eagerly-anticipated Tax Advertising and Marketing awards. As we announced last week, we're looking for your web pages, newspaper ads, direct mail pieces, TV or radio ads, and other marketing materials. (Don't worry about categories -- we're making this up as we go, and if we like it, we'll figure out where to put it.)

Keith and I are sending our tuxes out to be cleaned. Catherine has contacted Isabel Toledo, who designed Michelle Obama's inaugural dress. We've even invited "Vince from ShamWow" to host the event -- but we're still waiting to hear from his "people."

Seriously -- send your materials to Catherine by April 1. We'll look forward to presenting results on April 16 and analyzing them at the upcoming Roundtables.

=====================================================
MEMBER Q & A (KAV)
=====================================================

Q: I know you've answered this before . . . but . . . we've had two clients so far ask if we could reduce our prices due to the economy and their specific financial losses.

My first thought is "no" . . . you've been riding us hard to change the obstacle in our minds about charging more! But then I think of how much it costs me to acquire a client through marketing efforts.

Wouldn't it be better for me to reduce my charges for one year in order to keep them as clients. That assumes I want to keep them in the first place.

A: Good to hear from you. You're right, we did talk about it recently. Although neither Catherine nor I could remember specifically where, so we did a little digging. And Ed's sunning in San Diego this week, so he's useless!

Ed and I would agree with you that for the right client, it is worth it to make the rare exception to keep them. But it's important to constantly be able to justify your fee by the value you deliver, and give them a reason to waive or reduce the fee just this once.

In other words, it might seem a little mercenary, but they need to know that you are damn well worth what you charge, and that you value your relationship with them highly enough to take a chunk out of what's paying your bills so that they can pay theirs. Otherwise, it's just price-chopping and sucking up, which does you little good in the long run.

For more insight, take a look at these two items from the Briefs (Archives link in the Playbook or on the Sign-In screen):

• January 8, 2009 - "Do These Make My Butt Look Big": emphasizing value, removing the client's perception of risk of paying the fee

• December 11, 2008 - Q&A "How to Raise Fees": it's a long one with good insight on pricing, and there's a discussion near the end about waiving the increase in certain circumstances

=====================================================

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 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,

TaxCoach Briefs Archives...
TaxCoach All-Stars
TaxCoach Hall of Fame
TaxCoach Cost Segregation