TaxCoach Briefs:    August 13, 2009

Volume 4, Number 34

• Marketing Minute: Suspicious Clients
• New Resource: "Higher Taxes" Prospecting Letter
• New Resource: Introducing TaxCoach "Press Club"
• Member Resource: Member Call-In With Ed and Keith

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MARKETING MINUTE (EAL)
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SUSPICIOUS CLIENTS

Yesterday, Keith and I hosted our regular weekly member Call-In. We really enjoy these calls -- they're a great opportunity to discover what sort of questions you have about TaxCoach content, strategy, and general taxation.

My favorite question came from one of our "MVP" members in Maine. He asked how he could convince a prospective client to pay a fee for a TaxCoach plan -- especially considering that "Mainers are a suspicious bunch!"

I told him that the key to convincing flinty Down Easters (and any other skeptical prospect) is to establish a measurable return on their investment. Show them that what you're really selling is "dollars at a discount" -- and their fee will come back to them many times over -- and you're well on your way to a true "win-win" client relationship.

And this is a question absolutely worth sharing here in the Briefs. Who doesn't have skeptical prospects?

We recommend you sit down with a prospect like that and spend a few minutes analyzing their return. You have four goals here:

1. Find the mistakes and missed opportunities that are costing them tax they don't have to pay. Very few taxpayers are taking advantage of every available deduction, credit, loophole, or strategy. Your job is to find the ones they're missing.

2. Quantify those mistakes and missed opportunities. You don't have to be precise. You can't know exactly how much establishing an S-corporation, Section 105 plan, or individual 401k might save. But you can certainly ballpark it!

3. Confront the client with those costs. This is a key step. You need to make them feel the pain of wasting money - especially when they're wasting it on their least favorite expense!

4. Finally, present your tax planning engagement as the cure for that pain. This is also the best time to present your fee - after you've shown them how much you can save!

How does that process overcome a prospect's natural skepticism?

• First, it establishes a measurable dollar benefit for the client. Selling tax-planning services, with tangible, measurable benefits, is actually easier than selling services with no tangible benefits. (How do you measure a chiropractor's benefit, anyway?)

  This process also lets you establish your value before your prospect commits to engage you. Now you're not selling an unknown result. Now you're not just offering a pig in a poke. (Do they have those in Maine? Or would it be a lobsta in a poke? - Keith.)

• Second, it lets you ground your proposal firmly on an analysis of the client's actual own circumstances and actual tax return, rather than some vague, unspecified "typical" result. Now you don't have to say "my service typically saves clients $4,000 or more." Now you can say "based on the information you've given me, you're paying $4,000 more in tax than you have to!" That's a huge difference in credibility that goes a long way towards convincing even the hardiest New Englander!

Today's economy has prospects holding on to every dollar. (And not just in Maine!) Establishing a measurable, up-front return on investment will help you sell any service, even in today's skeptical climate.

I realized after we finished the Member Call-In that I had forgotten a third critical tool for convincing skeptical prospects. And that's a strong money-back guarantee. Taxpayers are used to paying sometimes substantial fees for tax preparation. But very few of them have ever paid for tax planning. Giving your client a strong money-back guarantee takes the risk out of that investment, placing it back on you and eliminating the fear of loss that might keep them from engaging you.

Structuring your guarantee is important. The IRS frowns on charging contingency fees -- in fact, Circular 230 prohibits it except in a few narrowly-specified circumstances. So I'd avoid any guarantee tied directly to your planning fee. An unconditional "satisfaction guarantee" will avoid ethical dilemnas and reassure them that you won't be hiding behind any fine print if they really aren't satisfied. If you're like most professionals, you'd waive or refund an unhappy client's fee anyway. So why not make that a marketing advantage?

Is this the kind of question you'd like to ask us? If so, Keith and I are offering the member Call-Ins most Wednesdays at 1PM Eastern. See below for more details and instructions for registering!

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NEW RESOURCE (EAL)
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"HIGHER TAXES" PROSPECTING LETTER

The Member Call-Ins that we just discussed have become a great forum for answering your questions. But they're also a rich source of suggestions for new marketing tools. So we thank Dave Murray, from up the road in Troy, Ohio, for requesting a prospecting letter based on the "Obama Will Make You Rich" discussion in this month's Lineup.

It's such a timely request that we created one right away. You'll find it in the TaxCoach Playbook, under the heading "Sample Letters."

This is a great letter to mail to high-income prospects and business owners. These are the clients who feel an IRS bullseye on their back and already are starting to worry about higher taxes.

One final note is in order here. You'll notice that the letter discusses what "Washington" has in store for your taxes and discusses proposals from "Congress" and "The White House." We've used those terms very deliberately.

It's no secret that many of your best prospects and clients see the new President as the catalyst for higher taxes. But we'd suggest you be very careful before you go demonizing President Obama personally. His approval ratings are still high, and he's still enjoying a post-inauguration "honeymoon." Even the taxpayers who voted for him want to see someone else pay the new taxes. But making Obama a bad guy can risk alienating high-income supporters who might otherwise make great tax-planning clients.

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NEW RESOURCE (EAL)
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INTRODUCING TAXCOACH "PRESS CLUB"

Last week, we rolled out newest elite-level marketing program. TaxCoach "Press Club" is a territory-exclusive, done-for-you program that focuses on finding and keeping clients. Components include:

1. A comprehensive Marketing Analysis designed to identify your best clients and prospects -- the "A" clients that make your ideal long-term clients

2. A Referral Generation system designed to "clone" those best clients

3. An Online Marketing system designed to convert website visitors into live prospects and clients

4. A Client Retention system designed to turn transactions into relationships and customers into clients

5. Monthly masterminding calls with TaxCoach peers from across the country

6. Monthly one-on-one coaching calls where you can discuss any practice development or management topic (Tiger Woods is the best golfer in history -- if he has a coach, shouldn't you?)

7. Free admission to all TaxCoach events, including multi-day Roundtables and special national gatherings

8. Your base annual TaxCoach membership ($828 value)

"Press Club" is a territory-exclusive program. Just one TaxCoach member per area gets to take advantage of this program. And dozens of areas are already gone! So if you're ready to outsource the hassles of finding clients and keeping clients, don't wait!

For complete details, including a preliminary enrollment form, visit www.taxcoachpressclub.com.

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MEMBER RESOURCE (KAV)
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MEMBER CALL-IN WITH ED AND KEITH

Our next Member Call-In session will be Wednesday, August 19. Check the "Contact Us" button within TaxCoach for registration instructions.

Please note that while our elite members (All-Stars, Press Club, and Hall of Fame) can still schedule time directly with Ed as part of their coaching programs, we simply cannot answer marketing and tax-strategy questions via email or unscheduled calls. We'll make as many call-ins available as we can, and we'll talk to you then.

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We're happy to answer your questions on TaxCoach content or features. (Save marketing and tax strategy questions for Member Call-Ins.) 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,

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