TaxCoach Briefs:    August 20, 2009

Volume 4, Number 35

• Marketing Minute: Find Financial Services Clients Fast
• Member Event: Fall Roundtables
• Member Resource: Member Call-In With Ed and Keith

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MARKETING MINUTE (EAL)
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FIND FINANCIAL SERVICES CLIENTS FAST

Last week, we got a "911" email from a member who offers tax and financial services. Her email read, in part:

I know Ed is busy, but would he be available next week to help me design/draft some super effective marketing materials? I’ve attached an invitation that I’d like to get to compliance for approval today. I’d also like Ed’s help putting together 3 mailing pieces to send to alternative health care providers as he and I discussed on the telephone. Unfortunately, we didn’t have a chance to delve in sufficiently to give me enough direction. I’m a financial professional still learning how to market effectively.

I just came back from vacation to learn that I need to come up the remainder of my production quota by September 1 rather than mid-November as I had thought. Thus, the desperate plea.

I wish I had time to design campaigns like that on the fly. Right now, unfortunately, we're focusing on the new Certified Tax Coach and Press Club programs. However, I did have some recommendations worth sharing that are especially helpful in marketing financial services.

For starters, direct mail is just too slow for this sort of emergency need. By the time you get your piece through compliance, to the printer, addressed, and mailed, you've lost precious time. And in today's economy, the sheer volume will have a hard time making up for it. That's because the higher you move up the financial food chain (which is certainly the case with financial-services prospects), the less they rely on cold marketing and the more they rely on referrals to find services.

This means your best bet is some sort of system for generating referrals. Referrals are far more likely to do business than cold prospects. You establish trust faster and more effectively. And this means referrals will act faster than cold prospects -- which is especially important in meeting an upcoming deadline!

A couple of years after I got out of law school, I worked as a financial consultant with a national firm that advertised their bullishness on America. As part of my training, I read a great book called "The Art of Selling Intangibles," by an old-school stockbroker named Le Roy Gross. He summarized a financial salesperson's job beautifully:

1. Find the money
2. Move the money
3. Manage the money

Finding money is easy. Even in today's economy, there's no shortage of people with money to invest. And it's not hard finding prospects with "liquidity events," like selling a business or real estate or retiring with a 401k rollover.

Managing money can be easy too -- at least for you. There's no shortage of mutual funds, separate accounts, and even hedge funds and other managers vying for your clients' dollars. (At Merrill, my manager told me not to bother researching stocks myself. Why bother, when there was a whole staff of analysts who know more about securities research than I do, and who are paid to do that all day?)

What's hard is moving money. Why should prospects take what they may think is working perfectly well for them now and change it? As the saying goes, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it."

Today's economy makes that objection easier to handle. Your new prospect's current plan probably isn't working. But how can you convince them that your chosen manager can do any better? How can you overcome a higher-than-usual skepticism?

It's hard to control the performance your clients enjoy on their portfolio. It's easier to control the taxes they pay on that portfolio. And paying unnecessary taxes on lousy investment performance just adds insult to injury! So why not use the marketable advantage you enjoy as a tax professional to motivate your client to move their money?

Here's how the conversation might go:

You: Looking at your account statement is probably depressing enough. But have you thought about the taxes you'll still owe?

Prospect: No, my broker and I just deal with it at the end of the year. There's not much we can do about those year-end capital gains distributions anyway!

You: Well, no, that may not be true. That's why I focus my business on controlling my clients' taxes. I can't control which way the markets go. But I can structure your portfolio to minimize taxes. So why not make the most of those opportunities?

Prospect: That makes sense. I was thinking about giving my money to a nice man in New York City whose fund returns 12%, year in and year out, with no volatility.

You: Do you pay quarterly estimated taxes on your investment income?

Prospect: I do. It's not a lot, but I sure hate writing those checks!

You: Your next estimate is due on September 15. Do you think it makes sense to sit down now ands see what we might be able to do to cut the amount of that check?

Prospect: Sure, can we? And can I refer you my friends and family who hate paying taxes too?

Okay, it might not go exactly like that - but you get the idea.

How do you make sure you get the referrals you need? By going to the clients you already have!

• Pick some favorite clients to call.
• Tell them you're calling to touch base and make sure you're not missing anything important.
• Turn the conversation to some benefit you've delivered.
• Once you have them remembering and appreciating it, ask them who they know that would like that same benefit.

Now you've got a warm introduction and reason to call the referral that will deliver far faster and more effective results than any direct mail piece.

Here's my bottom line. Even when you're selling financial services, tax planning (in general) and TaxCoach (in specific) give you a marketable advantage over competitors who don't have your technical expertise. You can use that marketable advantage to move client money to build your business. In today's economy, it would be a shame to give up that advantage!

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MEMBER EVENT (EAL)
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2009 ROUNDTABLE: FOCUS ON FEES

Have you ever struggled to price your services?

Have you ever left a client meeting suspecting you've left money "on the table"?

Are you looking for a way out of the "tax season" grind?

Would it be worth your time to sit with a group of your peers discussing topics like these:

• Value pricing overview and theory
• Converting annual tax-prep fees into monthly retainer fees
• How to present fees for maximum acceptance and minimum resistance
• Success stories from fellow TaxCoach members
• Actual examples of fee structures and client presentation materials

If you answered "yes" to any of those questions, you'll want to attend one of our two remaining 2009 TaxCoach Roundtables.

If you answered "yes" to all of those questions, you really can't miss it.

TaxCoach Roundtables are intensive full-day sessions in hands-on, small-group settings -- hosted at private business clubs, not convention hotels -- dedicated to exploring TaxCoach’s unique combination of tax-planning and business development tools.

There are no outside speakers. No outside sales pitches. Just Keith and I, walking you step-by-step through getting the most from your TaxCoach membership.

Each Roundtable offers two value-packed days:

• On Thursdays, we host Basic Roundtables for new users. This is a reprise of last year’s agenda in case you missed it, you want a refresher, or you want to send an associate.

• On Fridays, we host Advanced Roundtables for more experienced users. We suggest you attend the Basic session before joining the Advanced session, but it's not required. (These sessions include the fee discussion I outlined above.)

Come to one or come to both and put your tax-planning practice on steroids! Click here for complete details, including daily agendas, and a registration form. (All-Stars and Hall of Famers, see the Roundtables link on the left (blue) side of the All-Stars page to register for free.)

Space is limited, so reserve your seat now. And we mean it! There are currently less than a dozen seats left!

Click here to register. (All-Stars, Press Club, and Hall of Fame members, see the Roundtables link in the blue on the All-Stars page to register for free.) Keith and I look forward to meeting you at a Roundtable in 2009!

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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 26. 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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