TaxCoach Briefs:    September 24, 2009

Volume 4, Number 40

• Marketing Minute: Prospecting Through Financial Advisors
• Member Resource: Member Call-In With Ed and Keith
• Did You Know?: Marketing Guide
• Member Resource: TaxCoach Updates for CTC

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MARKETING MINUTE (EAL)
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PROSPECTING THROUGH FINANCIAL ADVISORS

Yesterday afternoon, I had a consultation with a new member from south Florida. She had just lost her job in private industry and had opened a new accounting practice. Needless to say, she's focused on gathering new clients as quickly as possible. And she's smart enough to put most of her effort into networking and referrals, rather than more-expensive and less-effective cold marketing like Yellow Pages, print and broadcast advertising, or even direct mail.

She's especially interested in marketing through financial advisors. What advice did I have for that effort? Do we have any tools or templates specifically for that purpose?

TaxCoach has always been a great tool for opening financial planning cases. That's because tax planning offers immediate and measurable benefits in a way that nothing else in financial planning does. You can sell a client a disability policy and hope they never need it. You can restructure their retirement portfolio with separate managed accounts, ETFs, or any other investment vehicle, and it can take years for your superior asset-allocation and portfolio-management skill to pay off. (Personally, I'm recommending canned goods and shotguns!)

But if you show your client how to use an S-corporation to minimize her employment tax, you'll put cash in her pocket. Right now. If you show her how to use a Section 105 plan to write off her LASIK surgery as a business expense, you'll put cash in her pocket. Right now!

(Let me give you a little marketing secret. Keep this one close to your vest -- you don't want your competition learning it: clients really like when you put cash in their pocket. Right now!)

For that reason, we've always urged our members who offer financial services to focus their prospecting on tax-planning. It delivers the immediate and measurable benefit we just discussed, and it distinguishes them from the majority of financial services providers who lead with "me too" marketing and bland promises like "better service" or "bigger organization."

But what if you don't offer financial services? You can still profit by using TaxCoach to network with financial advisors who would love for you to create the tax savings they can reinvest for their clients.

What if you could approach financial advisors and offer to turn their clients' taxes into commissionable dollars?

Take a look at this letter we created to make that initial approach:

Prospect Name
Prospect Address
Prospect City, State, ZIP

"Here's How to Let Barack Obama Do Your Prospecting!"

Prospecting for new financial services clients has never been easy. But today’s tough economy makes it even harder, at the same time as asset-based commissions and fees drop with the market.

What’s an ambitious financial advisor to do?

You probably know that fear is an even more powerful motivator than greed. So why not find what your prospects are afraid of, then find out how to ease their fear?

At (your firm here), we’re watching the Obama administration propose new taxes to finance the budget deficit, healthcare reform, and other spending priorities.

Your best clients and prospects are terrified that taxes are headed up. So why not use their fear to build your business?

Call me today at (xxx) xxx-xxxx to discover how to give your prospects and clients a free Tax Analysis. We’ll find the mistakes and missed opportunities that may be costing them thousands today, then show them how proper tax planning can rescue those lost dollars.

All you have to do is reposition those dollars into the insurance and investments your new clients need to round out their financial plans. We guarantee you’ll leave with valuable tax and marketing strategies, or we’ll donate $50 to your favorite charity. So call now to get started!

Sincerely,

R. Dangerfield, CPA

(TaxCoach members, you'll find this letter in MS Word format in the Playbook, under the Sample Letters heading.)

Here's the bottom line. Your prospects and clients are worried that taxes are headed up. But so are everybody else's clients. Create referral relationships that let you solve their clients' problems, and you'll be a hero to everyone.

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

Ed and I resumed our almost-weekly schedule of Wednesday Member Call-Ins yesterday, following our return from San Francisco for last week's Roundtable. Once again, the Call-In was another good one, and very well-attended too. Some great questions!

Here are some examples of the questions we discussed, straight from the log:

• What would the best practice be in terms of setting up a fee schedule? We currently have a three level matrix based on client size and\or difficulty, but no real qantitative guidelines as to how to assign each engagement or cllient to a fee level.

• Can someone that is full time employed or owns a company or corp shareholder not in real estate related field ever be a real estate professional?

• Marketing to referrals and prospects does it make sense to do a partial summary of opportunities for free then state the charge based on doing the full plan and implementation?

• Setting up a llc for spouse or hiring spouse in LLC or sole proprietorship for medical reimbursement plan is there any issue if were in a community property state?

• Do coaches charge on a monthly or yearly service agreement?

• I have an S Corp client what is a good rule to use take distributions along w/ w-2 wages ?

• Any thoughts on converting partnership LLC member-owners subject to SE tax into NOT subject to SE tax? In this case a property management company has 2 partners who really do not perform property management services themselves, but rather are owners and have employees that perform the work.

• Can you describe the additional done-for-you marketing under Hall of Fame and report what is working and not working?

• Now that I am a tax coach I will justify a fee change!

• In a controlled group, can you set different fringe benefits for each company or do they all have to be the same? Specifically, can you have an HRA for a C-Corp and not an S-Corp when they are both owned by the same shareholders?

• Re: monthly auto payments for billing tax clients - When, and how do you adjust the billing amts due to changes in the amount of, or type of work, performed?

Any of these on your mind, too? I bet! Join us for the next call, on September 30, at 1pm Eastern, and fire one off for us yourself. Or just listen in on the repartee. 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 have call-ins as many Wednesdays as we can, and we'll talk to you then.

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DID YOU KNOW . . . (KAV)
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MARKETING GUIDE

. . . that TaxCoach has a comprehensive Marketing Guide, to help you target new markets, promote tax planning services to new and existing clients, and deliver plans effectively? You'll find it in the Playbook, available from the blue side of the Home Page, once you sign in to the TaxCoach system.

The Marketing Guide shares with you the accumulated wisdom and experience of Ed Lyon in building a successful tax practice, based on a foundation of proactive planning. And you're welcome to tweak these concepts to apply specifically to your business, in your new-member phone consultation with Ed.

New members also receive a printed Marketing Guide as part of the Welcome Kit. Don't overlook it — this is where the rubber meets the road!

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MEMBER RESOURCE (KAV)
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TAXCOACH UPDATES FOR CTC

We have received a significant number of enrollments for the new Certified Tax Coach™ program over the past week. So many that in fact there are now only 2 seats left for the first Academy on October 23-25! CTC Director Dominique Molina is already working on plans with Ed and me for the next Academy class, for those who don't make it into the first one. And of course, the on-line training will be available mid-November, so you can take the certification and get designated and listed on the search site at your own pace, even if the next Academy is off on the horizon.

Speaking of the searchable site, work is proceeding apace. Since it's not live yet, we have begun tagging CTC members based on enrollment in the first Academy, even though no one has actually completed the certification yet. (Hey, we need test data!) These members will get the privilege of an early listing, once the site is live.

What this points out is that people's contact and bio data in TaxCoach is often incomplete! There are a number of listings with no photo, logo, or bio sketch, beyond the default.

So please, if you're registered for the initial class of Certified Tax Coach™, by all means get your data up to date in the TaxCoach system as soon as you can. You can maintain it all on the Edit Planner Info screen, which you get to via the blue button on the left side of the Home Page, once you sign in to TaxCoach. Don't forget your website and email address; it all goes in the listing! We'll let you know as soon as a sample of the site is available.

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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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