TaxCoach Briefs:    November 5, 2009

Volume 4, Number 46

• Marketing Minute: Cinderella Revisited
• Member Resource: Member Call-In With Ed & Keith
• Did You Know: Tailorable Title
• CTC Resources: CTC Logos in Toolkit, Other News

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

CINDERELLA REVISITED

Holidays are approaching, and soon it will be time to enjoy the traditions that make the season so special. One of my favorites is reading "The Night before Christmas" to my kids on Christmas Eve. My parents did the same for me, and I hope they'll carry the tradition on to their own families some day. (Oliver is just 4, and I'm not in any hurry to see him with his own family!)

Here at TaxCoach, we have our own year-end traditions. Fun things like closing the books, updating the TaxCoach system, and developing our marketing plan. It's not as fun as "The Night Before Christmas," but it gets the job done.

I would love to sit down and read "The Night Before Christmas" to all of you. But I think you already know how it ends. So instead, I want to start a new TaxCoach tradition, and read "Marketing Lessons from Cinderella."

We originally published this piece way back in TaxCoach's dark ages. Before we launched the All-Stars, Press Club, or Hall of Fame programs. Before Certified Tax Coach™ was a gleam in anyone's eye. All the way back in 2006. (It's hard to believe we've been publishing these Briefs that long!).

The lesson, of course, is to use the end of the year to create a sense of urgency to motivate clients to act now. And With December 31 approaching, it's worth repeating now, and turning into a holiday tradition. So, without further ado, we revisit "Marketing Lessons From Cinderella":

I'm writing these words on August 24. Why is August 24 important for tax professionals? Because it's the day Mount Vesuvius erupted, burying Pompeii in 79 AD? Because it's the day potato chips were invented in 1853? Because it's the day former Cincinnati Reds manager Pete Rose was banned from baseball in 1989? No, no, and no. (Although Charlie Hustle did spend time in jail for not paying his taxes!)

August 24 is important because it's the 236th day of the year. That means that there are just 129 days left for your clients to take advantage of tax planning strategies before they expire on the last day of the year.

December 31 may not seem like much of a deadline now. But on September 24, clients will have just 98 days left. On October 24, they'll have 68 days left. On November 24, they'll have 37 days left. And on December 24 . . . well, they'll probably have a hard time scheduling you for any last-minute planning.

Selling tax planning means demonstrating your value. That's easy -- we all know how many of our clients are paying more tax then they have to, and how much we can save them if they'd just listen. But selling tax planning also means motivating them to act. That's hard. Sometimes clients just don't want to act.

Fortunately, we can use deadlines to help push them over that edge. Clients all know how important it is to at least file an extension by April 15. But December 31 is the most meaningful deadline for tax planning. That's because so many tax-saving strategies are like Cinderella's carriage. At midnight, December 31, they turn into pumpkins.

Don't miss opportunities to use year-end deadlines to motivate prospects and clients to act. I'm about to start the busiest part of my seminar season this fall, and I'll tell each of my audiences, 'You have just ____ days to take advantage of these strategies before you lose them for the year.' I'll sell as much of my Instant Tax Relief retail planning system between now and December 31 as I do during 'the season.' And it won't come from my expertise, charm, or boyish good looks. It will come from the clock's inevitable tick towards the end of the year.

Selling tax planning means demonstrating your value. That's easy -- we all know how many of our clients are paying more tax then they have to, and how much we can save them if they'd just listen. But selling tax planning also means motivating them to act. That's hard. Sometimes clients just don't want to act.

Fortunately, we can use deadlines to help push them over that edge. Clients all know how important it is to at least file an extension by April 15. But December 31 is the most meaningful deadline for tax planning. That's because so many tax-saving strategies are like Cinderella's carriage. At midnight, December 31, they turn into pumpkins.

Don't miss opportunities to use year-end deadlines to motivate prospects and clients to act. I'm about to start the busiest part of my seminar season this fall, and I'll tell each of my audiences, 'You have just ____ days to take advantage of these strategies before you lose them for the year.' I'll sell as much of my Instant Tax Relief retail planning system between now and December 31 as I do during 'the season.' And it won't come from my expertise, charm, or boyish good looks. It will come from the clock's inevitable tick towards the end of the year.

So there you have it, "eternal wisdom." Or at least, "perennial wisdom."

Here are some resources in TaxCoach you might want to consider for acting on this advice. With a little adaptation to your practice, you can easily use one of these tools to reach out to good current-year tax planning candidates:

• Tax Outlook Letter — the third button on the Reports screen, enabled once you've added or selected a client. The contents of each letter depend on the module selections made for that particular client, just like with the detail and summary reports. This lets you highlight the proposals that affect your clients, without the "chaff" that doesn't. And each letter is produced in an editable .DOC file, so you can adapt further it to each situation.
• Y/E Planning Letter for Prospects — in the Playbook, this is a generalized version of the Outlook Letter, aimed at non-clients.
• Y/E "Ounce of Prevention" Letter for Prospects — in the Playbook, a mini tax organizer with a planning focus.
• Y/E Lead-Generator Postcard — in the Playbook, it's an "Ounce of Prevention" in 4x6 inches.

Give it a try! Don't let the perfect opportunity of year-end urgency pass you by. Check in on a few current clients or reach out to prospects and take the proactive approach to them. The time is now to start getting paid for the value you deliver!

=====================================================
MEMBER RESOURCE (KAV)
=====================================================

MEMBER CALL-IN WITH ED AND KEITH

Well, the Wednesday Call-In was back with a vengeance this week, with as many attendees as ever. We also were pleased to have Dominique Molina join us from the AICTC. Particularly so, since a number of the questions were from people who'd attended the first Certified Tax Coach™ Academy in San Diego two weeks ago, as well as about the CTC™ program itself. Beyond that, we had the usual range of questions on both strategy and marketing, but with an interesting concentration on S corps.

Here are some excerpts from the log of the questions raised by callers this week:

• Hi guys. How do you pitch the Taxcoach service to, and find value for, a prospect with a newly formed business that isn’t turning a profit yet, and who has never worked with an accountant before?
• Are distributions taxable from S Corps?
• During training for CTC Dominique talked about a courtesy hold on the client credit card. What is a courtesy hold?
• How do you prevent someone from getting the tax plan done by you but going back to their old accountant or someone else to implement it.
• How do you think the section 105 planning will change if the proposed changes in health care coverage take effect?
• Can we get copies of CTC case studies
• What do you think an appropriate tax planning fee would be for a unitized CHIC?
• Suppose I have a sole proprietor who would be classed as a personal services corporation if he were incorporated. If we want to establish a corporation for him/her, are there any pitfalls/red flags in making his/her spouse a part owner of the corporation (assuming she/he is not an employee and provides no services) to avoid the PSC designation? What about if we want to take the S-corp election?
• If a real estate investor wants to take an investment property that she bought thru a 1031 exchange and wanted to convert it to personal use how would you deduct the lost value since the 1031?
• I sometimes see clients paying S Corp distributions in excess of earnings or their AAA. I think this is taxable but I'm not clear if as dividend ?
• How do you typically deal with clients who make distributions in excess of basis from an S-corp? I have traditionally taxed them as cap gains since generally clients don't intend to pay them back.
• Do you include the implementation of the plan in your fee, or do you bill for that seperately once the client has decided which strategies to implement?
• Would you say a good way to extend the relationship is to offer a tax planning review (annually) for free or with the upcoming tax return?
• Will the personal income tax rates change in 2011 along with the capital gains rate going to 20%?
• Any opinion on using life ins to fund a tax free benefit instead of paying the Roth IRA conversion tax?

If you're looking for pointers on tax strategies or profiting from TaxCoach too, join us for the next call, on November 11, at 1pm Eastern. Enter a question or just listen in on the repartee. Check the "Contact Us" button within TaxCoach for registration instructions.

Members occasionally ask if we can record and archive these calls. The answer is that we want to keep them as informal and uninhibited as possible. We’ve discussed specific tax-planning clients and cases, for example – but we don’t want to put ourselves on record as offering individual tax advice. We’ve also discussed outside tax software and marketing services (both good and not-so-good), and we don’t want to put ourselves on record with those comments either. Member Call-Ins are intended to be casual discussions among peers – and we don’t want recording them to threaten that chemistry.

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.

=====================================================
DID YOU KNOW . . . (KAV)
=====================================================

TAILORABLE TITLE

. . . TaxCoach lets you create a custom title for the main tax plan report? You can specify a unique name on the Planner Information screen, up to 35 characters long, to replace the default 'Personal Tax Plan' on the report cover. Brand your tax planning service any way you like — let your clients know it's what sets you apart!

You access Planner Info from the blue side of the Home Page, once you sign into the TaxCoach system.

=====================================================
CTC RESOURCES (KAV)
=====================================================

CTC LOGOS IN TOOLKIT, OTHER NEWS

For Certified Tax Coach™ members, we've added logo files for the CTC™ watermark into the CTC Toolkit. You reach the Toolkit from the left side (blue) of the Home Page, once you sign into the TaxCoach system.

Also, for the CTC Discussion Forum, please note that the login is the same as your TaxCoach User ID. (Or, the first 8 characters, if your User ID is longer than that). Do not be fooled by the bulletin board requesting your "password"! The login here is the same as your TaxCoach User ID, not password. The logins to both systems will not change.

BTW, if you haven't checked out the Forum yet, you should! There are quite a number of threads already, and Dominique is actively moderating the discussion.

Lastly, please note that when you make updates to your contact and bio data on the TaxCoach Planner Info screen, the revised data won't immediately show up on the CTC search results page. We have a plan to make it automatic from the Planner Info screen, but currently, updates happen every few hours. If it's an emergency or you're tweaking, feel free to call Catherine and she'll run the update for you.

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

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,

TaxCoach Briefs Archives...
Certified Tax Coach
TaxCoach All-Stars
TaxCoach Press Club
TaxCoach Cost Segregation