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TaxCoach Briefs: June 24, 2010
Volume 5, Number 24
===================================================== THE "S" WORD WE DON'T SAY Here's something ironic about TaxCoach and tax planning. Most people think of taxes, accounting, and financial planning as being "numbers" games. But marketing your business is all about the words you choose to identify yourself, distinguish yourself from your competition, and establish the value you deliver to your prospects. Most of us don't really do any "math" at all - in fact, any reasonably bright fourth-grader can handle the arithmetic on a 1040. Words have meanings. (Duh.) The words we choose have enormous impact on the people who hear us. They even affect how we feel about what we're discussing. I was reminded of all this last week during a consultation with one of our newest members. I'll call him "Mr. Wong" because it's not his real name. (In fact, he's not even Chinese.) I start those consultations asking new members to tell me where their business is and where they're hoping to take it. Mr. Wong told me he was an EA offering tax, accounting, and financial services, hoping to shift away from routine 1040 clients and add business owners with wealth-management needs. Then he told me about his hometown north of Indianapolis. "There's not a lot of new business here," he said, "so the only way to get new clients is to steal them from other accountants." Stop right there! "Steal" is such an ugly word, isn't it? My Webster's defines "steal," in part, as follows:
Is that really what happens when you engage a new client by showing them you deliver more value than their last accountant? When Keith and I first met, he was using "Fully-Depreciated Frank," a B-school classmate's dad, to prepare his taxes. I did a plan for him and showed him how to save around $10,000 per year. And Frank was out the door faster than Donald Trump can say "you're fired." Yes, Frank lost a client. But did I need anyone's "permission" to show Keith some better ideas? Did I have to use "secrecy" or "force"? Was I "insidious" or "surreptitious" about it? I know I wasn't "subtle"! So, by definition, giving a client a better plan isn't "stealing" at all. But I don't even want to joke about stealing clients. Like I said earlier, words have meanings, and the words we use affect how we feel about what we're discussing. Using a word like "steal" in connection with engaging a new client stirs up a lifetime of negative connotations surrounding that word. Those negative connotations can "insidiously, surreptitously, subtly" slam the brakes on your confidence and effectiveness. And when you're promoting your business, there's no place for even subconscious barriers to making the most of every opportunity. Let's say you were in the business of selling cures. Your prospect is the dad down the street. His 10-year-old boy has a terminal illness. You have the cure. Would you feel comfortable sending your prospect a sales letter? Maybe inviting him in for a "free consultation" about saving his son's life? Of course you would. What if your prospect ignored your letter? Would you send another? Maybe a multi-step sequnce with postcards and "lumpy mail" thrown in? Well, sure . . . if you had the power to cure his son, you'd almost be ethically obligated to follow up. What if your prospect ignored all your letters and postcards? Would you get his number, pick up the phone, and call him? I bet you would. What if he ignored your phone calls? What if he refused to listen to your pitch? Would you just give up, knowing you had the power to literally save his son's life? Or would you show up at his house and knock on the door with a vial of serum in your hand? What if he ignored the doorbell? Would you run around back to catch him in the yard? Would you pound on the door until he couldn't take it any more and just had to listen to your presentation? I hope you would! If I were in those shoes, I'd break into that house in the middle of the night to get that serum to that boy. And I'd feel good about it. I'd feel I was doing the right thing. Your proactive service probably isn't enough to save a life - but there's no doubt that it's still highly valuable too. Your service saves clients money they can spend a thousand better ways than the government would spend it. Isn't that worth chasing prospects down to present? Isn't that something to feel good about? If so, why would you use a word like "steal" to describe any part of that process? My seventh-grade English teacher, Mr. Icsman, had something he called his "Automatic F" list. This was a list of offenses so basic and yet so egregious (like "there" vs "their" vs "they're"), that if we committed any of them on a paper or a test, we got an "F." Obviously, we took those mistakes seriously. Here at TaxCoach, we're not quite so uptight. (Fastidious? Picayune?) But we still take language seriously. And if we had an "Automatic F" list, "steal" would be on it. When you make proactive tax planning the focus of your marketing, you don't have to steal clients. ===================================================== MEMBER APPRECIATION REGISTRATION Keith and I have always realized our greatest strength here at TaxCoach is the lessons we learn from you, our members. I can write all day long about marketing and fulfilling tax-planning services. But nothing I write is as valuable as the lessons you bring us from the real world. What works? What bombs? Why does it work? Why does it bomb? Those are the lessons members really want to learn. So to thank you for everything you bring to us, we're hosting a Member Appreciation Event. We're not even charging admission! (We're not "giving it away" because we know that meeting with you personally translates directly into enhanced loyalty, along with new CTCs, All-Stars, and Press Club members.) You do have to be a TaxCoach member, though. Have to respect the couple of folks who registered despite that fact! I'm working on the usual long-form sales letter for the event. But last week, almost on a whim, I set up an online registration form. Keith and I were surprised by how many of you signed up even before seeing the letter. If you already know it's a no-brainer to spend two free days masterminding with a national group of peers, go ahead and register now. If you want to wait for the letter, that's fine too. But seating is limited, and you risk being shut out of this one-time-only event! Don't have to wait to sign up. Click here to register now! ===================================================== Dominique got this note from a new member of the Certified Tax Coach program, regarding the CTC™ national message boards: "Hello Everyone - just a couple comments. The forum is AWESOME. I am on several professional forums, and when I heard 'CTC has one too' I thought, 'that's nice'. But this is far more useful info than I imagined. Thanks to all who participate.” ===================================================== MEMBER CALL-IN WITH ED AND KEITH Great call yesterday, and with another tie of the record attendance. What are the chances that we'd have over 15% of the TaxCoach membership on the call several weeks in a row (almost), and the number would be exactly the same every time? And they're not all the same folks! Time to buy a lottery ticket... Anyway, the call was "The Goodness," again, as usual, and with such an abundance of questions we had to do triage at the end to only run over by 10 minutes. We began the call this week with a musing we'd gotten from an All-Stars member, about how to attract and retain quality staff, that got us going right away. And in response to another question, we're going to poll attendees on the next call about what tax prep software you use, to see what general trends or urgent opinions we can dig up on the subject. Don't miss that one! Calls are generally held each Wednesday. However, that said, we won't be having a call next week (June 30). We'll pick back up in the first week of July. If you're looking for clarification on TaxCoach strategies or additional ways to profit from TaxCoach, join us for the next call, on Wednesday July 7, at 1pm Eastern. Enter a question or just listen in on the repartee. Check the "Contact Us" button within TaxCoach for registration instructions. 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. ===================================================== AND SPEAKING OF SURREPTITIOUS... A long-time TaxCoach member and true "friend of the firm" wrote us this week to let us know someone out there in NetLand is surveying TaxCoach members about their opinions on the system. Well, at least one TaxCoach member. So far. We don't know who this is or what they're up to. Although it doesn't seem malicious on the surface, we wanted you to know that TaxCoach Software is not currently conducting, nor has authorized, any survey regarding TaxCoach. Please if you receive such an inquiry, forward it to us at abuse@taxcoachsoftware.com. Thanks! ===================================================== We can answer questions on using TaxCoach system features anytime. (Save marketing and tax strategy questions for Member Call-Ins.) For best response, email support@taxcoachsoftware.com. Regards, Ed LyonKeith VandeStadt http://www.taxcoachsoftware.com/ (513) 321-2820 TaxCoach SuperTable Certified Tax Coach™ TaxCoach All-Stars TaxCoach Press Club TaxCoach Closely-Held Insurance Company TaxCoach Cost Segregation TaxCoach Briefs archives . . . |