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How To Deliver Tax Plans

 

from TaxCoach™ Briefs
Volume 1, Number 4 — June 22, 2006
by Edward A. Lyon, JD

Tax plan delivery is very different from tax return delivery. Clients engage you to file returns because they have to. The law says do it, or suffer some pretty serious consequences! Even clients who know they're getting refunds usually resent the process. And delivering bad news to clients who owe a bundle is NEVER fun.

But clients engage you for tax planning because they want to. Clients love saving money. So why wouldn't they look forward to an entire meeting dedicated to putting cash back in their pocket? Don't be nervous, even if you've never marketed tax planning. Clients are rooting for you to succeed!

TaxCoach currently includes over 110 modules. The system offers a wealth of advice and recommendations. Tax plans typically run 40-60 pages, and can run even longer for sophisticated clients. But don't let it intimidate you, and don't let it intimidate your client.

When I present a plan, I start with the Plan Summary. This is usually just 2 or 3 pages, with quick highlights, and potential savings to whet the client's appetite. Walking the client through the Plan Summary lets me lay down a foundation and ease into the presentation.

In most cases, I'll identify three or four specific strategies to focus on. These will be the strategies offering the biggest and fastest rewards. And yes, these are the strategies that will make you look like a hero. I'll turn to the appropriate pages in the report, and use them as a basis for discussing specific concepts and strategies. The tax plan is a tangible deliverable - but the real value is in the discussion, not the deliverable.

In the end, you want the client to value YOU, not just the plan. You certainly don't want the client leaving the meeting thinking they could have gotten the same value just reading the plan!

As you deliver more plans, you'll get more familiar with the material and how you can use it to increase your value to your client. The plans may start to look like boilerplate. But they won't look like boilerplate to your clients! In the end, you'll find plan deliveries are valuable opportunities to prove YOUR value to your clients.

Click here to learn more about tax plans with TaxCoach™.

 

Planning Taxes . . .

 

"Bottom line
recommendation:
 
Give TaxCoach a spin."
 
- Greg LaFollette,
Executive Editor,
CPA Technology Advisor
 
www.thetechgap.com

 

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