Discussion:Best way to grow my business
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Discussion Forum Index --> Business Growth Community --> Best way to grow my business
| 29 August 2007 | |
| I am an EA ( out of state CPA) in CT. I would like to increase my clientele by from 130 to 250 over an 8 year stretch. What is the best way to do it? I have tried mailings to new homeowners, ads, yellow pages and referrals. Growth has been slow the last few years in a depressed area. Thank you.
Jane in CT | |
| 29 August 2007 | |
| Ask your clients for referrals. The slow growth you want should be easily obtained if each client refers you one new client in the next 96 months. Most of your new clients will be from referrals. Buy an existing firm for sale and you can do this in less than 2 months! | |
| 29 August 2007 | |
| Thank you DZCPA. I ask for referrals but maybe have not pressed hard enough. I might eventually buy an EA practice when my son is older.
Jane in CT | |
| 29 August 2007 | |
| Buy a firm that has 20 to 30% mail-in returns. Get 30% of your clients to mail-in return info. Tell them "most of the clients mail in their tax information, I will call you with questions ". Have someone else prepare these returns (highly experienced tax preparer). You review them (5 to 10 minutes). Do returns live and return to client completed in a few days.On walk in appts, calculate return in front of clients before you fill in missing info and tell client " Lets see where we are at now". Write the balance due/refund amount down on a piece of paper. Then, add missing deductions and finalize return tell client the much improved amounts and write on the piece of paper. The difference will be perceived as one of the reasons your $300 plus fee is very much worth it. They will love you and refer more clients than you can imagine. | |
| 30 August 2007 | |
| I used Frank Salman's program last summer/ fall with pretty good results. I'm in central Kansas, so not exactly the center of growth. His program landed me 6-8 really solid business clients and a several more individuals. It seemed to be low key and controllable. I never send a client memo or letter out without thanking them and asking them to tell their friends about my services. Two or three of them have turned into referral cheerleaders. I reward them with a local resturant gift card thanking them for telling "john doe" about my services and then again remind them to keep spreading the word. Prompt response to questions, timly turn around of work and frequent contact all add up to client willing to tell their friends. | |
| 30 August 2007 | |
| I am planning on using Franks program this JAn. With what you have written in the pervious post makes me think that you would have any problem recommending the program to me. Please comment. | |
| 31 August 2007 | |
| No problem at all. I do think it works better in some areas than others. My area is pretty rural and we had only about 1800 names on our business list, but it still worked well. The individual flyer he as worked very good and got quick results. The key is to follow his plan even if you think you have a better idea. His system does work and it is not high pressure. A side benefit of his program is getting your presentation skills and materials polished up. I'd be glad to visit more if you still have questions. Good luck! | |
| 31 August 2007 | |
| Thanks Bbowers. I was wondering do you have a lot of competition in your area. I am in Arlington, tx. I have seen a lot of CPA offices here as well as non CPA accounting and tax services. I am sure the competition must have something to do with the success of the program. | |
| 31 August 2007 | |
| My competition is probably average relative to population. Frank's system is really scentered on the premise that about 10% of business clients are unhappy at any given time & that proved to be true from our calls. Getting them to switch is the challenge, but he has a good program to help. In a larger area like yours you'll have problem getting the 5,000 names he suggests- I had about 1800. If you start in January do you have the time capacity to meet with potential clients and still keep up on exsiting clients? It takes a fair amount of time. You might want to do the individual flyer first & do the business part after tax season, but you & Frank can decide that. | |
| 9 September 2007 | |
| Who is Frank Salman and where can I get his program?
Thanks. Jane in CT | |
| 10 September 2007 | |
| I don't know why more tax people don't try this: send a letter or flyer to every lawyer within x miles of your office, you choose, and ASK FOR REFERRALS. If I was an EA, I'd explain the credential, give your affiliations and so on, and ask for referrals from the lawyers. This can be photocopied. Keep it rather short. Use a colorful, real stamp, but type, or print the address (no handwriting, looks unprofessional). Be blunt about exactly what you want, if you are comfortable only doing indiv. returns, state indiv. returns only. By all means put some cards in there, as lawyers still love paper. Most lawyers only get marketing materials from big firms selling books, continuing legal education seminars, and the like. To this day, I'm stunned that I never got a letter from a local CPA just letting me know he's alive, or any tax preparer for that matter. ONE local company sent me a letter during the first years I was in practice. It was not from a tax person, it was a local legal courier..... do I need to tell you that they got my business? Worth a try. It will bear fruit over the years. P.S. send to solo lawyers, small firms only if you can. Send to all types of lawyers, trial, divorce, bankruptcy, the whole lot. | |
| 20 September 2007 | |
| Good idea CrowJD, will let you know if it works in the Boston northshore area. Have done a few fiduciary and trust returns in my day. Most of the clients do not understand the process and welcome the help. | |
| 20 September 2007 | |
| Frank Salman's contact info is office 760-952-2491 or cell 760-953-6448. If you do his program exactly as he lays it out, it really does work. The only snag I had was when I tried to change some pieces, so I decided to do what I had paid for & was happy with the results. Good luck! | |
| 21 September 2007 | |
| Lark, it's much more than that: lawyers set up new businesses. Business returns, indiv. returns, accounting etc. Keep it short, and include a few cards. Something you could do once a year or so. | |
Wkstaxprep (talk|edits) said: | 21 October 2008 |
| I know this post is over a year old but i love this type of discussion because after all what's the use of being good at taxes and enjoying the work if we don't increase our client base?
I like this idea by CrowJD of sending a letter to local lawyers. It's like the home improvement guy who leaves his info in your mailbox, when something needs to be fixed, you're going to think of him first. I'm certainly going to give this a try. Also, many times lawyers deal with settling estates and the lawyer may be asked if he knows anyone who prepares estate tax returns, and that is big big money right there! I've found in my personal experience the following things that work 1.) the psychological aspect mentioned previously of showing the client how much you saved them, of course we need to be careful at the same time and not insult the client's intelligence 2.) asking for referrals and just as important when getting a referral sending a thank you card or some form of tangible appreciation 3.) being more of a social person, the more people you meet the more potential clients you will get. 4) any mailings i send would have to be some sort of connection, cold advertising just doesn't work. i.e. high school/college alumni mailings, teamates/opponents in hockey leagues, new homeowners in the neighborhood, people from the same parish, etc. 5.) i try to make that extra effort as much as possible, the old baseball hitter analogy, the difference between an average hitter (.270) and a hall of famer (.300) is very small. I try to send a few newsletters during the year, i make calls to clients to touch base, i'll send emails that are well thought out and detailed, i will give xmas gifts to my best clients, i try to remember certain personal things about each client and then dsicuss them the next yr, for instance if someone is a skier i'll ask them if they are going on any ski vacations this winter, or if someone was expecting a child i will call them or email them and see if they ahd a boy or a girl, i've found that many times if a potential client/person respects and trusts you as an individual they are comfortable giving you their business even if they don't necessarily know if you are good at what you do or not(which we are :) it's important that we are good at we do but after that the name of the game is marketing our services, and connecting with people on a personal to attract their business. i went to a seminar once and i listened to the speaker mention how his best top paying client tells everyone "this is my tax accountant, he is such a nice guy" so sometimes it's what kind of person you are counts more than if you are the best tax guy in the world. 6.) from my experience, flyers do not work one bit :( 7.) having a website - i dont believe it adds new clients but it does give your business that more sense of legitemacy, if this makes sense , basically not having one could be hurting you. anyway, just some random thoughts, hope it helped some out there or at the least spurs on some more discussion in this area or other ideas. If anyone made it this far i have a question: I have been contemplating spending an entire day and just going to stores in the neighborhood and introducing myself and my business to see if i can generate some new business clients. my plan of attack until i determine what, if anything works will be : a) ask if they have a tax accountant and if they are happy with their services b.) ask how much they are paying their current accountant (even though i am a major proponent of charging premium fees, if a small business is paying $2,500 to have their corp taxes done, if i say "i can do it for $2,000, it may be worth it for both parties. b.) bring a brochure and just be very nonaggressive, and introduce myslef and give them a brochure so that if/when they are in need i will be the first person they call. c.) send a mailing to them and then visit the store in person about a week or two after so they will have something aleady in there head. ok, i think i wrote more than enough :) Will | |
| 25 October 2008 | |
| Will: I have had some success visiting nearby businesses. Its friendlier, more conversational, and less intrusive than telephone approaches, where every word needs to be tightly scripted during the initial 30 seconds or you could get slammed. And it's more interactive than direct mail; which allows you to assess fairly quickly whether there is a potential fit or not.
Two recommendations: 1. Rather than immediately focusing on whether they have an accountant, and how much he/she charges, move your initial focus toward their attitude toward taxes, or toward accounting chores (if you do write up work). For example: "Are you angry or disappointed about how much you must pay in taxes every year" will likely open up a conversation more favorably than "Do you have an accountant and how much does he charge?" 2. Bring with you coupons for the owner to pass out to his employees--something like $20 off tax prep for first time customers. This approach can generate some tax business even if it's not from the the business owner himself. Jim | |
Wkstaxprep (talk|edits) said: | 28 October 2008 |
| Thanks Jim for the feedback. Much appreciated.
Will | |
| 28 October 2008 | |
| Jim,
I plan on visiting nearby businesses this year as well... | |
