Discussion:Keys to building a successful tax practice...

1.) you have to become good at what you do - i.e, become a very good tax professional

2.) you have to care about your clients - what percentage of accountants really care about their clients? if you develop a good client base with good people you will enjoy doing good work for them and they will be happy paying a good fee for your great service

3.) once you establish yourself and are confident in your abilities, you have to learn to charge premium fees that you deserve (why charge the average fee if you're not average? do you ever pay a great doctor cheap for doing great surgery? do you pay very good contractors cheap for doing great home improvements?). that being said i still struggle being bold about asking for a good fee, but it gets easier every year, especially as we become better and better at what we do.

4.)the first 3 items above i believe account for 50% of a successful practice (just my humble opinion of course). the other 50% is learning the marketing aspect and how to sell and market your services in a tactful way. After all, if we're good at what we do and nobody knows about it, we won't get many clients. Unfortunately, after 10 years i'm still looking for new ways/fine tuning old ones to get new clients but its a learning process of what works and doesn't work. we all know referrals are the key :)

Question: from what i have read over the years, tax season is the best time to really market and sell yourself, how do we balance trying to market, etc. and pick up new cliens while still doing all the work for our current clients and keeping them happy.

the one thing i keep as top priority is keeping current clients happy fiest, and then they will refer people. if you dont keep current clients happy you wont get new business

have a nice day, happy tax preparing

Sincerely,

will

6) Once you've mastered (5), you must develop the skills and the perseverance to build a network, through which you will get clients and referrals.