Discussion:Tax Marketing Techniques and Ideas

I wanted to see if I could get some constructive back and forth on tax marketing techiques that some of you have had success (or no success) with:

here is my brief list of what has worked and not worked and somewhere in between:

Being more social, staying in contact with clients throughout the year, giving very quality service, caring about my clients, giving each client's return personal attention above and beyond - works very well and seems to help get referrrals, this is my best method of continuing to build the practice

LETTERS to high school alumni - 2-3% response

EMAIL to high school alumni - close to 0% (seems that an old fashioned letter that is signed with an original signature and a business card attached is still the way to go :)

Letters to new homeowners - 1%

Letters to specific industries (i.e doctors list) - less than 1%

Having someone walk into a business establishment and distribute my business cards - 0%

Facebook - got a few clients just by writing here and there in my news feed that i'm working on taxes, etc. also set up a fan page, verdict is still out on that.

Directly asking current clients if they know of any leads - positive results

Flyers - no way, waste of time, lol.

Website - helps with perception but doesn't produce new clients

Making every day people I deal with such as caterers, mechanics, shoe salesman, neighbors or whomever i give money to on a daily basis aware of what i do for a living in case they consider giving me their business - beeen effective got a few clients.

Informing people I play Hockey with and against of what I do for a living - good results

Trying to get new clients from existing clients - example, do taxes for a not for profit off broadway play production and asked client if I could have names and contact info for all the actors, and i sent each actor a letter stating i do the company return and if they needed a tax professional for their personal taxes..... - very good results

Getting involved with clients - example, go to some shows that the play produces to show my support, go to restaurant clients for dinner and bring a few friends, etc. - very good idea

Asking former employers/firms I've worked out years ago to recommend my services for clients that may be too small or unprofitable for a big firm - got a few good clietns this way.

Sending hand written personal thank you cards every time a client refers someone to me - Priceless !!!

Going to a networking meeting of various professionals every 2 weeks - has been very positive, got a few solid cleints from this meeting.

I wish everyone here a prosperous tax season. Should be fun !

In the old days, an accountant would wear a green eyeshade. If you walked down the street in those days wearing your eyeshade, people who needed an accountant would walk up to you, and hire you on the spot.

EA's would dress in black (along with morticians). People would wonder what they did, and a certain air of mystery surrounded them. People would then work up the courage to ask what they did, and the EA's would get a new client (though the clients still didn't really understand what they were or what they did).

Lawyers wore wigs, and a purple collar. Doctors were fond of green, and walked around with a saw or long knife ready to do business. Before that, doctors were barbers, and had thier blue (vein), red (artery), and white (bled to death) pole to advertise their business.

Pharmacists actually did something in those days and made medicine. RX and a mortar and pestle were displayed.

Chefs wore strange hats, and they still do. That's why the chefs are so busy these days, and the rest of us are broke.

We need to get back to tradition.

It was a massage therapist that apparently entered into an arrangement with a tax preparer.

The banner said, free 15 minute massage with every tax return.

I literally laughed out loud!

i don't have a set in stone referral fee system but i do reqard referrals in some way on a case by case basis by any of the following:

giving them a discount on their return like you said i may have handle a tax notice for them and i don't charge as a way to say thanks sometimes i will send a gift card, this seems to be a big hit

In fact, mail out a reminder "$50 coupon" to your client list today.

Anyone here who would NOT pay $100 for: 1. Training/rewarding a referror to do that again??? 2. Paying $50 for the opportunity to establish a year-after-year-after-year biz relationship and only pay that ONCE???

....and you only have to pay it AFTER the transaction works out favorably!!!

I just paid the $50 thing to a client who referred his pool guy to me. The pool guy is also MY pool guy, but I gladly "paid" the $100 for what will be about a $850 new client engagement. The referror -- a 15 yr+ client -- KNOWS the referree is also my pool guy and was SHOCKED that I paid him the $50. That will go a lonnnnnng way with him.

Wanna knows who appreciates this $50 deal the most? The clients who make $500,000+ per year and are NEVER treated to a discount on anything since eveyone knows they can afford the full rate.

BTW, after tax season: 1. Send HANDWRITTEN thank you notes to all clients (my receptionist writes them) 2. survey your clients with: a) what do you like about working with us? b) what can we improve on? c) What else would you like us to know? Anonymous survey replies are fine.

Write "THANK YOU FOR YOUR BIZ" as sort of a "PS" on EVERY single transmittal letter you sign this tax season. I know I'm thankful for my clients. I know you are. TELL THEM!

Now really, was any of this rocket science?

We repeated with a couple of minor changes, and also sent postcards. A total of 5000 business mailings and 10,000 postcards went out at a cost of about $6500. As of right now, my response rates are at about 0.25%, and I can't figure out why. I'm likely to lose money on this, and ruin my hopes of a good tax season.

It's important to always locate your accounting practice on the first floor of your building. It prevents BOTH clients and partners from jumping out the window.

At least 5 of the calls we received began by inquiring about the cost of services. We quoted each of them with our standard answer that it will cost about $228 ($285 x a 20% off coupon that most people have) for a return (even though the real range is $199 to $385, depending on complexity). One of the people informed us that H&R Block had quoted them $225 for a return where the only complexity is that they bought a new house last year.

That tells me that my prices are too low. On the other hand, Liberty Tax in our area is charging about $130, and I'm hearing rumors that Jackson Hewitt is closer to $250. I know there's an old joke about whether you would prefer to do 200 returns for $100 each or 100 returns for $200 each, but my fear is that those aren't the real numbers. My fear is that it's 200 returns for $130 each or 20 returns for $228 each.

I'm thinking about changing things to refuse to give a price over the phone. In a friendly way, I would tell them to bring their stuff in, and we could get them an estimate before we do it. What do other people do?

That's telling you those changes didn't beat your "control." Reverse them.

As to price shoppers, make them come in and promise them a BINDING quote at that time. There's a bit of a trick to this: Coming in to meet with me is the little extra hurdle I present to evaluate their seriousness, also I don't like doing biz with disagreeable people. Life's too short, so I size them up in that regard before working with them.

Once they meet you, like you and feel confident in your ability, they will be much more likely to give you their business.

i had a client just tell me "Will, it's easy writing you a check becaue you add that personal touch to your business and everyone can see that you really do care about your clients"

those words were priceless.

Flethc does have some great advice above. the handwritten thank you cards are great and gift cards are also very good.

i don't offer coupons or referral discounts, it cheapens the service. my service speaks for itself. do you want it done right? then you get what you pay for. if they want coupons, go somewhere else. i'm not afraid to tell people "go somewhere else". around where i live, several restaurants offer "happy hours" where they have $2 drafts and 1/2 price appetizers. last year after tax season i hosted a happy hour and invited all my "business" clients. i called it the post tax season business stimulus happy hour, LOL. if i keep my clients in business, they'll keep me in business. it was a success in that several clients learned of the others and used their services instead of looking elsewhere. those that attended enjoyed it and thanked me, in fact they're still thanking me. a woman dropped off her stuff last night and thanked me because she didn't like her old dentist and now their whole family uses my dentist that she met at the happy hour. like i said in another thread, i attend regular networking events and do no advertising or mailers or coupons, just networking. but all this works because i live in a densely populated area of southeast PA.

you're points are very well taken and i agree for the most part. we have to keep in mind though when someone is first starting out, they need to buils osme sort of a foundation to get themselves off the ground.

also, i'm always intrigued by the billing method, i understand the time blling and i am wary of the time i spend on a return, the only thing is i like to set a fee based on the complexity, expertise and time for a return, factoring in all 3 issues. If we just bill on time, why should we penalize ourselves for being efficient and contrary why penalize the client if we are slow?

That is a successful biz model you described. What is your hourly rate?

I am also listed in free local listings for Google, Bing, Yahoo, and Superpages.com. And I have good SEO keywords built into my website so it's pretty easy for local people to find me online.

Supercoups is nationwide.

http://www.capitalcitysupercoups.com/

All that being said my phone has bee ringing like crazy the past week from firstimers. Some are scared away by my fees but I have sent out planners to 10 potential new clients already in the past week and have appointments set for 5 - 6 of them.

Adwords helps during tax season but that about the only time of the year I use it. The rest of the year I let my web/SEO do the work + about 10000 mailings

In my area Valpack is WAY more expensive and they make you sign a 6 month contract. Supercoups allows me to only do 3 mailings during tax season. They also allow just one mailing, although I don't know how effective one mailing would be. They also limit the amount of advertisers and they are all local companies so you won't see any ads for nutrisystem, or checks by mail, etc. That way your advertisement doesn't get lost in an envelope full of 60 advertisers.

I compared the two and went with supercoups. Plus Lisa who has our area is great to work with versus the sales people at valpack. They seemed more concerned about locking me into a contract rather than what was best for me.

I believe as a tax preparer, one should concentrate on providing amazing service. You need a client that is loyal to you and not runaway for a $50 discount. Just my 2 cents.... R