Discussion:Introduction Letter?

tough question, its more of a science than anything else.

we need to know who you are sending to, when, what type of client are you looking to attract (basic 1040, complex, businesses, all of the above)

and very important, are you sending totally cold letters (i.e. they dont know you at all), or will the recipient be an acquaintance, a neighborhood store you frequent, a former college buddy, etc. who wil know who the letter is from?

if the letters are going out to people who dont know you at all, its very difficult to get new clients thru the mail, or i should say low reply rate (1% would be good from what i've seen and read, so you are looking at 1,000 letters to possibly get 10 inquiries and then when you get a call you need to be prepared to know how to go about sealing the deal and getting the prospective caller as a client).

I would concentrate on trying to get your family, friends/acquaintances, former collge buddies as clients and ask them to spread the word, ask fomer employers if they have clients that might be too small for them if they can send them your way, you may want to go door to door in your neighborhood and drop letters in mailboxes(minimal cost)

it starts out slow but once you get your niche of finding new clients it gets better.

go to social functions, be a social bug, ask people what THEY do for a living first and before you know it they will ask what you do, and then it stirs interest adn doesnt seem like a lame sales pitch.

may want to purchase new homeowner lists, lists of people who earn certain incomes, ask a buddy who works at certain companies if he could hand out your business card, pick up a tax practice marketing book (i believe there is one that comes up when you google but really only one i could find)

read a general book on how to get new business and then incorporate it into what you are selling.

get a few clients under your belt get your feet wet, and then try to build off of the clients you have, then you can use the # 1 proven method of getting new clients - REFERRALS FROM CURRENT CLIENTS.

i hope this helped some, and if any more thoughts pop into my head i'll try to send them your way.

friendly note : i've found that more specific questions will get you a better response rate on tax almanac - for example "how do i ask a current client for a referral?" or "where would i get a new homeowner list and does anyone know the success rate?" will get you more replies.

especially during tax season, it will be tough to get answers to general questions, on "how do i build my business" building the business we are all still trying to perfect, or at least many of us are still learning what works well in building a practice.

good luck !

Will

Why not send them some useful information about tax laws or deductions that might be of benefit to them? You know everyone is wondering how Obama's tax changes are going to affect them. Send something twice a month for a few months. At the end of each letter, tell them what services you offer. Later, when you get a website, invite them to come to your website and have a form where they can sign up for your "newsletters." Then your mailing costs go way down.

You know, there is this roofing company in my city that, several times each year, sends me an envelope with their sales pitch and a little teddy bear refrigerator magnet. I now have a collection of teddy bears on my fridge. Each bear has the name and number of the roofing company on it. Guess who the first company is that I'm going to call in the next few years when I need to put on a new roof?

Keep us posted.

Newtaxguy2008: Wkstaxprep nailed it. Referrals will be your #1 source. After preparing family and friend's returns for a number of years, I decided this year to aggressivley ask for referrals and handed them tons of business cards. To my surprise, the emails are starting to roll through. I'm confident taxpayers would rather come to people like us rather than go to many of the tax chop shops. Personalization is key - Let them know you're here year round.

Other methods I'm utilizing: Post a letter in my apartment building by the mailbox, display business cards with my hairstylist, local subway, mailbox store - everywhere you can think of, make a facebook business page and invite EVERYONE in your area (10 mins to set up the page-you'd be amazed how quickly that spreads), put letters in mailboxes surrounding my area (elimnates postage costs and all I need to do is buy my friend a couple drinks)

Good Luck!

Wildcat24