Discussion:Who makes house calls?
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| Revision as of 22:04, 7 March 2008 Joanmcq (Talk | contribs) (I have one woman) ← Previous diff |
Revision as of 22:06, 7 March 2008 Bottom Line (Talk | contribs) (He had a home of) Next diff → |
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| {{ForumReplyPost|UserID=Joanmcq|Date=7 March 2008|Text=I have one woman who comes to me, but I usually drop off her return (she lives near the freeway entrance ramp). 84 and has less problems getting to my second floor office than I do. I'm going out next friday to meet with clients, one of whom just got out of the hospital and is bedridden at this point, and is having some back CA issues. I usually make them come to me or drop off or mail in. I haven't got time to chase clients. I would never do one at home while they wait.}} | {{ForumReplyPost|UserID=Joanmcq|Date=7 March 2008|Text=I have one woman who comes to me, but I usually drop off her return (she lives near the freeway entrance ramp). 84 and has less problems getting to my second floor office than I do. I'm going out next friday to meet with clients, one of whom just got out of the hospital and is bedridden at this point, and is having some back CA issues. I usually make them come to me or drop off or mail in. I haven't got time to chase clients. I would never do one at home while they wait.}} | ||
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| + | {{ForumReplyPost|UserID=Bottom Line|Date=7 March 2008|Text=He had a home office. That explains it. I wouldn't want all those people coming to my house either. }} | ||
Revision as of 22:06, 7 March 2008
Discussion Forum Index --> Basic Tax Questions --> Who makes house calls?
Discussion Forum Index --> Tax Questions --> Who makes house calls?
| 7 March 2008 | |
| Just curious how many of you make house calls on your clients.
I bought my practice from someone who was retired from his regular full-time, then finally retired from the tax prep last year. I still have a full-time day job and managing to keep up with 300 individual returns (no business returns in the mix). I've heard from quite a few of the clients that the seller made house calls- picking up taxes one day, returning them a day or two later. Not many complaints about making them come to me this year, but we're guessing that the customer retention from his original base will only be about 75%, where I was hoping for closer to 90%. I plan to make my self-employment my full-time job in a year or two, but just wondering how many of you physically have time for 2 round trips to each client making house calls, dealing with interruptions, and then getting the work done. I'm looking for streamlining ideas and trying to keep notes this season for improvements to put in place for next year, immediately after this season is over. | |
| 7 March 2008 | |
| We do a couple of house calls to long-term clients that have a hard time getting around, but very limited. I can't imagine how your predecessor did it, unless he covered certain areas on certain days, where all appts were close together. | |
Death&Taxes (talk|edits) said: | 7 March 2008 |
| Very limited also; I see three on the schedule and with all three, I appreciate being where they can dig out information if needed. The returns take some time and I appreciate working without interruption.
For two years I drove to Great Neck NY to do a client's parents. I sat in a too soft armchair, with my laptop on a fold out small table....the last time they finally gave me the dining room table.....and for this, I was supposed to be more reasonable than the man who did their taxes for years and was charging 'an arm and a leg.' The daughter also changed their investment person, but in the second year, they switched back. They were always asking me how much this new person was making them. They were in their late 80s. | |
Bottom Line (talk|edits) said: | 7 March 2008 |
| I do some pick up and delivery but NO while you waits at their house. I charge extra for the pickup and delivery. | |
| March 7, 2008 | |
| I'm out about two days a week. Split personality, so I like getting out to see folks, and you make sure you get paid when you're there in front of them. Many many just mail or email me stuff, but some like the face to face. I have a lot of clients I've never met! and some who I know, well, not intimately, but you know...well, ok? | |
| 7 March 2008 | |
| During the rest of the year, for planning or whatever, I would have no problem taking a detour on the way home from work to go over their situation in their own home. And, I've only really been to about 10 so far this season. A couple of those people, I added the mileage to their invoice because I made no secret of the schedule I had at the time they wanted me to be there and they acted as though coming to me shouldn't be their inconvenience.
Since I didn't know the people ahead of time, it was a shock when I showed up at their door and they were 30-something's with 10-year old kids. They are good customers, but I know they are out running all over the city for their kids' basketball games or whatever. None of the people that I have made house calls on are what I would say were for reasons of limited mobility on their part. Really wasn't turning this into a gripe session. Just wanted to make sure that I wasn't on the unreasonable end here and need to look harder at my customer service. | |
Bottom Line (talk|edits) said: | 7 March 2008 |
| Convert the 30-somethings to them coming to you or by mail (easier said than done but they may not want the stress of making sure the house is clean). Keep the homebounds and charge them a premium. Did the prior guy not have an office and that was why he was doing this? | |
| 7 March 2008 | |
| He had a home office. He's very outgoing and the tax season was his full-time for the last 4-5 years, and he'd been doing most of these people's taxes for nearly 15 years. I think it was something to get him out of the house and stay on the move.
I, on the other hand, stereo-typical accountant, not really an extrovert, and can put on a good client meeting, but relax better when it's just me and the numbers. I'm trying to move more toward electronic communication with a lot of the clients and let them know that the turn-around will be much more efficient if all of my time is not spent travelling on the road. | |
| 7 March 2008 | |
| I have one woman who comes to me, but I usually drop off her return (she lives near the freeway entrance ramp). 84 and has less problems getting to my second floor office than I do. I'm going out next friday to meet with clients, one of whom just got out of the hospital and is bedridden at this point, and is having some back CA issues. I usually make them come to me or drop off or mail in. I haven't got time to chase clients. I would never do one at home while they wait. | |
Bottom Line (talk|edits) said: | 7 March 2008 |
| He had a home office. That explains it. I wouldn't want all those people coming to my house either. | |
