Twelve Steps to Recovery for Accountants in Denial About Marketing

By Sandi Smith Leyva, CPA.

Traditional marketers like Coke, Virgin Atlantic, the Marriott, and thousands other businesses with name brands pay billions of dollars for the simple act of getting their prospects' attention. During tax season, the IRS hands us, at no extra charge, the attention of millions of people who must also give us their most personal, private financial information at the same time.

Do you feel your firm is making the most of your clients' attention during tax season? I believe most firms are leaving a huge amount of revenue on the table. Here are some money-making ideas on how you can pick it back up, stop marketing so hard all year, work fewer hours, and smooth out your cash flow year round.

Boost Referrals

1. Partner with experts in banking, investments, insurance, and legal fields. Ask your client if they need referrals for insurance, legal, or other work. Freely offer these referrals. This will increase your "community capital," which will come back to you in the form of increased referrals from your partners and clients. You may even want to create a handout with your most common referral partners' contact information that gets handed out to each client with their tax packet. I include my entire personal Rolodex as a bonus in all my CPE courses and products, and this has been a hit. This idea only takes about 30 extra seconds per client, and can be done by an admin.
2. At the end of the tax meeting, gift your clients with a small token such as a teddy bear or a piggy bank. Word will spread that you are the teddy bear tax preparer, and who won't get a smile out of that? This one takes about 15 extra seconds per client and also can be done by an admin.
3. Ask your clients for referrals anytime during the engagement. The simple act of asking boosts referrals and keeps your marketing costs low. Be sure to describe the exact type of client you want so clients will know who to refer to you. This one takes 30 extra seconds per referral.

Boost Upsells and Revenue per Client

1. Ask clients, especially business owners, where things went wrong last year. Were they unhappy with their payroll provider? Were their 1099s done wrong (quite a hot button this year)? How much time are they spending on their Accounts Payable (and could they benefit from looking at a demo of the latest add-on system you have for that? Are they outgrowing their QuickBooks software and need an upgrade to Enterprise? Is sales tax getting to be a real hassle? You're bound to find at least one area where you can schedule a future demo and make a proposal. Be sure not to solve their problems then, but simply set up a future meeting to continue the conversation. This one takes five extra minutes.
2. Ask clients to fill out a quick survey while they are waiting on you to make copies or scan in their forms. The survey might include question like the above, so that you can identify topics for future conversations where you can improve the client's situation. This one takes three extra minutes.
3. Write your newsletters and tweets ahead of time and schedule them using applications like Constant Contact and Hootsuite so that your newsletter and social media will be going all tax season without taking up any of your time.
4. Offer clients a year-long package that includes quarterly meetings, email, and phone time. Be sure to explain the value of this package. You can do this in about three extra minutes.
5. Have a monthly special to keep clients' interest all year long. Areas could include payroll conversion, cloud hosting, 1099 special, review last year's return, 3-day turn premium services, accounting systems money leaks checklist, tax planning special, year-long package special, sales tax special, etc.

Boost Cash Flow

1. Collect the invoice amount before starting the engagement and eliminate both A/R and WIP (work in progress). This is most easily done if you can quote a flat fee or package price.
2. Collect the balance due before filing the return and avoid WIP.

Continuous Improvement

1. Ask your client if there is anything you or your staff could have done to make the experience more enjoyable. Take notes!
2. Track your net promoter score: "On a scale of 1-10, 10 being most likely, how likely are you to refer us to your friends or colleagues?" If it's 6 or less, these are your detractors, and you'll want to find out why.

I know tax season is insanely busy with no time to even go to the bathroom! But it's also the time that everyone is thinking about taxes, accounting, and all the things we do in our profession. It's the best time to pique a client's interest about how else we can help them. You can spend a few extra seconds per client now, or spend a lot more marketing dollars during the rest of the year just hoping you can get your prospect's attention. Try a few of these 1- and 2-minute tips and watch the rest of the year become so much easier for you.

Want more tips? I’d be delighted for you to sign up for my complimentary newsletter at accountantsaccelerator.com.

Sandi Smith Leyva, CPA (inactive), is the founder of Accountant’s Accelerator, a yearlong marketing program for accountants, bookkeepers, CPAs, EAs, and QuickBooks consultants. Find out more or sign up at accountantsaccelerator.com.