Category: Get More Tax Clients

I wrote my first book over the long Christmas weekend of 2011. In terms of generating highly qualified inbound tax resolution leads, it was the best piece of free marketing I’ve ever done. Today I’m going to share with you the benefits of writing your own book, and a strategy to help you actually get it done.

To this day, two and a half years later, an average of two dozen people per month purchase Tax Resolution Secrets. And on average, about 1/3 of those people contact me directly every month in some fashion. Some of them call me, some of them go straight to my web site that’s listed in the book, some sign up for my email list, etc.

Are all of these ideal clients? No, of course not. If I wanted to, I could work with all of them. But I’m quite choosy these days about who I will represent. But every two or three months, a case will come along directly from the book that intrigues me enough to take on, and these are usually cases with higher fees. The rest of them either stay in my lead follow up program with no effort on my part to close the sale, or I refer them out to another practitioner.

My friend Salim Omar experienced something similar after writing his first book. Very different book topic, mind you, but still effective at generating a small, yet steady, trickle of inbound leads. In his case, he’s interested in attracting small business clients for doing their books, write up work, corporate returns, payroll, etc.

Having a book out there is not only a legitimate lead generation strategy in and of itself, but it’s also a tremendous credibility booster. Something very interesting happened when I would meet people locally, and they’d start telling me about their own experience, or the experience of somebody they know, in relation to an IRS problem. Instead of handing them a business card and suggesting they or their friend call me, handing them a book with my name on it generated a very different reaction. At only $2 or $3 per author copy for the book, it was a good investment to always have a few laying around.

Having a book is also one piece of the overall process for framing yourself as a local celebrity in your area. It can be the gateway to newspaper interviews, … Continue reading

One of the things I try to impress upon readers requires a slight mental shift. Namely, I encourage you to view any governmental policy or tax law change with a slightly different eye. You’re reading IRS e-News anyway, so read it with an eye for uncovering new marketing opportunities.

In case you missed IR-2013-72 last Thursday, the IRS is now going to treat all same-sex couples that were legally married in a jurisdiction where the marriage was lawful as married for all federal tax purposes, regardless of where that couple now resides.

This recognition, in response to the Supreme Court case in which certain provisions of the Defense of Marriage Act were struck down, even applies to same-sex marriages performed in foreign countries.

Now I realize that you may have a very strong personal belief about the same-sex marriage issue. Heck, I’m sure more than one person has already quit reading in disgust, and that’s their perogative. But if you’re still reading, this is something you can possibly capitalize on in your practice.

In terms of policy changes or tax law changes over the course of the past two years, I consider this to be only the third seriously significant, massive marketing opportunity that such changes have created. Last year, of course, came the Fresh Start initiative and the associated changes to Streamline Installment Agreements and the calculation of RCP on Offers in Compromise. The start of 2013 brought us the Fiscal Cliff situation and resulting legislation. The marketing opportunity created by this latest policy change is just as profound.

Finding data on the number of legally married same-sex couples in America was actually difficult. Reuters reports a number of about 130,000, and CNN gives us a 150,000 figure. More states have recently legalized this, and it is quite likely that more states will also do so in the coming years. Add in the unknown number of foreign same-sex marriages, particularly Americans that have visited Canada for this purpose, and the number becomes quite large, and will continue to grow.

Regardless of your own orientation, there is a huge market opportunity here, particularly for folks in either large cities or much more politically liberal cities. I imagine that any community large enough to have a local LGBT publication or business directory is going to be big enough for a tax practitioner to capitalize on the IRS same-sex marriage decision.

Practitioners that choose to … Continue reading

It’s a well known fact in the world of sales that the best time to ask for referrals is right after closing a sale.

Why is this?

When a new customer has made the decision to purchase your services, they are at the highest point emotionally that they will ever be towards you right at that moment.

Successful sales and marketing professionals (and remember, that’s what you are first and foremost) will capitalize on this by asking for referrals at this critical time. Think about it: Your tax prep clients are happiest with you when they have made a purchase. In other words, the best time to ask them for referrals is when their tax return is done, they’re relieved that another tax return is done and gone, and they’re writing you a check.

So, that’s priority number one: From here on out, always ask clients for referrals when they come to pick up their return.

But, what if you haven’t been doing this all tax season? What if you don’t even do tax prep, but have a slew of old case files from collections representation work that you’d suddenly like to try to get referrals from?

Never fear, because your referral generation template letter is here!

The key to using a letter to obtain referrals from client, regardless of how long ago or how recently the client interaction, is to always remind clients about the value they received from you. Then, let them know that other people they know can get the same benefit, making them look like a rock star for putting the two of you in touch.

If the preceding paragraph didn’t completely sink in, you may want to re-read it. In two sentences, you have the entire idea behind referral systems that cost thousands of dollars to obtain from seminars. If you can really understand this basic concept and apply it to your business, you can drastically increase the growth rate of your business from referrals.

To ask for referrals, all you need to do is ask. I know that many practitioners are too shy to ask for referrals in person, or think it’s unprofessional. If you know that your services provide great value to your clients, then you should honestly have no qualms about asking people for referrals. Why hide yourself from somebody that desperately needs your help?

So if you’re too shy to ask in person, then there … Continue reading