Category: Get More Tax Clients

This is the story of a small CPA firm (three partners) in New York City that hired me in January 2011 to help them grow their tax resolution business. I worked with them to create a written, systematic, and scheduled marketing process to drive sales of this service, which then fed sales of their other service offerings.

The firm employs no sales closers, and they rely exclusively on old tax lien filings (3 to 6 months old) as sales leads. They use old leads because, after a couple months, the vast majority of tax resolution firms have quit calling them, and they are therefore able to pick up clients with very little simultaneous telemarketing competition.

The firm’s telemarketers (“openers”) call these tax liens to verify that they’ve got the correct business, confirm that the tax lien is still an issue, and collect an email address and/or fax number and obtain permission to send “free information regarding how to get the IRS off their back” — there is absolutely no “selling” involved in a traditional sense. They then immediately receive a two-page introduction letter via fax and/or email, and they also receive a 12-page info packet (a 9 page sales letter, 2 page engagement letter, and a payment form) in the mail that comes in a specialized red “Rush Priority Express” envelope.

Every 5 days for 60 days, without fail, completely on automation, the prospect gets an email and/or fax with a short blurb (about two paragraphs) about a tax topic, and an offer — free consultation with a CPA (NOT a salesman), a free review of their latest IRS notice, X percent off representation, free end of year 940 prep, two 941’s prepared during the course of representation, etc. These “touches” are a highly effective follow up program from the very beginning, and their phone rings off the hook.

The key to this tactic was the creation of the series of emails (duplicated as faxes) that go out over the course of a couple months, every 5 days. Prospects are bombarded with the risks of being in collections, the problem with going at it themselves, and what the firm can do to fix the situation. This follow up program puts the CPA on the “right side of the desk”, as prospects then call in for help, rather than the CPA having to be the aggressor and chase the prospect down.

The licensed partners close all … Continue reading

This daily checklist is very specific to working collections and examination cases. If this is not a practice area for you, then you can basically skip this entire article. For some practitioners, this is the majority of what we do, even during tax season.

Tax resolution work is often very time sensitive. A big piece of what clients actually pay for is to have the tax professional simple manage the process and ensure deadlines are met, taxpayer rights are preserved, etc. The actual paperwork involved in tax resolution also needs to be accurate, so there is an element of precision that needs to be maintained there, as well. Having a checklist to manage your way through this process helps immensely.

Tax Resolution Daily Client Checklist

1. Complete Tax Practitioner Priority Calls and file setup for new clients
2. Contact clients regarding outstanding document needs (including financial documentation and missing returns)
3. Sort and label incoming faxes and mail
4. Calendar any IRS deadlines
5. Update 433’s with new incoming information
6. Follow and update New Client Checklists
7. Make Revenue Officer and other Service phone calls
8. File all necessary Appeals, IA requests, OIC applications, penalty abatement applicatios, etc. for the day
9. Weekly followup with inactive clients

This checklist covers the majority of the actions I need to review on a daily basis in order to stay on track with all my clients. Having a plan like this for each day is the key secret to managing a large case file inventory. Each case file has it’s own written “plan of attack” that serves as a resolution plan and progress tracker for that particular case, but the overall daily checklist gives me a dummy check to make sure I stay on track on with all my clients.

Tomorrow we’ll delve into the Tax Preparation Client Daily Checklist.… Continue reading

“Free Up Your Time To Work On The Most Important Aspects Of Your Practice By Training An Assistant To Handle Certain Tasks”

Everybody has heard it before: If you want to make $100 per hour, you have to stop doing $10 per hour tasks.

Let’s face it: If you are a licensed tax professional and want to grow your practice, then you have to utilize your time effectively. Is filling out a Form 433-A the most effective use of that time? Probably not.

At some point in the growth of your tax resolution practice, you are very likely going to hire an assistant. Your first assistant will likely be more than just a paralegal, more than an administrative assistant, and more than a sales/marketing assistant, but rather all three at the same time.

A paralegal assistant working with you on tax resolution cases can be a tremendous asset. By typing up IRS forms, preparing letters and faxes to clients and Revenue Officers, and working with clients to secure financial records, you become free to spend more time focused on negotiating successful tax resolutions, conducting new initial consultations, and working on marketing to grow your practice.

A sales/marketing assistant can assemble and send new client proposals, send out marketing pieces, field questions from prospects, and cold call new business prospects.

This training program covers aspects of both sales/marketing AND tax resolution. This program is meant to take a reasonably intelligent and competent person off the street and train them to be your key to freeing up your time to conduct tasks that are more valuable to the growth of your practice.

The program is broken up into 10 distinct units, covering tax resolution, file handling, financials, and more. The program is meant to be comprehensive enough to teach your new assistant everything, but flexible enough to fit into your existing way of doing business.

Training Outline

Unit 1 – Tax Liabilities (Where The Problem Comes From)

Overview of IRS Collections and Tax Problem Resolution
Tax Types & Tax Forms
Federal Tax Deposits
Penalties and Interest

Unit 2 – Tax Resolution (How The Problem Gets Fixed)
Options Available to Resolve Tax Problems (Concepts and Terminology)
-Loans
-Installment Agreements
-Guaranteed
-Streamline
-Regular
-Partial Pay
-Currently Not Collectible (Status 53)
-Offer in Compromise Program
-New Company Formation
-Levy Releases
-Liens: Discharge, Subordination, Withdrawal

Unit 3 – IRS Forms Overview

Understanding that the IRS is a forms-driven bureaucracy
2848 (POA)… Continue reading