941 Marketing Challenge Day 3

Since today is a Saturday, I’m going to give you the easiest task you’ll ever see in a marketing challenge.

Continuing our theme from yesterday, we are going to shift from the local mom ‘n’ pop payroll providers, to the biggest payroll provider there is: ADP.

As shocking as this might seem, ADP does not do internal payroll tax resolution for their payroll clients. Instead, this is something they work with their accounting partners on. Surprised? I’m not. It’s a classic example of “do what you do best, and nothing else”.

Here’s your day three challenge task:

1). Find your local ADP office.
2). Call them and ask to be routed to a local sales rep that works with local accountants.
3). Leave a voicemail with your elevator pitch and an invite to lunch.

ADP field sales reps are tasked with “community relations”. They commonly sponsor small, local tax and accounting seminars and small trade shows put on by state societies and local chapters. You’ve probably seen them there, but never given any further thought to what they do or how you could work together. ADP is generally pretty good about letting their field offices do what they need to do to make a buck locally.

So meet with them locally, and become part of the partner program. Ask them for local leads, or about how they go about sponsoring local seminars (maybe yours?). Pass them leads.

Boom! Another referral source.… Continue reading

941 Marketing Challenge Day 2

At yesterday’s IRS-sponsored “Working Together” symposium in Seattle, the Tacoma Collections Group Manager presented material that was put together by Thomas Kramer, the IRS Collection Territory Manager for the area. In that presentation, two fascinating facts were presented that are relevant to our current line of thinking:

  • As of March 31, 2018, there were $60.3 billion in 941 balance dues, not including penalties and interest.
  • Year to date, 59% of cases that Revenue Officers resolve are business cases.

See why we’re doing this marketing challenge?

Today is pretty simple, and quite honestly should only take you 10-20 minutes, assuming you did yesterday’s exercise.

Here it is, nice and simple: Open up your telephone directory, and call FIVE (or as many as exist, if less than five) local, mom and pop payroll service providers.

Yes, payroll service providers. Small, local ones.

Look ’em up. Call them, say your elevator pitch, and tell them you’d like to discuss a referral relationship. They send you leads, you send them leads.

“Whoa, whoa, hang on a second, Jassen. If a business has a payroll provider, they don’t have a 941 problem!”

That’s what you’d think, right? Well, not so fast.

See, many small businesses with 941 debts did, at one point, have all their ducks in a row. Then, something happened. Maybe it was a loss of a big contract, a death in the family, a regulatory change, etc. All kinds of things happen that turn profitable businesses into clunkers overnight.

So, payroll service companies see this. Because one day, the total payroll + taxes debit doesn’t go through when the payroll service provider tries to run payroll. In fact, they are the first ones to see it. And maybe 1 in 200 of these kinds of payroll providers offers resolution services. So, this is your chance to build referral relationships with one type of non-competing service provider that you can help them, and they can help you.

Tomorrow, we’ll discuss how to take this little tactic to the next level. But for now, go call some small payroll providers, and get the conversation going, elevator pitch in hand.… Continue reading

941 Marketing Challenge Day 1

Today kicks off the 2018 30-Day Marketing Challenge! The entire month of November, we’ll be focusing on daily marketing tasks — yes, even on Thanksgiving day — that you can utilize to grow the 941 representation side of your practice.

Most of the marketing tasks across this challenge will be short, usually 10 to 20 minutes. Some may be up to an hour.

If you actually follow through on all the activities across the next 30 days, I would expect the typical practitioner to pick up at least 2 or 3 tax resolution clients this month, equating to roughly $10,000 to $15,000 in new revenue. Even more important than that, however, if you stick with it for the full 30 days, you’ll develop the single most financially important habit a business owner can eve develop: The habit of daily marketing.

To start, you’re going to need to create a small piece of 941-specific messaging that answers the classic question, “What do you do?”

Commonly referred to as an elevator pitch, this is a concept that’s older than dirt, but sadly it’s one that very few tax and accounting professionals take the time to craft. The LAST thing that should ever leave your mouth when somebody asks what you do is, “I’m a CPA.” Even though most of the general public knows what a CPA is, that answer provides ZERO information about how you can help them, or whom they can refer you to, etc.

Your answer to this question should also not be, “I do taxes”, or “I’m an accountant”, “I do tax resolution. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong!

Your elevator pitch is what you use to communicate the kind of clients you’re looking for. It should be specific, and have a purpose. It should not be generic. You want people to be thinking about who they can refer to you when they hear your elevator pitch. You want them to evaluate their own life against your pitch to determine if they’re a prospect for you. Not everybody should be your client — this is a filtering mechanism.

Over the years, I had a few different elevator pitches. My oldest elevator pitch was very straightforward: “I help mom and pop small business owners with tax debts to screw over the IRS.” This was a message that resonated very, very clearly with my intended target market at the time.

A bit later in … Continue reading