Tax Resolution Academy

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

This is something that I’ve been thinking about for quite a while. Several years in fact.

Some people may think it’s just a matter of semantics, but there is a lot more to it than that.

But the more thought I put into it, the more I know I’m right: Tax resolution is dead.

What the hell am I talking about?

I’m talking about terminology, public perception, and professionalism. The term “tax resolution” has become tainted in many respects, due the actions of a small number of large companies. The phrase now evokes images of boiler room sales people cramming a canned sales pitch down the throat of somebody that can’t even rub two dimes together.

I personally quit using the phrase over a year ago to describe what it is that I do. When somebody asks the inevitable question in our social system, “What do you do?”, my answer, also referred to in the sales world as an “elevator speech”, is pretty simple. I do not consider myself a part of the tax resolution industry, rather, “I represent small business taxpayers in front of the IRS to remove the stress and anxiety of audits, seizures, levies, and other collections action. I deal with the IRS for you, so you can continue doing what you do best, which is running your business.”

Contrast that to, “I do tax resolution.” Which sounds more professional to you?

My friend and mentor James Orr has ingrained into me the concept of always being on “the right side of the desk”. When people call you, even if that phone call was sparked by your marketing, that puts you on the right side of the desk. When you have positioned yourself as a professional, rather than a shark hunting for prey, you are on the right side of the desk. When you “represent people”, rather than “settle debts”, you’re on the right side of the desk.

I personally think that this approach is even more important more those of us that are Enrolled Agents. Why? Because nobody knows what we are! “Attorney” and “CPA” are common, everyday words — everybody knows what they are. Enrolled Agents have to explain what we are. Instead, let’s remove that explanation from the equation, and get right to the core benefit we provide our clients.

In my writing to you, I’ve continued using the term “tax resolution” because it’s the common … Continue reading