Fifty Ways to Optimize Your Firm’s RevenueStarting Now Through Tax Season

Sandi Leyva, CPAAccountantsAccelerator.com

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CPE

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• Founder of Accountant’s Accelerator• Teacher, author, consultant, coach, CPA

• Jazzed about helping accounting firms grow

Sandi Leyva, CPA

Rick Telberg

• Founder of CPA Trendlines• Veteran analyst, advisor, commentator, editor and publisher• The accounting profession's most widely-known

commentator

Your Hosts

Today’s Speaker: Sandi Leyva, CPA• Mission: We are passionately committed to helping people achieve

entrepreneurial prosperity.– Digital marketing agency– Training

• Combo accounting, IT, marketing experience• Have practiced accounting • CPA/CMA/MBA• 12 thought leader awards• 30 books written, 1,500+ articles• 12 marketing certifications• 2X around the world, once in a single engine airplane

#1: Year-end notice

• Biggest client complaint: CPA isn’t proactive• Email marketing is a great way to be more communicative• Accelerate clean-up and annual work• Right now:

– Send a notice to current annual bookkeeping clients• “Start getting your books in order now; let us start catching up Jan-Nov so

you’ll be ahead.” • And so your firm doesn’t have to do low dollar work in the heat of season.

#2: Tax notice

• Do more tax planning • Right now:

– Send a notice to current tax clients• “Tax planning opps; withholding issues.”

#3: Payroll notice

• Grab some payroll business• Right now:

– Send a notice to current bookkeeping clients that you are NOT doing their payroll for

• “Year-end is a great time to switch.”

• Not just payroll; other technologies

A little about email marketing

• $40 to $1 return• Choose an email list management system like Constant Contact

or a CRM with email capabilities• Get your client emails into the system• Start sending emails

#4: Start hiring now for tax season

• If you need help, now is the time to get it lined up– Look in modern places

• Indeed, LinkedIn, Craigslist• AccountingFly

Ask yourself, what could you really do if you started delegating more?

#5: Clear your calendar

• Look at your busy season calendar:– Jan for bookkeepers, Feb – Apr for tax preparers– Do you have any:

• Annual or semi-annual personal appointments – accelerate or delay• Birthdays or anniversaries – buy gifts now• Car maintenance – get it done now• CPE – get it done early

#6: Drop referral hints

• Add a line to your signature file:– “We appreciate referrals”

• Include on website, flyers, card in organizer, invoices, anything client-facing that’s appropriate

• In networking meetings, describe your ideal referral/client

#7: Implement digital signatures

• Speed up onboarding of new clients and engagement letter renewals along with tax approvals

• If you’re still printing and faxing, this is the dark ages• RightSignature, DocuSign, your tax software

#8: Update client onboarding process

• How do you currently onboard clients?– Review this procedure and automate /

delegate / proceduralize / scale it– Checklist of questions– Intake forms / workpapers– Welcome letter– Client portal

#9: Clean up your website

• Update your site– Delete outdated tax advice– Hide old blog articles – Update services– Fix broken pages– Check contact information and forms

#10: Listen to your voice mail

• Voice mail – Is it initialized?– Friendly?– Professional message?– Are you getting your messages?– Could it be improved?

#11: Price adjustments

• Notify clients of any annual price adjustments

#12: Stock up on supplies

• Order:– Tax forms– Thank you notes– Letterhead stock

Do you send handwritten thank you notes?

#13: Have 2 tax seasons

• Send a letter to clients on January 15, 2019 offering them 5% discount if they get their info in by February 15, 2019. – You will get busy earlier– You will get the small clients out of the way– You will have more time to onboard new clients– You can bill earlier / your cash flow will accelerate

#14: Ask for referrals

• Add a testimonial request form in your deliverables

#15: Outsource personal tasks

• Make even more room in busy season:– Housekeeper– Lawn maintenance– Snow removal– Dog sitter / walker– Babysitter / child care– Grocery delivery / cook– Personal assistant

#16: Do IT changes now

• Buy new PCs and servers now• Get any large updates made now• Make software / app changes now

– Tech, email, websites, etc.

• Backups in place• Load mobile apps

#17: Collect W-9s

• Start asking for W-9’s now• Other vendor compliance:

– State tax exemption certificates– Insurance certificates

• Ditto employee info for W-2s• Clients too

#18: LinkedIn profiles

• Clean these up• Create a company page• Link employees to it• Make sure your business and employees look professional

#19: TCJA

• Don’t underestimate the learning curve on TCJA

• Learn it, then build it into your client services

2019 Opportunities• Estimated payments – W-4/

paycheck checkup• Depreciation timing• Entity changes• Itemization planning every

other year– Charitable– Medical

• Kiddie tax changes• Loss timing• Home loans - purpose

• 2% misc itemized deductions– Employee reimbursement

• Reasonable compensation• QBI aggregation for 20% pass-

through• Alimony• Insurance deductibles (casualty loss

tax changes)• Sales tax (Wayfair)• Centralized partnership audit rules

More Aggressive

• Rental car company agreement• Make a checklist with check

boxes• 2 options:

– I want tax planning advice on this topic

– I decline this advice

• Make them initial each option

#20: Cross-sell services

• Expand what you do for existing clients– Make a spreadsheet:

• Clients in rows• Revenue type in columns• Revenue dollars in cells• The empty cells are your opportunities

#21: Live off-rush

• During the busiest times, try to avoid getting caught in traffic and lines– Plan to arrive / leave work any time except rush hour– Run errands during the day (1:30-2:30 PM is slowest)– Schedule appointments / work so that you avoid traffic– Don’t drive in rush hour

#22: Wow prospects

• Create or update prospect kit– Bios of staff including credentials and awards– What makes your firm unique– Services– Testimonials– Press clippings– How to get started / contact page– FAQ

#23: Open house

• Hold a tax day open house– In late February to get people to drop off their tax paperwork– Buy cakes or other food– Retro

#24: Staff photos

• Update your marketing material for staff info– Invest in professional headshot– Invest in professionally written bio

• Very cool things you can do with this:– Caricatures– Hobbies, something fun about them

#25: Schedule Automation

• Automate your appointment scheduling so clients can self-serve– No more back-and-forth emails – Reduces admin time– Has saved me $20K a year

#26: Don’t lose “maybes”

• Right now: Call all your “maybe’s” back and ask them if they have decided on a solution– At least half of you on this webinar will get an instant “yes”

• Long term: Track leads that come in your door– CRM or spreadsheet– Only a few will say yes immediately

• You need a follow-up system

#27: Measure service time

• How long does it take from engagement letter signing to filed tax return or cleaned up books– This is a customer service metric that should be tracked– Great thing to promote: “Our turnaround time is 48 hours”

#28: Batch-write client newsletters

• Don’t spend time during busy season writing newsletter articles. – Write them all now– Post and schedule them to be delivered magically through busy

season

#29: Batch-write social media

• Don’t spend time during busy season writing social media posts.– Write them all now– Post and schedule them to be delivered magically through busy

season

#30: Practice time-batching

• Time batching is where you group like tasks to reduce interruptions and increase “flow”– Email– Meetings– Client work– Client appointments– Staff questions– Errands

#31: Handle things once

• Do, Delegate, Delete, Delay (for batching)• What really costs is starting and stopping

– This can happen when a client doesn’t get all their docs to you or if you need follow-up docs

• When possible, uses checklists to gather info and hold working on a return until all info is in

#32: Line up public relations

• If you want to make progress in a certain town, be available for the press the week of April 15th

– Contact local news– Contact radio stations

#33: Use food delivery services

• Go beyond pizza and Chinese– Doordash.com– Grubhub.com

#34: Get attention

• How can you stand out from other accounting professionals?• Create digital content

– Blog article 1900 words is best for high Google Ranking• “71 Ways to Get More Accounting Clients”

– Gated complimentary educational report 6-8 pages• Gated means you ask for their email address and maybe phone number• “5 Ways to Pass Wealth Tax-Free to Your Children”• “7 Must-Track Measures for Your Small Business”• “3 Easy-to-Implement Tips to Slash Inventory Costs”

#35: Update Facebook

• Your business needs a Facebook page– Facebook now monitors response time– Get reviews from clients – Make sure your hours and more are complete– Encourage likes and follows

#36: Reward referrers

• Who are your top referrers?– Track and compute how much revenue they’ve sent you– Give them top-shelf service– Socialize/network with them to stay top-of-mind– Include them in a client touch calendar plan

#37: Encourage referrals

• Formalize a referral program– Print up referral cards and distribute them

• ____Referrer Name____ is referring __Prospect___ to [your firm]

– You might have gifts or discounts for referrals

#38: Cheap Advertising

• Get a car sign– Magnetic, doesn’t hurt car– Few words: QuickBooks Bookkeeping, phone, website if short– Less than $100

#39: Automate client communications

• Do you have standard emails you send out when:– You onboard a new tax client?– You onboard a new bookkeeping client?

• Write them up and automate them in an “autoresponder” series

#39: Automate client communications• Checklist:

– Welcome– Whitelist email– List what to expect– List what you need from them– Encourage: newsletter signup,

social media follow– Client portal instructions

– Service delivery milestones– Upsell opportunities– Recordkeeping– If you get an IRS letter– Ask for testimonial– Ask for referral

#40: Do search engine optimization

• Don’t pay for paid ads until your site is organically optimized for search engine ranking – SEO

• Change it throughout the year– Right now, start optimizing for tax keywords– In May switch to CFO, accounting keywords

#41: Seed advisory services

• Seeding is dropping hints without being too salesy– “We have another client we’re doing advisory work for”– Include an educational piece on what they could get out of your

advisory services– “Our clients at your level of revenue usually get the advisory package

too”

#42: Update Google for business

• When you enter your business name in Google search, your Google listing for your firm should come upon the right side of the search results page (SERP)

• GMB = Google My Business• Claim/Manage your listing at business.google.com• Encourage reviews

#43: Minimize Bottlenecks

• Bosses: you are the bottleneck– Delegate more– Write out procedures and checklists– Check employees at milestones

#44: Plan for Clean-Ups

• No time/staff to do low-level bookkeeping cleanup work?– Interview a couple of QuickBooks bookkeepers / ProAdvisors and

have them on speed dial – If you are a QuickBooks person, reach out to CPA firms in Feb - April

#45: Priorities

• Do at least one high dollar thing every day– Continue actively seeking big opportunities

#46: Enhance Client Communications

• Start a client newsletter– Modern newsletters have 1 article per email– 1-2 times a month– Focus on value to them: small biz tips– Stay top-of-mind

#47: Face burnout

• Plan something small and fun early March and early April• Stress relief• Have an anchor

– Pictures of loved ones on your desk

#48: Sales Tax Review

• Possible upsell services• TCJA is headliner, but sales tax is changing too

– Ask about sales tax issues

#49: Praise and be positive

• Take time to give feedback– To clients who did a great job on their paperwork– To employees who are busting it

• Remember to let people know they’re doing a good job

#50: Be grateful

• If you get stressed, angry, frustrated, scared:– Gratitude is the fastest way back to positive emotions– Start walking and think of five things to be thankful for

Final Thoughts

• Spread work out so it’s not so compressed• Manage your busy season time ruthlessly• Automate/proceduralize/delegate client onboarding to max

new clients during season

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The Complete Guide to Marketing for Tax and Accounting Firms