Why Tax Season Is an Ideal Time to Market Your Firm | CCH
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Why Tax Season Is an Ideal Time to Market Your Firm Your April client meetings can win you additional business. Here’s how to take advantage of them
If you're focused solely on IRS forms during tax season, you're missing out on some outstanding marketing and sales opportunities. "This is the most face time you get all year," says Jean Marie Caragher, a 25-year industry veteran and president of Capstone Marketing in Chesapeake, Virginia. "Add to that the fact your competitors may have stopped their marketing activities — which means that you can gain an advantage if you use these next few weeks wisely."
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Caragher, whose company works exclusively with CPA firms, says that the busy season offers several key ways to develop additional business. These first ones should happen when you’re working face-to-face with clients: Identify cross-selling opportunities. "While you're talking to the client about this year's issues, you need to develop a list of assignments or special projects to follow up on afterward," Caragher says. In fact, the "selling" part is a bit of a misnomer, because it's really about helping your clients solve problems. Make sure your entire team is up to speed on all your services, so they can recognize opportunities, too. Double up on data. If you don't already have a good email list of client contacts and referral sources, face-to-face meetings are the perfect excuse to shore up your database. That way you can reach out to them later with your firm’s newsletter and other marketing efforts. Client satisfaction and retention are elements of marketing, too. Yes, you're on time and technically accurate, but are you making clients feel important? "This is the time of year to gauge not just how happy they are with the work product, but also how you do business," Caragher says. Having the face-to-face contact can allow you to really listen to what your clients need and how satisfied they are. Even during the busy time of the year, be sure to: Keep on networking. "You need to maintain involvement in business events such as lunches, community events or being part of a board of directors," Caragher says. "If you drop off the radar for months, it's hard to start up the relationships again in May. And you don't want your competitors at those functions if you're not."
Read these related tax-season articles: 4 Proven Marketing Ideas (http://newsletters.cchgro up.com/node/556? cm_sp=e-newsletters-_First%20Choice% 20March%202011-_Why%20Tax% 20Season%20Is%20the% 20Ideal%20Time%20to% 20Market%20Your% 20Firm,4%20Proven% 20Marketing%20Ideas% 20)
Managers: 3 Tips to Make Your Office More Productive This Busy Season (http://newsletters.cchgro up.com/node/719? cm_sp=e-newsletters-_First%20Choice% 20March%202011-_Why%20Tax% 20Season%20Is%20the% 20Ideal%20Time%20to% 20Market%20Your% 20Firm,Managers%3a% 203%20Tips%20to% 20Make%20Your% 20Office%20More% 20Productive%20This% 20Busy%20Season%20)
Offload Some TaxSeason Workload with ProSystem fx Outsource (http://newsletters.cchgro
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