Goals - Where will this challenge take you?
This is the most important section
Setting the foundation for building the practice of your dreams
Setting Goals :
Accelerated
$100k of profits in 100 days of new tax plans
Conservative
Building a $100k yearly revenue tax practice
Or adding $100k in profits or revenues
SMART Goals
S- Specific
M- Measurable
A- Attainable
R- Relevant
T- Time Bound
S- Specific
Your goal must be specific and definite:
Ex. “I will create $100k in new profits by selling tax strategy services to new and existing clients”
M- Measurable
You must be able to measure the goal and the progress.
Bad Ex. “I will make more money”
Good Ex. “I will sell $100k in new tax planning services”
A- Attainable
Your goal must be realistic, yet challenging.
Setting tax plan package rates between $1,000 and $10,000 can lead to attaining your goals
Financing tax planning engagements for clients can lead to sustainable, recurring revenue
R- Relevant
Your goal must be relevant to you and your practice. Where you are and where you want to go.
If you focus primarily on audit and attestation and don’t plan to add tax services to your business, selling tax plans would not be relevant
T- Time Bound “By when”
Ex. “I will create $100k in new profits by selling tax strategy services to new and existing clients over the next 100 days. Weekly check-ins will help me reach this goal.”
Think and Grow Rich
Review Your Goals
Put your goal sheet up where you can see it often throughout the day
Repeat your goals out loud at least twice a day
Envision yourself already having what you will achieve
Goals Clarity
Bringing the 4 P’s together
Bring success to your client
Are your three P’s aligned?
People – are you targeting/serving the right/best client?
Product – are you offering/delivering your best service to your clients?
Pricing – does your price correctly reflect the value provided?
Not sure?
Call an existing client that you trust that you have a good relationship with
“Hey ____, I’m considering offering tax strategy and I’d like to sit down with you this or next week to see how we can save you $1,000 to $10,000 (depending on how the Core 4 will impact them) on your taxes this year”
Negative feedback is not criticism
One or a couple negative feedback is not bad. Not everyone is interested in tax savings… or it may not be important to them right now.
Negative feedback should never be taken as criticism of you.
Don’t let no’s get you down, more “no’s” lead to more “yes’s”
How to price services
Grocery store example – 49 cents vs $4.90
Know your client
Have a proactive relationship with your client
Start with WHY
If you don't know WHY you are doing what you are doing - you will lose focus and burn out
People don't buy what you do - they buy WHY you do it.
[5:40] The goal of business is not to do business with everybody who needs what you have
(to do a tax return)
The goal is to do business with those who believe what you believe
(that you are a proactive strategist that can help their business and wealth grow - and you must be compensated as such)
See the original TED talk by Simon Sinek here:
The 4 P's -
#1 - People
Who do you want to work with? What is an "A" client look like? What does an "F" client look like?
The 4 P's -
#2 - Price
Pricing your product and services mix is the most important step to ensure profitability. Pricing, along with mastering the rest of the "4 P's" will help you build a successful and profitable practice.
The sales and technical sections of this course will give you the confidence that you need to be able to sell a "Core 4" tax plan for $1,000 - $10,000
If your goal is $100k in 100 days, divide the revenue (profits) and time.
I.E. "I will sell 10 tax plans at $10,000 each, one every 10 days."
Or "I will sell 20 tax plans at an average of $5,000, one every 5 days."
If your goal is build a $100k annual revenue practice or add $100k in new profits, divide the revenue (profits) and time.
I.E. "I will add 80 tax plans financed at at $100/mo each, one every other day for the next 160 days."
Or "I will sell 40 tax plans financed at at $200/mo each, one every 3 days for the next 120 days."
monthly service package / Monthly Billing
Why you may want to charge on a monthly basis... or have clients pre-pay for services
The 4 P's -
#3 - Product
What services do you want to provide? Tax preparation, Tax strategy, monthly bookkeeping, quarterly bookkeeping, bookkeeping or accounting review, CFO services? It's up to you!
The 4 P's -
#4 - Promo
Marketing based on pain
Sales techniques based on selling pain over pleasure
Tax Pain
Highest Pain: Tax resolution work
Levies, liens, collections calls
Medium Pain: “You are paying too much in taxes… and I’m going to help you with that”
“Uncle Sam is taking $10,000 or more of your hard earned money every year”
Low Pain: “Your current tax pro isn't helping you find deductions"
Pain “Dial”
Imagine your clients pain (that you are helping them realize that they are in) is a dial
Turning up the pain helps you solidify your sale easier.
The 4 P's - Bringing it all together
Master Formula - $10k in 30 days Challenge
Overview of the 4 P's
4 P's - How to cash flow additional $100k
Some thing s you can do to increase your cash flow quickly
USP
USP -
Case study: Rick
Case study: Rick is doing bookkeeping for 15-20 clients at around $125/mo & tax returns & payroll - but he can't outsource it because he's a control freak!
[3:30] - Ideal practice - focused on growth - supervising bookkeepers
[5:30] - Why it doesn't make financial sense to hire a bookkeeper to do bookkeeping work at $150/mo
[9:30] Is supervising bookkeepers really what you want to do and how to grow your business?
[25:00] how to build out packages
[29:00] how to move forward - put clients into "buckets" - find a bookkeeper to purchase book of bookkeeping clients
[31:00] How to get immediate first class referrals
[40:00] The secret to growing a profitable firm
Promotional Materials I Have Created That You Can Use / Copy
13 Easy Tax & Money Saving Tips for Year End Tax Savings
All about depreciation for rental and commercial properties
Watch how I structure a LIVE presentation to real estate investors and/or agents.
These presentations are easy to book and give, and routinely get you 10-20% of the room as a booked appointment if you do it right.
Top 10 tax mistakes
Audio recording at a 50+ attended Real Estate Marketing Meeting
Sample FB ad video - These only cost about $5-10 on FIVERR
Sales tactics
Closing the appointment and closing the sale
Closing the sale depends on many factors including:
1. The ability to put the right Product in from of the right Person at the right Price.
2. Your ability to have confidence in yourself as a tax savings expert
3. Your client's desire to pay less in taxes.
Download Brian Tracy's 23 Closing Techniques Battlecard
https://s3.amazonaws.com/media.briantracy.com/assets/images/21st-century-sales/battle_card_final.pdf
Monthly Profits Machine
CREATE AN OFFER
PRICE AN OFFER
IMPLEMENT
Pricing:
You can "bundle" tax services together with tax strategy for one monthly rate or separate them. When I first got started with tax strategy, I had a "minimum offer" of $199/mo for 12 months ($1999 if paid up-front).
This broke down to:
$400 personal return (with sch C) with audit protection
$800 S-Corp return with audit protection
$1,188 ($99/mo) for tax strategy plan and implementation / 2-3 meetings per year / phone call & text & email questions / bookkeeping review
I quickly realized this price was too low. I wasn't making the profit that I needed and I wasn't getting the level of client that I wanted to work with, so I increased the rate to $3600/year ($299/mo) for the exact same services.
You can follow this model or create your own... it's up to you!
Time Management Techniques
Eisenhower Matrix - Make time to take care of important things
As tax pros, we constantly have things coming at us all the time. Utilizing the Eisenhower Matrix will help you block out the time to do the important (but not urgent) things that will help you grow yourself and your business grow successfully.
Boomerang for Gmail: Scheduled sending and email reminders