Are you struggling to access sufficient clients as a new tax preparer? Or do you feel like your tax business has hit a plateau?
No matter the reason you need to grow your business, there are a variety of ways to spur growth in your business and expand your client base. Here are five actionable strategies you can start working on now to gain referrals, attract new clients, and increase your office capacity.
1. Identify your target audience
As you consider how you might expand your tax business, it helps to identify who makes up your current client base. Do they seem to fit mostly in a particular niche, or do they represent a range of professions, age groups, or lifestyles?
If you feel like you already have a target market, then you could focus your efforts on expanding within that market. And if your client demographic is all over the place, maybe it’s time to narrow your audience.
One of the best ways to grow your business is to distinguish yourself in a niche market. Tax clients appreciate specialists over generalists. So if you can become an expert in a few specific areas, like preparing tax returns for small business owners or LLCs, then you can focus your continuing education on the nuances of the tax code for those specific audiences.
2. Enhance your current service offerings
Tax professionals can do more than prepare and file taxes. Consider offering advisory services to your clients. For example, if your current clients are approaching retirement, offer them advice on the tax advantages of trusts and other types of estate and retirement planning.
If you work almost exclusively with small businesses, consider offering consulting services on how they can organize their business to maximize deductions, incentives, and tax credits. With advisory services, you can keep your office busy with work year-round, not just during tax season.
3. Implement stronger marketing strategies
Once you’ve identified a niche market you want to target or a suite of advisory services you want to offer, you can begin marketing your expertise and services to your target audience:
i). Make sure your website clearly describes your services
While you probably already have a website, is it highly generalized? If so, revamp it to highlight the skills and expertise you provide within your niche, whether that’s tax advisory services for retirees or tax prep for sole proprietors.
ii). Create social media profiles focusing on platforms where your target clients spend their time
For example, if your market is small business owners, then make sure you have a LinkedIn profile to which you post updates regularly. Make sure your client’s social interactions are organic, not self-promotional: Answer tax or business-related questions, and make yourself a trusted source for advice.
iii). Conduct niche-specific marketing campaigns
If young professionals are your audience, then provide them with monthly e-newsletters on topics like the tax benefits of starting a retirement savings plan or college saving plans for their kids.
iv). Ask existing clients within your target market for referrals
Word-of-mouth referrals remain the best way to find new clients. If one of your clients really appreciates your expertise and services, ask them to refer their friends and colleagues.
4. Upgrade your tax preparation software
Perhaps your tax business isn’t growing because you just don’t have the time to develop a new business. It could be your tax software. Are you using a legacy desktop tax preparation solution? Or are you still maintaining client documents on paper in metal filing cabinets?
If either of these scenarios describes your tax office, it’s probably time to up your game by updating your tax prep software. Cloud-based tax software operates on remote servers, allowing you to securely access your tax prep applications and data from virtually anywhere with an internet connection from any device.
With cloud-based software, you can work and stay connected to clients from just about any location, whether that’s your home or your kid’s baseball game, all the while maintaining data security.
Cloud-based software gives you a lot of other options, too, like being able to employ remote staff, easy document upload options for your clients, and a set-it-and-forget-it kind of software that updates security features and backs up your files automatically.
What can you do with all those productivity gains? Work on recruiting more clients!
5. Invest in automation to save time
You can also increase productivity and free up more time for business development and face-to-face meetings with prospective clients by automating as many of your basic office tasks as possible. Look for ways to automate repetitive jobs like filling out client intake paperwork or answering basic questions on the phone.
Many tax preparation software solutions offer you options for sending out automatic emails to clients. You can also take advantage of AI-powered tools to add client information to your database as they fill out forms online, or use scheduling software to allow your clients to schedule meetings with you online.
Need more growth strategies for your tax business? There is a wealth of resources online for establishing new marketing strategies and better targeting your customers.
No matter your growth goals, evaluating your client’s needs, working to meet them, and then targeting your marketing can help you build a sustainable tax business in the long term.
I am Adeyemi Adetilewa, the Editor of IdeasPlusBusiness.com. I help brands share unique and impactful stories through the use of online marketing. My work has been featured in the Huffington Post, Thrive Global, Addicted2Success, Hackernoon, The Good Men Project, and other publications.
