“How many tax clients do you really want?”
“As many as I can get!!!”
That would have been my answer when I first started out in the tax business.
Probably yours too?
- As we progress in our careers, however, we may discover that more clients does not always result in more life enjoyment. Sometimes, the opposite.
- And sometimes, more clients doesn’t even result in more money! (usually because of more staff / payroll costs to service more clients)
At this moment in time, we are seeing MANY tax professionals not accepting new clients, slimming down their client lists (“firing clients”), or both.
Have you “updated” your answer to this question:
“How many tax clients do you really want?”
Summer is a GREAT time to check in on your strategy in this department.
While I don’t feel qualified to answer this question FOR any tax pro (your answer has to be your answer), I can offer the following suggestions if this topic resonates with you:
- Answer the question, “How much money do you want to make?”
- Answer the question, “How many hours do you want to work?”
- Realize that the answers to both of those questions can (probably will) change. Nevertheless, provide real answers to both of those questions. Hint: “real answers” means that both answers should be numbers.
- Pull all your existing clients into a spreadsheet with columns showing 1) how much each client pays you, and 2) how much time each client’s work takes up for you personally.
- Work over those spreadsheet numbers until you have a clear plan in place to make the money you want to make while working the hours you want to work.
- Execute your plan (the hard part). Typically the main moves people make to achieve a suitable solution are 1) “shift” a certain segment of clients you’re currently serving personally to be served by someone else (e.g. employee takes over client relationship, sell part of your database), and/or 2) get more clients, and/or 3) raise prices to a level where some clients voluntarily leave.
- Get involved and stay involved with other tax pros who are walking the same path you’re walking, for example by attending the Knowledge Share Extravaganza Live Conference in San Diego July 25 & 26. Making changes in your tax career can be scary. When we speak with other tax pros who have done what we are trying to do, we gain confidence and get better results.
It’s not too late to grab your ticket to the Knowledge Share Extravaganza Live Conference in San Diego on July 25 & 26, but it will be too late soon.
If you’re not yet at a place in your tax career where you feel over capacity, find a tax pro who is–you can start picking up that overflow work–and these are the types of mutually beneficial connections we strive to create at the upcoming live event.
Details and get tickets here.
