The ProMarketer Podcast

Raising prices is becoming standard practice in businesses across America as inflation strikes and supply chains dry up. Couple that with the growing pressure on tax and advisory professionals all around the industry in the wake of 2020. It means now, more than ever, business owners and taxpayers are turning to you for help, even as the glaring issues at the IRS make the job harder than ever.

And that means you're doing more and working harder -- and your pricing structure needs to reflect that (for the sake of your longevity in the business). That's right. It's time to start raising prices.

In this new ProMarketer podcast, TaxProMarketer CEO Nate Hagerty and Vice President Christian Jones join Michelle Weinstein of The Abundant Accountant (aka The Pitch Queen) to talk about the why behind raising prices in your firm and exactly how to do it.

Michelle and The Abundant Accountant team are dedicated to helping those in the tax and accounting industry grow their firms by making key shifts in pricing models to reduce stress and bring in quality clientele. You can schedule a call with them (https://theabundantaccountant.com/book-a-call/) to talk the current state of affairs in your firm and the exact next steps to take to increase revenue THIS tax season.

Take an hour out of your schedule to get practical tips and insights into the why behind raising prices and the importance of placing real value on what you bring to the table for your clients.

When you signed up with TaxProMarketer, you were looking to build a marketing framework that would get your business visibility and get you lead generation traction. And we work hard over here at TaxProMarketer to do just that.

But as Christian Jones (TPM VP), Ben Greutman (Director of Innovation), Troy Lakey (TPM COO), and Nate Hagerty (TPM CEO) share here, you've got a part to play in building that machine — and only you can do your part.

So, what little things do you need to do to build that marketing framework exactly?

To start, you've got to utilize the tools we've created for you to connect with and understand your clients. That looks like sending custom email broadcasts, thank you sequences, asking for and responding to reviews, doing case studies, adding personal touches to social posts and emails, and handling incoming phone calls well, among other things.

If you're not doing these things, you're missing out on opportunities to engage leads, even improve your Google ranking. And what's more, you're failing to take advantage of tried and true methods for building rapport and trust with your clients.

So, do the work. Get your marketing framework optimized. Build something that will stand the test of rising trends … and bring you lasting results.

Workflow troubles in your accounting firm? Deadlines piling up and keeping you up at night? Or worse –- falling through the cracks?

When momentum picks up in your business, the stress of increased projects and due dates can take its toll… especially when things get missed. And because the accounting world literally RUNS on deadlines, managing them and your team well is critical if you want to scale your business.

Enter David Cristello, founder and CEO of Jetpack Workflow, an Inc 5000 company. Five years ago, David saw a big need for workflow improvement in accounting firms across the board. So, from his spare bedroom, he set out to develop simple systems for improving task management and creating visibility for better team oversight.

Since then, he and the Jetpack Workflow team have helped 6,000+ firms complete over 3 million jobs on time, saving 10 or more hours in every work week.

Here David shares with TPM CEO Nate Hagerty the two biggest productivity mistakes he sees accountants and bookkeepers make, the need for deadline automation and task triggers, and the financial benefit of creating customizable workflows.

Does your firm need a workflow boost? Head over to www.jetpackworkflow.com to get your 14-day free trial and access 32 free workflow templates and the Double Your Accounting Firm book.

Christian Jones (TPM Vice President), Ben Greutman (Director of Innovation), and Troy Lakey (TPM COO) coming at you with the six most notorious mistakes they've seen tax pros make with their marketing (and how to avoid making them).

See, not utilizing the tools that are already at your fingertips to reach prospective clients or retain existing ones is ensuring that your business stalls out, crashes, and burns.

Failing to make the most of email marketing and texting tools, failing to ask for reviews, failing to follow up on good leads — these all spell disaster for growth in the tax and accounting services industry (as does nitpicking over minute details on a website and delaying putting it out on the web as soon as possible).

If you want to see new leads and real growth you've got to make sure you're taking advantage of the marketing tools that foster connection with prospective clients and get your business true online visibility.

One of the primary ways people mess up their business is by larding it with unnecessary layers of complexity.

Whether that's by org charts, sales processes, weird staff incentive structures, or (especially) online marketing.

We slavishly imitate these corporate structures because we don't have the internal confidence to build something elegant and simple.

But you can build an elegantly simple marketing plan for your practice.

Don't get tempted to drink the kool-aid of those tactically sound but strategically-dumb "gurus" who've "shortcutted" their way to seeming success and want to offer you a sweet drink of what they're offering (for three easy payments).

Build a marketing plan RIGHT -- from the ground up.

Instead of the latest "hack," take a look at the fundamentals of marketing, AND how they should apply to your practice (in a very simple format).

We'll also keep you from the opposite trap in the doing: throwing up your hands and settling for the brochure-style, box-checking exercise that so many CPAs and accounting/tax practitioners enter into with the "cheap" templatized pabulum that is so rampant in our industry.

It's a very powerful, simple framework ... and one for which there are many effective online options.

AND (key part) ... it works.

There's a shift that occurs in the lifespan of a business -- universal to EVERY industry -- in which "success" by most metrics is assured.

You can put a revenue number on it, perhaps around $250K annually (depending on margins, obviously), and the business evolves into something you know is going to "make it." It's a going concern, as they used to say.

When you make this shift, new habits are essential. New problems arise. There's a different set of goals, a different mix of tactics you need to master.

This is the shift from "startup" to "growth mode."

And I have seen so many companies NOT make this tactical shift -- thereby consigning themself to stay in "growth mode" for years.

Except what it really means for these tax and accounting businesses is that it's just "stagnant mode." No actual growth ... just higher revenue than during the startup phase.

They haven't yet made the necessary tactical shift.

So, how do you break these patterns to reach the next stage of development? Well, one surefire path is that you find out what OTHER businesses, like yours, have done and model their success.

And I created an opportunity for you to do just that.

I recently hosted an "all-star panel" of your fellow tax and accounting practitioners who've made that shift, who are staying in growth mode despite the challenges of the past year and a half.

This wasn't your Daddy's CPE snoozefest, either. It was a blast.

Because these guys (and gal) are some of the "best of the best" of your colleagues, on a variety of fronts. They're not only fun, but they also come with a spirit of generosity and excellence.

What's important to know about them is that they've moved past the striving to build something great.

And in this panel, you get to hear five very distinct practice models for keeping a business in growth mode, as well as insights on preparing for what promises to be a wild 2022 tax season.

Even if you do NO COMPLIANCE WORK ... the lessons offered in this panel might very well be what pushes you over the top and into the next stage of your business growth.

Listen in.

There are a lot of reasons people trust tax pros and accountants to manage their tax situations, but probably the biggest one is they need someone they trust who can confidently tackle the complicated details of tax compliance and dealing with the IRS.

But who's looking out for tax pros and accountants when the IRS makes sudden requirement changes?

See, in 2019, the IRS added a question 11 to the W-12 PTIN application and renewal form, which read:

"As a paid tax return preparer, I am aware of my legal obligation to have a data security plan and to provide data and system security protections for all taxpayer information. Check the box to confirm you are aware of this responsibility."

An innocuous question? Maybe not.

After investing hours upon hours of research into creating a data security plan for a client, Andrew Lassise, founder and CEO of Tech4Accountants, discovered that this tiny little question had much larger implications. That's when he knew he and his team could help.

Lassise's company is one of the leaders in the industry for establishing ACTUALLY IRS-compliant practices and building rock-solid fortresses of optimization and speed in their tech. As Andrew says, they take the "SH" out of IT for accountants and tax professionals.

Listen in as TPM's Nate Hagerty and Andrew Lassise discuss data security plans, server backups, and the vulnerability of small firms in the hacking world.

And get access to that detailed data security plan template mentioned in the podcast here:

Tech4accountants.net/taxpromarketer-wisp

In this brand new podcast, our CEO's Tax and Accounting Firm Marketing State of the Union for 2021, we give the five big shifts happening in the tax and accounting marketing space right now and tools to build a practice of lasting significance.

Tune in to hear a pair of successful accounting professionals who have niched their services to a specific clientele and made significant inroads into that community in their area (and beyond).

Lynn and Janet Behm work with 170 real estate professionals in Utah and abroad. Their clients are desperate for bookkeeping services that meet their unique needs and provide them with the financials they need to deal with their other partners, so they've tailored their services to meet those needs.

The Behms share about their subscription model and the specific methods they've used to gain visibility and grow relationships in their clients' industry -- both in-person and online.

Some of their key marketing and business values:

• Offer strategies, not just compliance and numbers. Bring additional value to the table.

• Weekly emails provide a consistent voice of authority and relevance to clients.

• SEO is critical. "When people search for real estate accountants, they find us."

The Behms are some of our favorite clients -- they represent the level of integrity, service, and professionalism that business owners and taxpayers really need.

CEO Nate Hagerty sat down recently to talk with long-time client Dean Owen, a CPA based in Kentucky who has successfully grown his practice to 13 employees with over $170M assets in fee-based management.

Dean's story is interesting -- from his origin story to the way he uses his tax services to grow the more lucrative financial planning side of his practice.

One success point he noted was the integration of TaxProMarketer's email marketing services into his practice. He pointed out that his clients knew more about the PPP last year earlier than the bankers did, thanks to the weekly emails.

Tune in to listen to the rest of Dean's success story...