Shop front to let - alert for FirstTab

Shop front to let - alert for FirstTab

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I was passing and I noticed a nice shop front available to rent on the corner of Hamilton Road and Merton High Street. It seems ideal for an accountant. I have the phone number if anybody is interested.

FirstTab said he was looking but I thought I would mention it on here because other accountants may like it. Merton High Street looks like accountants alley as there are several accountants within a few yards but I'm sure there is room for one more.

Replies (19)

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FT
By FirstTab
06th Aug 2011 14:06

Thanks for the information Peter.

Things have changed since my post on shop front. I am getting inquires and clients signning on from my website. This was worked well for me so far. I intend to push the website further - don't know how yet.

Plus this also made me think - look at the fees- amazing. They must have really good systems for such low fees. I think they may be  using  IT to its best. They don't have a shop front.

As most know, the net is increasing playing a bigger role in people's purchasing decisions. This is an area I intend to spend money on rather than rent.

 

 

 

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By petersaxton
06th Aug 2011 14:46

Not convinced

There's a limit to how many people want to use the internet for accountancy.

You'll only get down market types.

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By Top_Cat
06th Aug 2011 14:54

The cheap end of the market

There is one important point in the ad you quote -

Our 'Tax Return Service' fee is £125 inc VAT, payable in advance. 

 

Would you pay for anything "in advance"?  I wouldnt, nor would anyone else (if they have any sense).

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By User deleted
06th Aug 2011 16:40

In advance

My clients pay in advance. They may not have much sense (I'll be sure to tell them) but then I don't have bad debts.......

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Replying to Andy Davis:
By ShirleyM
06th Aug 2011 17:05

Advance payment

Same here, Flash. We don't even start a job until we have 50% minimum, and many clients just pay the lot up front. We haven't had a bad debt for years (touch wood it stays that way!)

 

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Replying to ShirleyM:
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By User deleted
06th Aug 2011 17:28

Advance payments

The large majority of our clients are on standing order, others on Direct Debit, which suits both us and them.

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By petersaxton
06th Aug 2011 17:57

Whenever they pay ...

I just wonder how good they are as clients if they dont have any face to face contact. My clients meet me and then might not see me for years but I'm always available in person or by phone.

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Replying to justsotax:
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By Ken Howard
06th Aug 2011 18:35

I've not met at least half my clients

My "internet" clients comprise at least half my client base and form about 75% of my fee income, so that means that on average the fees charged are higher than local clients.  I have a few of my "top ten" clients that I've never met.  In fact my biggest client for several years was a firm on the other side of the country with multi million pound turnover - I only met them about 5 years or so after I started acting for them.  Another couple of my top ten clients  are based on the South Coast (I'm in the Lake District a few hundred miles away) who I've never met.  I also have a few dozen IT contractor clients who live and work around London who again, I've never met, yet charge more than some of the well known national firms dealing with IT contractors.  

Assuming the web clients are somehow low value or low quality is exactly the opposite to my experience.  

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By petersaxton
06th Aug 2011 18:45

Different to my experience

That's certainly different to my experience but then I'd be very surprised if a big business contacted me from 100 miles away or more. My biggest client is around £3m turnover and they started off small with me.

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FT
By FirstTab
06th Aug 2011 19:01

Mine are local

My clients from the website are local. A  large proportion of my clients are from my website. Most of them are good fee clients. I do not think my website is picked up outside my local area. This an area perphaps I should look into.

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By Top_Cat
06th Aug 2011 19:16

Make a day of it

 

I much prefer to see clients face to face at least once a year. All I do is make sure those some distance away have year ends which mean I can see them in the summer. A 3/400 mile round trip can be very pleasant on a summers day, especially if you plan it properly, set out early, and take in the sights on the way back.

 

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By User deleted
06th Aug 2011 21:48

£125 is around the going rate ...

... if you read the conditions?

1 rental property, no mention of self employed accounts, that would be extra!

If they get enough bog standard employment, few shares, bit of interest and may be a buy to let tax returns then they would subsidise the odd one with a complex capital gain or whatever.

If you look further, £225 for a non vat sole traders (accounts and tax return), seems good but if you look down further - 12 months free access to our online book-keeping package, yeah right, so you have to put your records on there to get that fee, so they just spend a few minutes checkig through and print off the accounts.

If you look at the VAT registered, they will have to quote for that!

Limited companies, from £699 plus VAT (including annual return) about the going rate.

So, a few attention grabbing figures, but nothing really significantly below market rates!

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By petersaxton
07th Aug 2011 07:24

Don't panic

"So, a few attention grabbing figures, but nothing really significantly below market rates!"

This is how these people work.

For some reason a lot of accountants think it's ground breaking, panic and change from a more professional approach.

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By Steve McQueen
08th Aug 2011 11:40

TWD...

... I happen to know TWD quite well having once considered selling a block of fees to them.

It's a very good business model, but very different to most accountancy firms.

For a start they are a volume business, with little or no personal interaction, they deal predominately with very simple cases and the are very "in with" Trade Unions and large PLC's who refer (for a fee) PAYE tax returns. 

TWD's job is to go about reclaiming things like washing uniforms and professional subscriptions for PAYE employees. (When I worked for a national retailer, we were offered TWD's services as a supposed "perk" of our employment, even though we would have had to pay for it ourselves!)

First Tab, yes, study this type of model, but unless you change radically, your business is nothing like this - nor do I think, would you want it to be.

 

Steve

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By Roland195
08th Aug 2011 10:11

Suspicious nature

I would not be comfortable acting for a client who came from outside of my immediate geographical area who had no personal or professional connection to me at all, especially in the case of larger businesses.

Given other's experiences I am likely mistaken, but I would not have thought that a company turning over £1m> would appoint an accountant on the stength of internet/telephone contact alone unless they came highly recommended by a trusted source. 

  

 

 

 

 

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By Steve Holloway
08th Aug 2011 11:17

May be we should all have a swap?

I'll take all your south coast and Hampshire clients if you will take mine from Warrington, Stafford and Devon!! 

I meet my clients just as often as they want. Fortunately it varies from client to client and balances out quite nicely.

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By petersaxton
08th Aug 2011 11:26

How?

Steve

How did you get your clients from Warrington, Stafford and Devon?

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Replying to Moonbeam:
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By Steve McQueen
08th Aug 2011 11:40

Reply

petersaxton wrote:

Steve

How did you get your clients from Warrington, Stafford and Devon?

 

I didn't, I had a tonne of "d" list from my home town that I wanted rid of and I touted them for sale. TWD expressed an interest and made me an offer. The deal didn't happen for a "better" offer came in the closing stages of the deal.

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By petersaxton
08th Aug 2011 11:56

Wrong Steve

Sorry, I meant the other Steve! But it's still useful information.

I have had clients in Switzerland and Italy although both visited me. Presently I have clients in Australia and Zimbabwe although I got them when they lived locally.

 

The client in Switzerland was a referral and the Italian client found me via Google and wanted to start a UK company.

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