Marketing for January Tax returns

are the ones that always leave things until the last minute and then regard it as an emergency that should be your priority!

I think you're going to cause yourself more grief than income, but that's just my opinion.

But if you send me your details I'll happily pass on the people who phone me in January needing a return doing!  Most of the clients I have taken on in January over the years continue to think that they can still roll up each year with their info in January, regardless of what I say to them.

you may pick up a couple of good ones....

more on this later when my cunning plan is executed

If you are building your fee bank my advice is go for it!  Especially if the alternative is sitting about twiddling your thumbs. 

And if mail shots are your thing I would start now.  Then early December and early January.

You could also put an ad in whatever loacal paper/ad mag you have in your area in late December/early January.  The last minuters tend to have a guilty panic as soon as Christmas is over!

As you can see from the other posts most accountants are flat out in January so you should pick up work more easily.  You are also in a strong position to ask for cash up front/on presentation of the accounts.

In my experience many new January enquiries come from SA first timers who left it to the last minute.  The trick is to then educate them (carrot or stick as you choose!) to bring their stuff in earlier next year.  You can get good clients out of this.

BUT. You will no doubt get a few habitual last minuters/horror cases that cannot be trained.  You can usually spot the ones to avoid (eg three accountants in the last three years).  You can always ask to see the records before signing them up to see what you are letting yourself in for.  This lets you weed out the horrors (or cash up front to do heavy duty bookkeeping).  You can then say no to the "books, what books?" brigade!

Yes you will pick up ones you wished you hadn't, such is life.  The trick is to lose them gracefully. 

Good luck!

Be prepared to be ruthless in weeding out the couple of prospective good clients from the last minute losers you will also get.  Potentially good clients are worth having, habitual last minute panickers you really dont want (unless you a masochist).

I always tell the last minute merchants who turn up in January that we will act for them on the basis that going forward they get their records in quickly for the subsequent year and going forward.

It is only on that basis that we will retain them.

That has the bonus of you set the terms from the start and that you will get two bits of work from them within a few months.

Without fail all of these clients have changed their habits and are pleased to be more in control.

10 years ago when I was fresh at this and hungry I was clearly the new sucker on the block and doubled my client base by taking on the last minute club members. Many are still with me, some reformed and some not but after 10 years of fees I really couldn't give a damn!! Not a strategy for ever but if you want a quick bit of growth in early years then I wouldn't knock it completely.

in the early stages of business it can be difficult to justify being selective over clients (no one wants unreliable/non paying clients) but as long as the terms for payment (and the fee level itself) reflect the work required then personally as a start-up business I would take them on.

Also if someone is knocking on your door the week before the end of January then they are more likely to accept whatever quote you give them (which should reflect the fact that you will presumably be burning both ends of the candle in order to hit the deadline for them) - most who leave it until then to seek advice are unlikely to start price checking....there just will not be the time.

and if you are only in the first year of your business February and March can be difficult months to get thru so making as much money as possible in January has got to be a must.

Be selective when you can afford to be....(but of course ensure you are going to get paid for whatever work you do) you can always point them in another accountants direction as a referral as/when you have enough clients to be picky.