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Practice Tip - Autumn, season of mist and growing stress

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9th Aug 2005
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August is holiday time. Which also means it is time to plan for what happens when people return from their holidays.

September to November seem to me to be the months of the year when things get done. People have energy after their holidays. The gloom of the winter has yet to descend. Christmas keeps people excited so the spirits do not flag even though little time is taken off. All in all, it's a period when possibilities can be explored.

Of course, for the tax practitioner it's a time of increasing stress. For which reason the first week of September is always the time when I issue the first of my increasingly urgent reminders to clients to get their books and records in to be worked upon.

For those for whom this not their primary concern, then there are plenty of other opportunities as well. There will, for example, never be a better time to sell budgeting and business planning services. Many corporates use a 31 December year end and the early autumn is, therefore, the ideal time to start work on such plans. It's also a good time to start selling the idea to those with a 31 March year end. If this is something you want to do, get selling now.

If you're planning to sell other advisory services this is also the time to market them, and to build the relationships which make them easier to supply.

Just take one example. How many of your clients have a will? I suspect it's far too few. In that case, this is an ideal time to link up with a lawyer and then suggest to clients it is time to get their act in order on this issue. This creates a perfect opportunity to consider any tax aspects at the same time. If you haven't got a good IFA on board, this is the time to do that too. A complete marketing campaign can be built round this one issue.

You might get back from holiday with a desk looking overburdened with work, but there will never be a better opportunity than early September to remind clients of just what you can do for them. This might, therefore, be your highest priority.

Richard Murphy
AccountingWEB contributing editor Richard Murphy is a sole practitioner chartered accountant but was previously senior partner of a firm for 11 years. He has also been chairman, chief executive or finance director of 10 SMEs. A collection of previous articles by Richard on practice management themes is available in Practice Management Zone

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