Make the most of Marketing Pro for a successful tax season

It’s here again, tax season, and this year, we wanted to make sure you start it all off on the right foot with the platform by your side to ensure you are maximizing your efforts.

From importing clients all the way to getting referrals to keep you going year after year, the app has all the tools you need to get ready, get set, get going, and keep it going. In fact, that’s how we decided to break down the following checklist.

For your convenience, we’ve put together this checklist that outlines all the ways the platform can help you make the most of your tax season at each stage. From planning in advance to well after the season itself ends, you’ll harness all the tools you need to excel year-round.

Tax season prep starts way before taxes are due, especially for you as a tax professional. If you want to use the app to maximize your business come tax time, you need to get organized in three main areas: your clients, your services & scheduling, and your staff. Here’s a deeper look into how to do that.

Organize your leads and clients

This is the time to import all your contacts and make sure no leads have slipped through the cracks. By ensuring your CRM is up to date, you can make for smooth communication with clients.

Recommended Action Items: 

• Update your clients’ and leads’ contact information.
• Import new clients using the “Import” wizard. Need help exporting your clients for common tax platforms?
• Add tags to sort your client by any relevant information such as geolocation, type of business, etc. Use tagging to locate and better manage your clients.

Set up your services & scheduling

Setting up your services is the storefront window to your business. It helps your clients understand what you offer, how much it’ll cost, and when they can book.

Recommended Action Items:

• Make sure your offering is set by updating your services.
• Sync your personal calendar so that your availability will be reflected on your online scheduler.
• Implement a scheduling intake form for clients to fill in before booking an appointment so that you can collect valuable information upfront.

Get your staff ready

Many tax professionals hire additional staff members for the high season to allow them to scale and get to more clients. If you’ve done the same, you’ll need to update the staff in the system.

Recommended Action Items:

• Make sure your plan includes the ability to add additional staff members. If not, it might be a good time to upgrade your plan.
• Sync your staff’s calendars so that all availability is visible on one calendar.
• Set up permissions and decide what information each staff member can see and access.

If you’ve completed the checklist so far, you’re all organized and set up for success come tax season. Now it’s time to fine-tune your interactions with your clients, such as getting paid and getting found online.

Using the platform, you can get yourself paid three times faster and impress leads and clients with a strong online presence.

Prepare to get paid faster

Using the platform will help streamline your payment collection process and get paid more efficiently. All can be done securely and securely in one place, from invoicing to charging a client. If you bill your clients directly, this section is a must-read.

Recommended Action Items:

• Connect to a payment gateway so that you can securely charge your clients online.

Not sure where to start when it comes to how you want to collect your money? Here are a bunch of ways other tax pros are getting paid.

*Choose whichever suits your business:

• Create invoices and send them to clients via email/SMS.
• Ask clients to pay at the time of booking so that you are covered when it comes to cash flow - you don’t have to wait until after the meeting to get paid!
• Send a mobile payment link to speed up the closing of an open balance.
• If you are using QuickBooks, don't forget to install the app.

Shape up your online presence

The best way for you to be found is online. The best way to keep clients coming back is through impeccable customer service. Why not harness both with the platform’s unique capabilities?

There are a few ways the platform helps you with your online presence.

Recommended Action Items:

• Add a call to action button on your social media pages to allow your clients to book with you immediately.
• Implement a widget on your website that empowers clients and leads to do everything from leaving their information to booking an appointment.
• Check out the client portal to see what your clients see.

Now’s the time to market your business and get the word out about your services. Lucky for you, the system allows you to do just that and look like a pro while you’re at it.

Market like a pro

Marketing your business is paramount to your success, but that doesn’t mean you’ve magically become a marketing expert. Well, it’s good to have a marketing module on the platform.

The platform’s marketing tools are the best way to reignite the connection with your clients and remind them that it’s time to start thinking about their taxes. This way, you’ll stay at the top of their minds and help them get prepared.

Recommended Action Items:

• Send one or more of our pre-season announcements to reach out to your clients. Check out these tax pros' best-performing announcements.
• Offer discounts with coupons or packages to encourage clients to book your services. 
• Activate automatic campaigns like the customer reactivation campaign or the happy birthday campaign to show your clients you’re thinking of them.

Manage your documents

One thing is certain during tax season: you will be dealing with lots of documents. Using the platform, you can manage all your documents and templates in one centralized place.

Being able to access any document, anywhere instantly, will help you and your clients run a smooth interaction from wherever you are. This will keep you organized and help create unparalleled customer experiences for your clients. 

Recommended Action Items:

• Create a document request link and send it to ask for the documents you need.
• Upload a document and attach it to a client card to ensure nothing gets lost.
• Use the marketing announcement to encourage clients to share missing documents.

Run your business on the go

No matter where you are, the platform’s mobile app is the best way to keep you connected to your business and your clients. From the mobile app, you can carry out any action you can do from your desktop and never again miss a beat.

View and edit client notes, records, and documents, generate invoices, send payment links and get paid all from your mobile phone. Make your life easier and improve your connectivity.

Get a download link directly to your mobile phone.

You may have thought you were done using the platform, but this is only the beginning! Harness all the tools at your disposal to keep your tax business strong all year. Engage new and existing clients, keep your business lights on 24/7, put tedious tasks on autopilot, and much more.  

Recommended Action Items:

• Use the CRM and never search for an email or document again.
• Consider sending monthly/quarterly newsletters to stay top of mind and cross and upsell your services.
• Try out the Quickbooks integration to better track and manage your accounting.
• Send automatic payment reminders & payment links to ensure you get your money on time and in full.