Tax Strategies & Preparation Articles

7 Easy Ways to Streamline Your Business

The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak. – Hans Hofmann

To simplify complications is the first essential of success. – George Earle Buckle

Managing a small business can be overwhelming.  If you’re not careful, you can be overrun by paperwork, appointments, and countless finite details.  The one way to focus your business’s efforts is to simplify.  Here are seven quick tips in streamlining your tax practice:

1. Pay small bills in advance.

When you’re able to cut back on the number of bills you’re paying, you streamline your accounts payable and simplify one important accounting process.  Focus on those bills that are smallest and pay them off as quickly as possible.

2. Maintain a business bank account.

Another tip for streamlining your accounting processes is in establishing a business account.  In this, you avoid the hassle of trying to distinguish personal transactions from business transactions.

3. Use a business credit card.

This will not only simplify your accounting process, but it will enable you to get a snapshot of your spending all on one statement.

4. Perform an organizational overhaul.

Precious time is wasted when you operate in a cluttered office.  The time you spend looking for files could be better spent on preparing tax returns.  When you find a place for everything and put everything in its place, you are able to operative your business more efficiently.

5. Practice good time management.

Be militant in managing your schedule.  Don’t plan more meetings than necessary. Prioritize your tasks so that you spend more time on profitable endeavors.

6. Reduce processes.

As much as possible, you must streamline your business operations.  Look for repetitive tasks that can be eliminated or combined in order to simplify your processes.

7. Determine your benchmark.

Have you established any benchmarks for your business?  When you’re able to compare your practice with others in your area, you become better equipped to compete and operate both efficiently and profitably.  You are also able to establish reasonable goals for your business that will enable you to accomplish the success you dream of.

Universal Accounting Center (UAC) is in the business of seeing small businesses like yours succeed.  One of the ways to accomplish that is by providing you with all the valuable information of a customized business assessment.  How does it work? From several of your company’s key business metrics, we will run a full analysis on the financial health of your organization. This includes a follow-up counseling session with one of our profitability coaches to help get your business on the fast track to increased profitability.

You owe it to your business to get a complete financial picture of how it compares to others in the industry. Add to the detailed analysis provided in your business assessment an hour of business consulting, and you have an amazingly great value. It’s time your business’s health was examined; it will ensure your business enjoys a longer, more vibrant life.  Call UAC at 1-(800) 343-4827 and order your business assessment today!

The Art of Asking for What You Need

Entrepreneurs are a unique breed.  We are brave, bold, and optimistic.  We have to be in order to start a business from nothing and see it through both the good times and the bad.  And while we may be in a recession, as small business owners, we are the most flexible businesses, the most mobile and rebound-able entities you can imagine.  So much so that our ability to thrive through these difficult economic times may help the nation as a whole rebound more quickly.

However, in order to see your way through the recession you must be willing, more than before, to speak up and ask for what you need.  Here are four simple things you can ask for:

A deal. Whether you’re looking for a computer, office furniture, a year’s worth of supplies or a new cell phone carrier, you must be willing to pursue the best deal, and often that requires that you ask for it.  Don’t be afraid to admit that you’re a small business owner looking for a discount.  In fact, these days more retailers expect some good old fashioned bartering anyway.  Either way, you’ll never get what you don’t ask for.

A sale. Wouldn’t it be nice if all prospective clients asked to retain your services without the least provocation?  You’ll be lucky if that happens a handful of times in your career.  Typically you must explain the advantages of retaining your services to a prospective client.   That conversation should never end without you asking for a sale.  It can be as simple as, “Would you be interested in having me prepare your tax return this year?”  The thought may not occur to them until you ask.  And the worst thing they could say is “no.”

A favor. When you are involved in a professional community you will often extend and ask for favors from colleagues and other professionals.  The favor could come in the form of referrals, business advice, a mentorship, or a networking opportunity.  You shouldn’t feel self-conscious to ask for favors; the business community is all about exchanging them.  You just need to be ready to give as willingly as you receive.

An audience. Much of your business will be the result of you talking about what you do.  This can occur in the line at the grocery store, at a local convention, or at a tax seminar you organize.  Regardless of the forum, you will be required to request an audience, either by interacting with confidence or formally inviting attendants.  Regardless of the method, you must take initiative and speak up!

Those are just four ways you can enhance your business by determining what you need and asking for it.  You’ll be amazed at what that one simple principle can do to improve your business.

Now It’s Our Turn

Your business becomes more appealing when you offer complementary services.  More than 80% of small business use QuickBooks software to manage their books.  Mastering QuickBooks will make you a QuickBooks authority, enabling you to offer QuickBooks seminars and attract more potential clients by demonstrating how they can use this product effectively.  The Professional Bookkeeper’s Guide (PBG) to QuickBooks is designed to help you accomplish that.  And we wouldn’t be a good example of smart business tactics if we didn’t ask you to enroll, for the good of your own business!

The Professional Bookkeeper’s Guide (PBG) to QuickBooks is a self-paced program that enables you to complete the parts that interest you and skip over the parts that don’t. Even if you have used the program for years, the PBG teaches you shortcuts and methods you may not have known. You will be impressed by the simple flow and completeness of the PBG; it will teach you how to do the basic transactions, reconcile accounts, as well as a basic understanding of fundamental accounting principles. Use this product to enhance your service offerings and your bottom line.  Purchase the Professional Bookkeeper’s Guide to QuickBooks today!

Josh Gordon, president of Selling 2.0, recently released survey findings that indicate how to best approach marketing during a recession.  If you’ve encountered less business as a result of the economic downturn, the following 5 tips may help find more success promoting your services.

1. Target a different market or demographic.

Many businesses are finding greater success in marketing to new categories of customers and clients.  While you should never abandon your current clients, you may find that new and improved marketing materials are best directed at a different target market.  In fact, because they are proven to better rebound from a recession, consider smaller businesses, or even individuals.  Regardless, remember to contact past clients as well, as they are generally more comfortable returning to a tax preparer that is familiar with their situation.

2. Work more closely with your marketing department.

You probably don’t have a marketing department, but this concept of having the business manager (or accountant) work more closely with the marketing director, is key in seeing true business success.  In fact, it’s a concept on which Allen Bostrom focuses in his book In the Black: Nine Principles to Make Your Business Profitable.  When you examine which marketing efforts are bringing in the most clients you’re able to better define a marketing strategy that works for your practice.

3. Enhance customer contact and improve customer service.

This is an age-old principle in securing and retaining clients.  In order for them to feel truly valued, you must contact them regularly and ensure they each receive stellar customer service.  And now is the time of year when you must inform past clients that tax season is upon them.  The correspondence will remind them that your service is the most convenient and appealing option they have when it comes to filing a fair and accurate return that limits their liability as much as is legally possible.

4. Recognize that current and prospective clients may take longer to commit.

The recession has made many fearful, especially when it comes to spending money.  Don’t be offended when you see current and prospective clients tentative when it comes to retaining your services.  This is where you will need to tactfully remind them that your fee more than pays for itself in what you save them in taxes.  When you are able to demonstrate how your services align with their financial objectives, you will enjoy more success.

5. Build your social networks.

This is not the time to stop networking.  Building your social networks will enable you to make more connections, finding potential clients where you might least expect them.  And as you associate with colleagues, you’ll better understand the current economic climate of your region as well as more effective marketing strategies and target markets.

One way to ensure your practice’s longevity is to continue marketing your services regardless of the recession.  As Roosevelt said in his inaugural address to a depressed nation, “…let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself-nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.”

The last thing your practice should do now is retreat.   Attending to your marketing efforts is the best way to advance your business during a recession.  Take some time to further study how you can apply effective marketing strategies.  UAC’s Universal Practice Builder Program is one resource that could help you accomplish that.  Visit our website to listen to what our graduates are saying about how this marketing program has changed their businesses for the better.

Resources

Gordon, Josh.  “What is Your Recession Strategy?”  12 December 2008 thecustomercollective.com

Without a sense of urgency, desire loses its value. – Jim Rohn

People who are unable to motivate themselves must be content with mediocrity, no matter how impressive their other talents. – Andrew Carnegie

Be miserable.  Or motivate yourself.  Whatever has to be done, it’s always your choice. – Wayne Dyer.

Desire is the starting point of all achievement, not a hope, not a wish, but a keen pulsating desire which transcends everything. – Napoleon Hill

They say tough times bring out the best in people.  We’re guessing our current economic slump qualifies as a tough time, especially for small business owners like you.  Is it bringing out your best?

A recession will test your character, and your response will determine what you’re made of.  Will you advance or retreat?  Whatever your response, it will be determined from by your internal motivation.  Steven Covey once said, “Motivation is a fire from within.  If someone else tries to light that fire under you, chances are it will burn very briefly.”

The last thing you should do is allow the recession to dictate how successful your business is.  Rather than hunker down to wait out these tough times, you can take initiative and empower your business with a competitive edge, making it the premier financial provider in your area.  But that choice is yours.  Will you make it?

Increase Your Services

Increasing your service offerings makes your practice more appealing to prospective clients.  Nothing will complement your tax practice more than Professional Bookkeeping services. By increasing the number of products you offer, you’ll not only be able to provide your clients with a complete financial service package, but you will also be able to generate a better income for you and your family as well.

You already know that the income from a tax preparation business peaks during the first four months of the year. Many professional tax preparers bill at rates of $100 per hour or more, enabling them to work 4 to 6 months per year and semi-retire the rest of the year. But in these financially troubling times, that might not be enough to support you and your family.  By adding bookkeeping and accounting services to your menu, you’ll create a stable income stream for your business that will be consistent year-round.

When you enroll in the Professional Bookkeeper Program you have access to the following:

• A self-paced program you can complete in as little as 60 hours
• Practical, hands-on training that will prepare you for typical day-to-day small business accounting functions
• The ability to earn the Professional Bookkeeper (PB) designation
• 6 months of follow-up support with our trained professionals
• 12 valuable instructional DVD’s and manuals designed to help you continually review and master concepts
• The confidence to become the premier full-service financial provider in your area
• An iron-clad guarantee that makes the PB Program a risk-free professional investment

Implement Effective Marketing Strategies

When you employ proven marketing techniques in order to promote your practice, you gain a competitive edge that enables you to grow your business and your bottom line.  The Universal Practice Builder Program was designed to train you how to put your practice on top, attracting quality clients using cost- and time-effective techniques.

This program offers the following:

• $30,000 in new annualized billings in only 12 months
• Tactical goal planning and setting
• The ability to generate 15 to 25 qualified leads per month
• Phone marketing instruction and training
• Training in the benefits of newsletters and websites
• 12-proven marketing strategies
• Five business assessments
• A customized business website

Most of your competitors are just as shell-shocked by the recession as you are.  Most of them are also lying low and hoping their businesses can weather the economic storm.  You will gain an advantage by improving your business by becoming a full-service financial provider.  The Professional Bookkeeper and Universal Practice Builder Programs will enable you to do that.  By enhancing your services and implementing effective marketing strategies, your tax practice will quickly become the premier financial service provider in your area.

Don’t cower to the recession.  Take action and advance your business now.  Register today!