I'm wondering if in our effort to make things easy for our clients we can end up hurting ourselves. Are we in danger of losing clients because we make tax preparation look easy?
I just finished doing office orders. Most tax supply vendors offer discounts this time of year and by ordering my return folders now I can save 25%. Nice. But this year, Image One decided to "help" us by using a drop down box for quantity. It was set for 50, 100, 250, 500, 1000... but I wanted 600 (Ever the optimist, I still have part of last year's 600). I chose 500 hoping that I could change that in the checkout process. That didn't work so I thought about just ordering 100 as a separate item. But that 100 would cost $23 more than a hundred from the 500 quantity. (The price for an individual folder goes down the more you buy.) I didn't like that idea so I finished checking out with only 500 folders. By helping us with a drop down box, Image One lost a sale on 100 folders.
That brings me back to taxes. In this economy, some clients have to make the choice if they will do their own taxes or pay someone to do it for them. These are intelligent people who can do their basic return. They get the confidence to choose self-preparation because I make it look easy. A prior client with 1 W-2 could walk out with a completed return in 30 minutes. The problem is that we have lost some basic selling points with the box and online tax software. A taxpayer can be confident about a return they prepared and filed themselves using the software. It may take more time for them than an office visit with me but it can be much cheaper.
I can put on a little performance. Reach for the TaxBook and look something up when I know the answer. Make the process more mysterious and drawn out. Make them think they need me or face the IRS alone. But that isn't my way and I don't think it is a way to grow a long term business. As I see it, my job is to give them more value beyond the preparation of the return. They can put the numbers into a computer but I can warn them about a new law or the tax consequence of the retirement they mention in passing. I can make them feel welcome if they come back (even if it is with a notice for a mistake they made preparing a return.)
Convenience can be good if the business understands that it can hurt them as well as help them grow. All Image One had to do was configure their checkout with the ability to override the quantity ordered and they would have made a little more money. A tax office can keep their simple returns in tough times if they make sure they are offering more value than just the return.