Yes, this is the last week of tax season for our Newtown Square, PA small business accounting office (the deadline is Monday, the 15th) — so why am I taking this time to write to you about your marketing and business strategy?
Simple — I’ve taken to heart what I’m about to write to you.
I have to be the one in our firm to keep our eyes focused in on what we do BEST. In fact, I was thinking about this very much over the weekend (between I.V. drips of caffeine), as we continued to serve our growing ranks of Newtown Square, PA clients. Our inboxes are bursting, our file folders are swelled, and our families miss us.
And we keep going, with a deadline in sight.
But before I get to the subject of what I’m writing about, a few words on deadlines:
1) Monday, April 15th is the deadline to contribute to IRA’s and HSA’s in order to have them count on this year’s (2012) taxes.
2) It is also the deadline to claim the almost $1 billion in unclaimed refunds for returns dating back to 2009. If you, for some reason, didn’t file for that year, you could be missing out. Call us for this special circumstance: 610-353-0686
(Or for any other question — but again, bear with us, as we are extremely busy!)
And one last thing: if you have filed your taxes with us already, and you had a good experience, would you…
A) Email me, and tell me about it?
B) Share us on your Facebook wall…?
Join us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Delaware-County-Residents-for-Saving-Money-on-Taxes/174199419290644
Here’s something you can say:
“I had my taxes prepared by Stephen Venuti’s team, and had a great experience. They also just told me that they are willing to help procrastinators! So, if that’s you, give them a call at: 610-353-0686 and let them know I told you to call. Or you could do it tomorrow, of course :)”
Or some such… thanks again! (And you can even tell them about what’s at the end of this blogpost, if you so choose.)
Stephen Venuti on Business Nightmares — And How To Fix Them
Friday nights, America can go behind the scenes and watch fascinating small business stories that are so much more than about restaurants. Kitchen Nightmares, with UK celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay, is a great primer for any business owner or executive because of how it shines a good spotlight on how we overcomplicate things unnecessarily in life and business.
From the elaborate menus to strange customer service habits, the “broken” restaurants featured on the show slowly choke out the ability to do what they are supposed to — fulfill the need of their customers efficiently and consistently.
Watching it is to see the “KISS principle” played out right in front of you. KISS is an acronym for “Keep it simple stupid” and it was coined by U.S. Navy engineers in 1960 to stress the importance of building aircraft that could be repaired on the battlefield by a regular mechanic using only basic tools. Essentially, the KISS principle states that most systems work better when they are simple rather than complex.
So, inspired by this concept, here are a few things you would do well to keep in mind. I know I try to do so, as I run our busy tax firm…
Identify the need you fulfill. Whether you sell homes or financial services you are fulfilling a need for your clients that has nothing to do with real estate or stocks and bonds — rather than the commodity or service you bring, try to think of the psychological need you fulfill.
Build your plan to serve that need. You may have the ability to offer other services that don’t serve the core need of your market, but avoid the temptation to use them if possible. The likelihood of confusing your prospects and customers is too high to justify the value you might think you’re creating.
Don’t get too elaborate with systems. Especially the ones that impact customer service. You can see this in some of these restaurants on the show. While every business should have processes for everything, the more common sense they are, the better. If yours are intuitive and easy to perform for both staff and clients, they are going to be win-win.
Oh, and here is what I promised …
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“PROCRASTINATORS ONLY” Special Gift Certificate
$23 Towards Any Tax Service
“Yes, I Have Procrastinated Filing My Taxes This Year … But I Still Want to Protect Myself from All the New Tax Laws and Get MORE Money Back from Uncle Sam with A Peace-Of-Mind Guarantee that’ll Keep Me Sleeping like a Baby when My Taxes are Filed with the IRS!”
Deadline April 15th
610-353-0686
Not valid with any other offer
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