I need business growth

Lisa, one thing I've learned is that no matter how desperate you are for growth you have to be very careful with the clients you accept. When you know that a client is already in trouble financially, especially with the IRS, it's always best to get a retainer up front and to carefully monitor future hours worked. Often we think we're helping our situation by offering to work for less money but, in reality, you have a service the client needs and they need to be willing to pay for that service. I have received several contacts through the Pro Advisors certification program. Also, have you tried building a relationship with any local CPA's? This works well also.

I think we all have that same client. Mine went South(Carolina) and declared bankruptcy. I lost about $1,000 in time.

I still have his files, and if he asks for them I am required to give them to him, but I will not send them unless I get money for the postage.

I know what you mean. I am desparate for growth also! I am a darn good "number cruncher" but not very good and going out and SELLING!

I am going to do some reseach on line to see if there is a company that will help me sell and they would get a piece of the profit????

How about buying a practice? I really got started when I bought a friend's small tax practice 12 years ago, 110 clients for $9,990. Some of them left but many have referred more clients. It also made me look better. I had a client list so I could promote myself better. I now have over 300 returns, which includes 45 businesses.

I also look for more purchases. I was called by NewClientsInc.com and may consider seriously buying a larger practice(about twice my size) but I may need to ask a friend to go into it with me.

CPASales.com also sells practices. But don't forget to do your due diligence and hire an attorney before signing anything!

That's something I never thought about, but I'm in a small town....I suppose I can "think out of the box" and branch out to different areas. I certainly have invested much more than $9,990 in my new business so I see your buy as a deal!

I also thought about using NewClients to boost my client base.

Thanks for the info!

has anyone offered a referral fee? I just read of another tax prep. who offered $20 mailed to them when a refereal showed up at their door.

NewClients Inc does marketing, which I will not do their way, but it can work for some people. Last year, another CPA in the office next to mine had people make phone calls, and he got a lot of business WHICH HE COULD NOT HANDLE.

He skipped out on April 10th, and since I am the only full-time accountant in my suite I got a lot of new business. Not something I recommend.

About the referrals for $20, also not something I recommend, but I do give referral credits to existing clients who refer new clients. I give 10% of the new client's fee to my existing clients for NEXT YEAR. This helps assure me that the existing client will come back next year.

I know what you mean about client's who don't want to pay. You really have to be careful with clients. I would highly suggest that you do not take any new client without having a signed engagement letter with the client.

I had a client who refused to ever sign an engagement letter with me. I was hesitant to keep the client, but I kept the client anyway. The client almost always complained about my prices for accounting and income tax services, and often tried to cut my prices in half (or more) which I allowed him to do, after I marked them up considerably so that when I did cut the prices, I was still getting what I would have originally charged for the services.

Then, the client hired a bookkeeper who did not know the first thing about bookkeeping or accounting, and had this person entering data into QuickBooks for nearly a year before I saw the file. The client brings me the file to do his corporate income taxes, and to reconcile bank statements. I look at the first bank statement, and it took 2? hours to reconcile - multiple checks to pay vendor invoices, all with the same check number, with different dates on each and every check (and in differnt months), and none of the checks (when added together) equalled the actual check that was written (and the individual checks did not match the vendor invoices - credits were not taken that were indicated on the vendor bills, etc.).I took a look at the sales tax payable, and it was way over what it should have been. This bookkeeper was writing checks instead of using the Pay Sales Tax function. And to top it all, this bookkeeper was paying the sales tax to the IRS instead of to the state!

Needless to say, the client refused to sign an engagement letter with me once again, but I took the work and did about $2500 (plus nearly $400 in interest charges) worth of work. I told the client that I was not even 1/3 done with all the corrections that needed to be made to correct his accounting mess. He said for me to give him back all of the work, and to bill him for my time, which I did. Three months later, I called him regarding payment of the invoice for the work I had done. He said he would not pay for the work, that I would have to sue him for my money.

I sent him to collections. He refused to respond, and it went to court. He is counter suing me for alledged fraud among other things (none of which can be proved by the client because there was never any wrong doing on my part). It has been over a year, and the case is finally set for trial in early April.

All of this to say that you should always get a signed engagement letter from your clients, no matter what. If the client does not want to sign an engagement letter, the do not take them as a client. You will be better off without them.

Get a signed engagement letter for everything you do for a client. Never use an engagement letter that is all-encompasing, i.e., that covers more than one type of work such as write-up, bookkeeping, payroll services, income tax preparation, etc. Make sure that your engagement letters spell out everything, especially what your responsibilities are as well as the responsibilities of your client.

If you provide multiple services for your client, use a separate engagement letter for each service that you provide, and make sure it has a time period for which the work is to be completed. Use specific dates when possible within the engagement letter (i.e., when you will pick up work from your client's office, etc.), such as "on or about the 10th of each month."

Make sure that you put something in your engagement letter to protect yourself in case your client disputes the fees you charge. If you do not have something in writing about how to handle fee disputes, your client may be able to get out of paying you for your services (the way my ex-client is trying to get out of paying me for my services).

Wow, all very good advice -- thanks so much for all your input. Life is short and My needs to grow make me very anxious. I do offer referral fees to only my existing customers. I did get my money from my non paying client and he continues to be my client. I threatened sheriff's sale on him but when it came down to getting paid I offered him a lower price (10% off) if he could pay within the next ten days and to my surprise I was paid. I needed the money at the time more than I needed the hassle of him not paying me. I do not like being the bad guy; I tried the nice-guy approach and it worked. He pays me on time with each additional service.