Happiness does not consist in pastimes and amusements but in virtuous activities.
-Aristotle
I received this note recently, from one of our “Email Marketing Revolution” clients, and it brings up a common problem for many tax pros these days…
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I wanted to say that in terms of the weekly email campaign, I have had so many clients reply to those email! Some are responding to what the email says. But in a lot of cases, I think that these emails are triggering a thought that they wanted to email me about and they are replying with an email relating to that. In any case, I am getting more and more emails … to the point where I have to figure out a way to manage it all!
Dennis C.
Santa Monica, CA
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Yes, *especially* if you’re sending a personal, weekly email to your clients and prospects (like we did for Dennis), you’re getting slammed with–often-billable–work and communication flow.
So how do YOU manage that?
Managing The Email Flow
Here’s a couple suggestions, from somebody who’s seen a *monster* flow of emails in his day (both in a tax firm, and in various other industries)…
1) I recommend you set up a special email address, set up exclusively for inbound client communication. Mark it prominently on your website (along with your phone number), and have it sent to an assistant–trained to prioritize and respond.
Look, email is exploding as the preferred method of communication for your clients. According to a recent study, 65% of the demographic between the ages of 18 to 34 will favor email to communicate with businesses in three years. (Habeas)
So, it makes sense for you to have somebody TRAINED in salesmanship–over email, as well as over the phone.
And their most important characteristic? Not being YOU (This is for the sake of your sanity, and your focus).
2) Encourage client communication–but within YOUR boundaries. So many tax or accounting professionals become enslaved to Outlook, etc., because their clients are constantly bugging them about specific questions in their file, etc.
When I spoke at a recent seminar, I asked the few hundred tax professionals there to raise their hands if they felt too tied to email. Many hands went up…and then I asked them if they get more billable work from email…and most of those same hands stayed up.
So, the work is nice–but the constant interruptions aren’t so nice. So, resultingly, I recommend you adhere to TWO set times in your day to check email: when you first get into your office, and at the end of the afternoon at 4PM or so. Emergency concerns often aren’t as “emergency” as they initially appear.
Even better (I’ve got a few clients that have used this technique successfully and profitably): set up three “membership tiers” within your business–with the upper level tier getting unfettered access to you. Oh yeah–and charge them for the privilege. $497/month or some similar amount will do it.
“But Nate, nobody will pay me that rate!”
First, you might be wrong on that assumption! And second…the primary purpose of this tier-structure is to implicitly communicate the value of access to YOU, the principal of your firm. You’ll garner more respect, and a few clients will even pay you for the privilege!
So, try these strategies out, and as usual–thank me later!