Sharpening Your Tax Marketing Tools

What a game last night! But sheesh — could they start those things any later?
I’m on the East Coast right now, toddling through a month-long road trip with my family, but the last two days have been spent in an intimate setting with some clear-eyed tax professionals who made a decision to meet with my team and I to sharpen their saw, even now in the midst of the offseason.
[And sure, it also meant I could write off a portion of my trip:)]
But even more than a generic saw-sharpening, their focus is on the PROFITABILITY, marketing and revenue-generation in their firm.
Not just what’s happening with Obamacare or the tax code.
Certainly these are important components of your business moving forward, but it’s irrelevant without the systems you need to get in front of the right clients and providing maximum value (for maximum profit).
I was reminded of all of this watching Lebron James drain jumper after jumper last night.
Because the knock on Lebron a few years ago was that he couldn’t hit a jump shot in the clutch. Back in 2007, the last time he faced the Spurs, their defensive strategy was “Let Lebron Shoot”. And it worked — he shot like a high school kid and lost in the Finals.
So what’d he do?
Over the last six years, he has taken a special shooting coach wherever he went. China for business? There better be a basketball court wherever he was so that he could continue working on that element of his game.
And it all bore fruit last night, facing the Spurs again (and the same defensive strategy), and he came through in the clutch.
That wasn’t an accident. If you look at his shooting stats over the last few years, there has been an inexorable increase in his percentages, and those 10,000 hours+ of practice shone in the clutch moment.
Tax professionals who grow their firm do not do so “by accident”.
They invest in tools, coaching, resources and services … and they don’t rely on “hope” as a strategy — or unproven image-style marketing  or the simple act of hanging their shingle, online and/or out on the street.
So when the chance presents itself, don’t blow it — make the requisite effort to sharpen your marketing and management saw, in addition to your tax code expertise.
And when “accidental” success comes your way, you’ll know why.