What are you doing for your clients this tax season?
For many clients, an investment portfolio is something that runs in the background, requiring minimal attention from day to day. There are, however, a couple of unavoidable stop points throughout the year, where every investor takes a stark look at their financial progress.
One is the annual review and the other is tax season.
So as the latter approaches, what are you, the advisor, doing to take advantage of this opportunity to reinforce value, strengthen relationships and encourage referrals? Here are a few ideas.
- Dress up the paperwork.
If you’re sending out retirement account information or tax receipts to your clients, digitally or as hard copies, it doesn’t take much to package them up with a few other materials that reaffirm all the reasons your clients decided to work with you in the first place.
This could include information on what you’re doing to help mitigate tax, what resources are available to clients and how to reach out if they have questions. You could also outline concepts like capital gains and tax loss harvesting—and how you’ve used those tactics to help your clients build wealth.
- Develop a COI referral process.
If you have a relationship with a CPA firm, this is a good time to share their information with clients, and vice versa. Make sure you have something to pass along that offers more than just a name and number, and that your COI has something to present to their clients that introduces your services.
- Make your value known.
Many family office–style practices work with their clients’ accountants or complete tax filings in-house. Value-added services like these are important differentiators, so if you’re providing them, make sure they’re top-of-mind for your clients this tax season. Present a “how it works” summary or offer a tax review service for client referrals.
Tax season is a time when lots of your clients will look back on the fiscal year. It’s up to you to make sure they have a clear view of the value you’ve delivered.
