Based on data from millions of web visitors and thousands of clients, we have found that subscribers who 1) upload their database, 2) attract at least five 5-star reviews, and 3) are active on social media far outperform our other users. When a new tax and accounting professional is onboarded, we reinforce the keys to success at every touchpoint. But what else are the top producers doing that you could imitate to provide a greater return on your investment? Read on for my thoughts on five key ways CountingWorks PRO delivers value for you and your practice.
1) Save time
Online appointment setting
If you want clients to choose the type of appointment that works best for them – in-person at your office, virtual video conference, or appointment by phone – using our online scheduler is a must. Making it easy for a prospect who found you online to take the next step will help you convert more web visitors to paying clients. No one likes playing phone tag – or worse, being ignored when they are ready to make a buying decision.
Secure client portal
Securing your website and your client’s communications is a must for any practice. Your CountingWorks PRO portal has the highest level of security, keeps everything in one place, and is easy to use for you, your staff, and your clients. Plus, having your branding on your client portal (and your video conferencing software) helps build trust.
Ghost-written content done for you
One of our primary goals at CountingWorks PRO is to showcase your expertise. We write educational content that’s timely and industry-relevant to brand you and your tax and accounting practice as the area expert. We get your practice in front of the right people, every time using the marketing and social channels that matter most. The end result: We make you look great online. You attract more prospects, generate income-producing planning opportunities, and increase referrals, all while keeping your client retention high. Were you to piece together a content strategy on your own, you would likely rack up a huge bill: $20,000+ annual budget between writers, editors, technical reviews, and graphics. With our ghost-written content, your blog will continually be full of expert, timely articles for your clients and prospects to learn from – all for an affordable price. In the next few months, we are adding six additional categories of blogs:
- HR & People Management
- Personal Finance
- Timely business trends
- Niche & vertical strategies
- Entrepreneur success spotlight
- Business "life events"
Virtual interviews with document sharing online
The contactless virtual interview is here to stay. Many enjoy the time saved and convenience of being able to work with their professional from the comfort of their own home or office. This also makes it possible for you to work with clients regardless of geography, time zone permitting. Our TeleAccountant™ platform offers a remote, convenient method of communication. Plus, as more people are experiencing virtual appointments over time, it’s often their preferred method. Integrating your appointment scheduling and document portal into the video conferencing tool is a major time-saver. Because our video conferencing tool is browser-based, it also cuts down on the technology challenges many clients encounter when downloading an App for the first time.
2) Strengthen client relationships
Client newsletter
When done right, your client newsletter can be a powerful tool for building authority while also entertaining and educating clients. It can also be a tool to nurture your leads and to expand your referral paths amongst lawyers, realtors, estate planners, financial advisors, insurance agents, and others. Based on our decades of experience with the industry and the endless positive feedback we’ve received on the client newsletter, it could be argued that this one offering by itself will create a greater return than the subscription fee. It really is that easy to be successful with CountingWorks PRO.
Marketing templates
It can be overwhelming for tax and accounting pros to come up with their own marketing materials, so we take care of it for you. Our marketing library has templates for anything you can think of – including email campaigns and more to market additional services to existing clients. This is a great way to not only expand your business within your current client base, but also to help those clients boost their financial prosperity even further (e.g. through year-round tax planning vs. tax prep).
3) Increase brand visibility
Branded YouTube library
CountingWorks PRO subscribers can create and post branded videos to their YouTube channels directly from the portal. These videos are created specifically for tax and accounting practices to reach their clients and prospects on topics that matter to them. Plus, having an active YouTube channel will have significant SEO benefits, as YouTube processes more than 3 billion searches a month. For a video tutorial on using the YouTube library in your portal, check out our help center.
Social media
Ready to turn up the growth on your practice? Our Social Pro add-on includes all the automated social posting that comes with Social Lite, PLUS Google My Business (GMB) posting. In recent years, Google has been ramping up the importance of their own products – like GMB – in the race for search rankings. Our automated posts to your GMB profile will turn it into a lead machine for your practice, so get ready for the growth coming your way.
4) Convert more web visitors
Conversion tools
The whole point of the internet was to interact online. Using interactive content can be a highly effective method for converting more prospects (i.e. web visitors) to paying clients. Unlike ads, interactive content actually adds value to your clients’ and prospects’ lives. It answers their pressing questions, offers new and interesting ways to engage with your business, and gives them a sampling of your expertise and offerings right from the start. We have a great assortment of interactive content and conversion tools like Chat Bots, white paper downloads, surveys, and more to help you engage web visitors and capture more leads.
5) Stay compliant with the IRS and government regulations
E-Sign and KBA compliance with Form 8879 and more
The IRS has nerve-wracking and ever-changing requirements when it comes to E-Sign and knowledge-based authentication (KBA) of your clients. If you are not following the IRS regulations, you may be in violation. In addition, a digital engagement letter makes it much easier to get the ball rolling when onboarding new clients. Not to fear – we’ve got you covered with all your E-Sign and compliance needs, built right into your portal.
reCAPTCHA
We are all about security at CountingWorks PRO, which is why we use reCAPTCHA to protect your website from fraud and abuse. This system “uses an advanced risk analysis engine and adaptive challenges to keep malicious software from engaging in abusive activities on your website.” It’s included in all our websites automatically.
ADA compliance
In this day and age, it’s crucial for your website to be compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) – not only because users expect it and legislation requires it, but because it’s the right thing to do. According to the United States Census Bureau, 47 million Americans have some type of disability. That number is expected to double to 98 million by 2060 as the population ages. Individuals with vision, hearing, or physical disabilities will account for 20% of the population by this point, and will experience challenges when accessing websites, documents, and applications online. ADA compliance, therefore, is all about ensuring the elements of your websites and apps are accessible to everyone. CountingWorks PRO has an Accessibility Widget that can be turned on and off via your portal. The widget ensures a comprehensive legal & regulatory compliance framework covering ADA, Section 508, WCAG 2.1 level AA, and much more. Learn more here.
How to get the most value out of your CountingWorks PRO subscription
As you can see, CountingWorks PRO equips you with all the tools you need to make your practice successful – but we can’t help you if you don’t set up the right foundation. This means uploading your client database, connecting your social media accounts, and sending out review requests – all of which you can do in just a few minutes. From there, you can automate all the key aspects of your marketing and client experience to turn your practice into a growth machine. Have any questions about how to use different parts of your portal? Explore our help center and trainings here.
If you are not a current client but would like to chat about how CountingWorks PRO can supercharge your practice, contact us today at 1-800-442-2477 x3 or set up some time to speak with one of our digital marketing experts. Try a free 30-day trial of CountingWorks PRO here. Let’s get growing!
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