- quote -

Many years ago, when as a young man I was trying to build my
practice, I would obtain listings of new homeowners from an
outfit called "Welcome Wagon". I would mail letters and I
found it to be worthwhile. No disasters and I didn't get
rich but the response was probably 2%. Discontinued the
practice when my client base reached my comfort level. Many
of those clients are still with me today.

ciao

Jim Hayden EA in frozen/snowy Michigan

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MoneyDoctor01 wrote:

- quote -

We get a couple of new homeowner mailing lists. Of the 800
names we got from February '03 to December '03, we mailed
only to the 175 people we thought were the best prospects.
After 6 mailings, we've gotten 2 appointments and two "I'm
interested, please keep sending me stuff." We'll probably do
another 3 mailings between now and February 15th.

If we get 3-4 good clients off of it, it will have been as
cost-effective as buying another practitioner's clients.

What we've been mailing is the same newsletter and reminder
information that's gone to our own clients, with an insert
telling them a little about the business and inviting them
to set up a free meeting. If you're doing more than that,
make sure you're in compliance with Circular 230, which
takes a dim view of advertising.

To pare the list of 800 down to 175, we eliminated all the
people with unlisted phone numbers, the single men
(historically not good clients for us), and people moving
into existing neighborhoods (as opposed to new developments)
where we didn't already have good clients and that weren't
within 3 miles of us.

Phoebe

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- quote -

We have never actually done this, but had discussed it
several times. We decided that since we primarily focus on
small businesses it would not be worth our time and effort.

I guess it depends on the area you focus on, such as walk-in
tax returns (or as my boss calls it, the "retail" tax
business), small businesses, retired persons, whatever.

We have certainly seen that there might be a good market for
it, particularly since we are located in one of the top five
fastest growing counties in the nation.

Carol
What can one expect of a day that begins with getting out of bed.

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MoneyDoctor01 <moneydoctor01[at]cs.com> wrote:

- quote -

I've done it in the past. I had good results for a couple of
years. Then, every other tax preparer in the area started
doing likewise, and the results fell to "break even" level.

In the best years I got about a 3% response. Otherwise, it
was 1 - 2% as you note. The only good news was that
virtually ALL who responded DID become clients. The bad news
was that most didn't stick around for more than a year or
two (perhaps they were ~seduced~ by someone else's fancy
solicitation).

MTW

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"MoneyDoctor01" <moneydoctor01[at]cs.com> wrote:

- quote -

I have done direct mailings to families recently closing
mortgages, for the last 3 or 4 years, and have found the
response has been around 1% or less.

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"MoneyDoctor01" <moneydoctor01[at]cs.com> wrote

- quote -

If you are buying your list, it most likely would be a list
of closings. Not necessarily "new" homeowners, as it would
include all refinances, or so the story goes from a fellow
CPA who went that route to build his practice (which lasted
one year btw).

If you can, get a "city directory" and target market to the
higher-end neighborhoods with multiple mailings. Studies
have shown that it takes an average of 6 contacts before a
prospect makes a decision.

My best marketing has been to new businesses, as you
generally snag someone who hasn't developed a relationship
with a CPA/EA/accountant yet, has a need that they didn't
have before, probably doesn't know what they are doing with
accounting and taxes, and you generally get the individual
work as well.

In Georgia you have to publish your incorporation, so the
name of the company, name of the incorporator, and the
address are public information that comes to my doorstep
(literally) once a week.

--
Snowmen fall from heaven unassembled.
-------------
Paul A. Thomas, CPA
taxman at negia.net

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- quote -

My new partner has tried it in his office and it worked for
him, but took 3 mailing to each, not one. This year he is
doing it again, with over 2500 letters going out. If you
want, email me in April and I'll tell you how it went.

Helen, EA in PA
Member of The Tax Gang
President, PA Society of Enrolled Agents
Campaigning for NAEA Board of Directors - Looking for YOUR vote

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has anyone done any direct mail marketing for 1040 prep work
to new homeowners? any success stories or disasters to
share? is the expected rate of response the normal 1 - 2%
for direct mailings?.

peter turai, cpa

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