The clarity and direction CPA’s derive from analyzing financial statements is powerful. Their ninja number-crunching skills are something many of your entrepreneurial clients simply don’t have. If you don’t shine in this area yourself, consider this your lucky day. You’ve just identified a new way to build win-win relationships with the clients you love and the CPAs that you want to love you. How? Well, keep reading…
Here’s the bottom line. When you share your client’s financial statements with the CPA(’s) of your choice (with permission from your clients of course), you give your CPA network an opportunity to step into the spotlight and earn business they likely never would have otherwise acquired.
It’s kind of like taste-testing. You go to Costco to buy paper towels and laundry detergent. You walk out with a cart filled with mashed potatoes, fresh fish, and maybe even a little contraption you can use to massage your back while sitting in your office chair. Why? Because you sampled it and it was good! So good, that you had to buy it!
It works the same way in your scenario. Your clients come to you for wealth management. In the process, you invite a CPA to your next meeting. The CPA shares 6 expense-reduction suggestions with your client and boom—your client has “found” a way to keep more of the money they work so hard to earn. You’ve found a way to get your clients to invest more of their cash with you. And the CPA has probably won a new client. Win. Win. Win.
If you’re not quite ready to jump to this level with the CPA’s you know, another way straight to their heart is to simply suggest they consider offering an “expense-reduction analysis service” to their own existing clientele. To make it easy for them, consider sharing this list of 6 things they can look for in any entrepreneur’s financial statements:
1) Borrowing Instead of Buying – Do their clients lease equipment? What about a company vehicle or the office building they’re in? As CPA’s well know, leasing is almost always more expensive and it doesn’t allow their clients to enjoy the tax benefits they get when they own and something depreciates.
2) Excessive repeat expenses – Are their clients paying more than necessary for some things because the price includes features they never use? For example, if they rent an office space with a gym, but they never work out, chances are, they’re wasting money. The same holds true if they’re in a shared workspace and they pay for the right to use the community kitchen even though they eat out every day. What about that expensive CRM they invested in at the last conference they attended because it sounded so irresistible? If people paying for “deals” that includes services they never actually use, they’re doing themselves a disservice. Encourage your CPA network to look through all of their client’s expenses and share a list that includes what they think can be eliminated.
3) High interest credit cards – Credit unions often have irresistible offers that allow people to secure very low-interest loans. If the CPA’s you know have clients with a lot of high-interest credit card debt, consider telling them to put a low-interest lien on the car they own instead. With good credit, they can secure loans for outrageously low rates. In fact, we recently saw an opportunity to secure an auto loan at 1.4% for five years. When their clients take advantage of something like that the savings can really add up!
4) Small orders – Do their clients regularly order office supplies or software licenses? Ordering in bulk will save them money over time. They’ll spend more upfront but their cost per item can be far lower, which means they’ll be able to keep more of their income in the long run.
5) Hiring Instead of Outsourcing – Employees are expensive. In addition to salaries they pay to retain them, there are expenses for equipment, worker’s comp, vacation and sick days, health benefits and so on and so forth. As small business owners, chances are they could save a lot by outsourcing more and hiring less. Of course they are required to follow IRS regulations when it comes to how they work with 1099 consultants vs. W-9 employees; however today’s business culture has never been more accepting of remote workers. Encourage the CPA’s you know to evaluate this information for each and every business owner they work with.
6) Paying too much tax – Advanced tax reduction strategies help many business owners save hundreds of thousands, even millions of dollars each year. Encourage your CPA contacts to make regular appointments with their tribe throughout the year so they can brief them on the latest and greatest tax savings opportunities. After all, if our President-Elect can take advantage of them, their clients can, too!
Next week, we’re going share some powerful insights about raising capital and the unique opportunities you have as a financial advisor to make meaningful connections within your CPA network. Be sure to check back in so you don’t miss this informative post!
