Once I pass the Special Enrollment Exam and receive my EA license I will have clients coming from everywhere.
That's the fairytale that most new Enrolled Agents I meet believe. They don't understand that is not how it works at all. After the receive their license and the fairytales don't start rolling in they go into panic.
Maybe I shouldn't have done this.
I don't know how to get clients. How can I get clients?
Well, I will tell you this. They do not fall out of the sky.
Marketing for Enrolled Agents is different than for any other tax professional. That's because representation clients are not all congregated in one place with signs saying, "Hey! I'm in trouble with the IRS. Help me." That would be nice but it's just not realistic. Owing the IRS is embarrassing and stressful.
This can make finding clients difficult. It takes more intentionality and strategy. Almost the exact opposite of preparing taxes. As a tax preparer you say you do taxes and people come in droves. People post on social media that they're looking for someone to do their taxes and everyone tags you.
But knowing who you want to work with paired with the right strategy you can get tax representation clients in a predictable way. I am going to show you how to create marketing strategy for Enrolled Agents.
We will take a look at how to get leads, how many you leads you need to reach your goals, and a few strategies you can implement to reach those goals in 2024.
What is a Lead for an Enrolled Agent?
Before we can talk about how to get leads we have to look at what exactly a lead is. Some consider every eye that takes a look at your service offering a lead. I disagree with that thought process. Here is why. You can improve what you measure. Yes, you can measure how many eyeballs are seeing your services on different platforms. But you do not have a good idea of their intentions.
This is why I consider a lead to not just be someone that has seen my services and offer. I do not consider them to be a lead until they opt-in to receiving information from me. But not just an opt-in like a YouTube subscription. An opt-in where we do an exchange of information. They give me their contact information in exchange for something of value that will help them.
Once they give me their information they have essentially raised their hand and said, "Hey, I want to hear from you!". Now you may be thinking, how is YouTube or a different social platform. Here's how. That social media platform owns the lead's information. Yes, I can post at a schedule time and day.
But if my subscribers don't watch my video or listen to my podcast I can't identify which ones watched and which ones didn't. If they decide to leave the platform or the platform gives me the boot I no longer have any contact with them because I never had their information. This is why it is important to have your own platform that people can opt-in to so you can own your own list.
This does not have to be a fancy website. It could be a newsletter, a blog, or even text marketing. Once a person allows you in their inbox or phone is when they have officially become a lead.