Tax Season & Customer Retention During A Crisis
Posted On: 08/06/22 - 0

Customer retention is paramount in any business all the time. What happens when your business is hit with a crisis? Most business owners had no way of predicting the onset or the impact of Covid-19 on their businesses. We sure didn’t in our accounting business. Especially during our busiest time of the year which is tax season. Our tax business had been conducted face to face for the previous 13 years.

Two years ago in our business, we felt like we were hit by a tidal wave. That tidal wave was called Covid. Just recently, we were dealt another blow during tax season yet again. We managed what could have become a second major crisis in our business during tax season.  Because we had transitioned two years earlier, we were able to pivot far quicker..

Pivoting In Our Accounting Business To Minimize Damage

The following is what we did in our business and continue to do in order to maintain client confidence in an ever-changing global economy.

When Covid abruptly arrived, we were heading into tax season.  We were grateful to have a business that was deemed an essential service.

We very quickly hit with a number of challenges: I will share what some of the challenges were, and how we overcame them.

Anxious Clients Facing Mandatory Business Closures

  • Challenge – Our tax office was flooded with calls from business owners that were mandated to shut down due to the pandemic.  Many entrepreneurs were deeply concerned on how this would impact their business
  • Solution – Both partners were taking on-line courses to learn about the ever- changing government Covid support for business owners. 
  • The team did all that we could to accommodate inquiries on the different programs available.  We mailed out what seemed like daily updates to keep our clients informed about Covid support.
  • In our office, we developed different social media channels to keep everyone advised about the rapidly evolving news (met them where they were at)
  • We had clients calling us to request that we add some of their circle of influence to our news broadcasts
  • Added Benefits as A Result – Many new prospects were added to our data base.  We even received glowing google reviews from a prospect as a result. We had expanded our social media presence which had been discussed for a couple of years and this got that ball rolling.

Staff Afraid To Come To Work During Tax Season

  • Opportunity – We had a bookkeeper that had a child in daycare.  She decided to collect Covid support to stay home throughout the tax season. We also had an accounting technician that was not wanting to come to work.  She wanted to stay home with her kids as they were experiencing bullying at school as a result of their ethnicity.
  • Solution – We pivoted to quickly accommodate a long term employee. We set up an office in her home so she could work remotely.  Production was as high as it always was and she was grateful for the support and compassion.  Speed training took place for the sales rep to learn another role within the business which is always a good idea.  (Thank goodness we had previously created a basic employee role handbook)
  • Benefits as A Result – Our sales person learned basic administration on the bookkeeping desk as well as gained understanding of what other staff roles involve.
CRA Delayed The Personal Tax Deadline (Twice)
  • Issue – The CRA understood that many individuals and businesses were dealing with difficulties in meeting financial obligations. This included paying tax debts they may have incurred prior to the crisis. This facilitated the longest tax season our business ever experienced. Vacation was delayed for all staff.
  • In lieu of – To compensate for the  staff holiday delay, staff members were given Fridays off during the summer.
  • Benefit – The double extension helped our office to take some extra time to learn all of the Covid support programs for the self employed.  It also helped take the load off of our team as we were working through this unusual year with less staff.  It also gave us time to learn a new software system and train our clients on it at the same time.
Covid Strikes Our Office Tax season 2022
  • Big Challenge – In the height of tax season this year three members of the team had been forced to isolate due to Covid.  We were better prepared to face this new challenge. Were we totally on top of things? No. Given the last 2 years we just came out of, we were better equipped to face this new challenge.
  • We have learned that we are not in control of anything other than how we respond to continual change and crisis in business and ultimately…..life.  The biggest blessing is we have so many amazing clients that granted us much grace as we were recovering while working which slowed the overall process.
Benefits of Operating In A Crisis
  • As a management team, we had learned to better manage our emotions and the way we respond during a real crisis.
  • We also understood very early on in the pandemic that many looked to us for answers, support and encouragement. Our team did what we could to calm the fear by staying informed ourselves.
  • Implementation of strategic action plans happened. We pivoted to digital technology to assist clients with uploading their data remotely.  We also created different news channels to meet our clients right where they were at, not where we expected them to be.  This helped to keep people in the loop, all the while trying to deescalate their fears of the unknown.
  • We strategically reallocated personnel to accommodate quickly changing staffing requirements.
  • Set up an employee to work remotely
  • Moved the sales partner into an administrative role
  • Sales Partner/Accounting partner  were learning about the Covid support which was a constant moving target and did our best to keep our clients informed
  • As an office, we have learned to be more flexible and adapt.  There was/is no choice, it was sink or swim and we were in survival mode that first year of the pandemic. We did all that we could to roll with the situation.
  • We continue to thrive.  It has been our focus to always prepare our business for sale since the day we opened the doors.  We have tried our best to maintain a turnkey practice. 

If you need to do some brainstorming on how to get your business back on track and repositioned to meet the needs of this current economy. Give us a call.

Posted by Cheryl Turner

12203-107 Avenue.
Edmonton, Alberta.
T5M 1Y9

Call us:
780.482.7297