The new pricing tool has been designed by the TaxAssist Support Centre to distil best practice guidance into an easy-to-follow system. This enables TaxAssist franchisees and their staff to produce a competitive quote for any client, depending on their circumstances.
James Mattam, Group Business Development Director, said: “Setting fees is certainly an art and not a science. By harnessing the expertise and knowledge of both the Support Centre and over 400 practices around the UK, our accountants now have access to a new pricing tool that’s built in to their onboarding processes and lead handling system as provided by the franchisor.
“We are constantly looking to develop smoother processes for our network and pricing for accountancy services depending on various scenarios as no two clients are the same.
“Feedback has been hugely positive, confirming that this new tool has already had an impact on helping to sign more clients for better fees.
“The pricing calculator has been created to integrate with a fee matrix which helps our accountants to arrive at the right price for clients, taking into consideration various important factors based upon the circumstances of the client. It also suggests services which the client should be offered so nothing is forgotten. The fee can then be emailed to the potential client as a quote, as agreed during the meeting, and enable them to have clarity of the services they will be provided with and the price for this.
“We have reviewed alternative software in the market but concluded that we were able to produce an in-house tool on our support site, linked to our fee matrix, which offers similar core functionality, at no additional cost.”
Will Swift, TaxAssist Accountants Pudsey and Horsforth, is a big advocate of the new pricing calculator. He said: “We are using the new pricing calculator in new client meeting and as part of our fee review on every completed job.
“We go through the pricing calculator questions with new clients on the presentation screen in order that they can follow and understand the process, on average it takes a couple of minutes, we find the clients fully engage in the process and it seems to give them a better understanding of all the services we will provide and the associated fees. Our sign-up rate at the first meeting has increased as a result of using this. I feel it looks professional & provides a scientific approach that is transparent to the client.”
The new pricing calculator is just one of the tools available to TaxAssist Accountants as part of the ‘TaxAssist Practice Engine’, which is a major new initiative to deliver best practices, systems, capabilities and efficiencies for building an efficient and profitable practice.