Trick for getting them out the door?

[dmj4]

How many of you have funny or very effective tricks to get the clients out the door when the return is completed?

I have been doing many of my clients return for fifteen years. I do enjoy visiting with them and seeing them once a year, but I am on a tight schedule during tax season (as we all are).

Does anyone have effective ways to get these dear clients to leave when their time is up? I have walked them to the door, stood up from my desk, had friends call me, had family members pose as the next client, almost eveything you can think of. It still seems that the visiting hours are not strictly followed. I have been through multiple divorces, problems with kids, illnesses and almost anything else you can think of with them. I do not want to offend any of them.

Any other ideas???

Also, it is very hard to get phone calls returned before bedtimes and it is very hard to get off the phone with them when I do need to call them. I cringe when I see the words "Call them when completed" on the folder of a drop-off return. I have tried to get them to email more and it is improving but there are still the endless phone calls.

Thanks!

dmj4

[taxea]

Trick for getting them out the door?

I send worksheets to my clients along with a checklist of documents needed. I tell them not to call for an appointment until the worksheets have been completed. Then I either schedule a time to pick up their documents or they drop them in a mail slot at my house.
If I have any questions and the client has email I make use of it so I don't get interrupting phone calls.
If they have any questions I ask them to leave them on the answering machine or email me.
My clients have been well trained over the years. taxea

[geekgirldany]

I am in the same situation you are. I enjoy a quick visit also but wow it is hard to get some of them out of the door. We talk about the kids, how so n'so is doing, how business is doing, how the world is coming to an end soon (a favorite topic with one customer), goats and chickens, looking at pictures of goats and chickens.

I've tried everything too. I do the get up from my desk thing, look at my watch, tell them someone else is coming soon. When I am on the phone and trying to leave them I will say there is someone at the door I have to go.

I suppose I'll just have to turn off the southern manners and tell them to leave

[erchess]

Some Thoughts

You could have a staffer ring the fire alarm or receive a supposed call from the Fraud Department at the IRS or there are a million ways you could create a foul odor. But I don't think you want to do any of these.

It is interesting to note that if in Palestine in the first century of the Christian Era if you were a Jewish male and saw on the street approaching you another Jewish male, you had only two polite alternatives..You could stop and greet that individual for like five minutes to make the required formal greeting and then another five minutes talk to that person or if you did not have time for that you could cross the street and he would not follow you if he was a polite person. The point is that every culture and subculture has rules that you follow if you want to be accepted. There are places in the US (in my experience mostly rural and small town) where taking time for socializing is expected any time two people who are not openly enemies cross paths. I have even seen two cars stopped in the middle of a road so the drivers can talk for five minutes while traffic builds up behind one or both and no one who is from the area honks. In these places tax professionals often are expected to double as advisers on most other life issues. If you are in such a place I don't think there is anything you can do about it. If you start objecting to the socializing people will stop doing business with you and also stop being your friends. If you are in a major metropolitan area people still like to socialize if you put up with it but they will put up with a polite but blunt insistence that you need to go to the bathroom and then get on with some calls, some research, or your next client. (For some reason the need to go to the bathroom is important.) If you're not sure what the truth is about your area, ask yourself how much time people spend socializing with the attorney, the doctor or the dentist. The question is not how much time you spend but how much time other people spend.

[ChEAr$]

horror!

I am in the same situation you are. I enjoy a quick visit also but wow it is hard to get some of them out of the door. We talk about the kids, how so n'so is doing, how business is doing, how the world is coming to an end soon (a favorite topic with one customer), goats and chickens, looking at pictures of goats and chickens.

I've tried everything too. I do the get up from my desk thing, look at my watch, tell them someone else is coming soon. When I am on the phone and trying to leave them I will say there is someone at the door I have to go.

I suppose I'll just have to turn off the southern manners and tell them to leave

Don't you DARE do that, girl! (grin)

[DTS]

Time to leave

When I'm done with them, I stand up, tell them it was lovely seeing them and then tell them "There's no hurry, here's your purse".

Never had a problem!

Dennis

[fliszt]

Well,

I do enjoy socializing with most clients. There is 1 that I try to be very polite to after the interview process. IF my wife is available, I'll tell her to call me at such-in-such time. Then the phone rings and I say "OH, please excuse me for a minute -- I've been trying to get ahold of a (..............) for quite some time." Then I answer phone and ask the phone caller in a louder voice, pls hold on. The I tell client "this is going to take some time, so I'll let you know when your return is finished, or I'll let you know when IRS accepts your return, or ......". But as erchess said, socializing is part of our culture, so I suppose it's at your own risk of loosing a client.

[taxxcpa]

Two type clients

Type one wants to talk all day. Type two wants to hand you a package of information and hit the road faster than a speeding bullet before you have a chance to ask if they added or dropped a dependent.

[oceanlovin'ea]

What worked today with a young man who always wants to chat was that I had put my grandson down for a nap but he hadn't gone to sleep and he started fussing. So I just said "I guess I better go take care of him."

That won't work if you don't have a baby around or are in a store front. It only works for me 2 days a week too.

I usually do clients the days I don't have him but right now people want to get in quick so I took some appointments today.

Linda F

[Fuzzy Faced Leader]

Get up, walk them to the door, open the door, and then have someone call you (or call yourself) and have the phone ring. People generally get the hint, as your racing to the phone waving goodby.

[BOB W]

I simply say, "I have to get back to work, I'll call you after tax season".

If you can't say that then YOU are helping to keep the conversation going.

[Black Bart]

A minimum of

one hour and sometimes two each day is what I spend doing this -- just can't help it; like Dany said, it's expected in this neck of the Southern woods. Sometimes I get interesting chats; most times not.

We have a pre-arranged routine: wait 15-20 minutes, if they aren't exhausted, one of us goes next door, has them wait 3 minutes and call us. Comes back, gets busy with calculator buttons, file cabinets, whatever. Meanwhile, the unfortunate soul manning the desk at which the bore has put down roots assumes whatever speech, facial expressions and/or physical contortions are necessary to appear as if Bush, Cheney, or Condi is calling.

It doesn't always work. Still, I haven't found anything better. I'm (seriously) thinking of bypassing that shop and installing a silent-alarm type button & wire under the desk that will make my phone ring (although for some cases I'd prefer to connect it to an airplane ejection seat).

I hope somebody here comes up with a solution. I've got a client who regularly talks for one to two hours about four times a year. I upped the fee by $250, trying to price them out the office (now $800) -- no help; talks longer now.

Note to dmj4: Never call back yourself to say a return's completed -- have a clerk or your wife/husband/kid do it.

[dmj4]

A Joke?

A friend of mine tells a joke. Maybe, we should say, "Before you go, I have one quick joke for you......."

Anybody have a great joke I can use?

Most of the clients that talk a lot are my night appointments and I am the only one in the building with them.

The phones are set-up to where they do not ring aloud in the tax office so I couldn't use my cell to call in and I can't use the office phone to call my cell. Maybe, I should get another cell and hide it under the desk. I could push one button and call the other one. The only problem is I have had clients just sit and wait for me to get off the phone to resume the conversation.

Last night I was getting ready to leave at 10:00 and one of my drop-offs that usually talks stopped by. I had my coat on and they did not stay long. Maybe we need to wear our coats all day so we can look as if we are in a hurry to get somewhere.

I have actually walked out with a client and drove off, only to circle the block a few times and come back to work.

dmj4