Tire kickers

[ILLMAS]

I am probably not the only one who gets these calls, but this particular call has bothered me the most and I probably scared the potential client not to call again.  Anyway this particular client called me at the beginning of the year and I always ask who referred you to me etc...  but she didn’t want to tell me and finally  gave me a name of someone I don’t know and told her we need to make an appointment.  That was that, two days ago she calls back and starts asking me questions, stopped her in her tracks and asked who referred her to my office, again she gave me the around and asked why I needed to know (I take the the time and thank clients that refer someone to me), then I remember and told her, you had called me earlier this year and I never heard from you to make an appointment, I told her the deadline is this week and it would be impossible to get her in etc.... , she was more interested knowing how much I charge, I gave her a high amount and told her a charge X for a hour consultation and she responded saying that previous accountants (plural) have never charged for a consultation.  Too cut the conversation short, I asked, have ever gone to a doctor, attorney or restaurant and not expect to pay, told I am sorry but I don’t give my experience for free and told her I have to get back to work and hung up.

 

A tire kicker is someone who will drag the sales cycle on…and on…and on while hogging your time and resources without ever actually buying. 

[RitaB]

I had one come in unannounced in March telling me his friend TimeSuck sent him,  informing me it's a real simple return, and what would you charge blah, blah, blah.   Ok.  Let's think about this.  You have been referred by a friend, you pop in like I'm the walmarts with 23 registers, two of which are manned, and you are really going to kick my tires?  I looked it over and quoted an extra 100 for being rude and dropping TheWrongName.  

No regrets.

[Possi]

@RitaBI love you so hard. LOL 

[gfizer]

I had someone call yesterday saying he owned three rental properties and he really wanted to do his own returns but wanted to know how much I would charge to teach him how to do the depreciation.  Say what?  I was less than kind in my response which is unlike me but it finally hit me at 4:30 p.m.  that the reason I was so grumpy was because I forgot to drink my morning coffee.

[RitaB]

27 minutes ago, Possi said:

@RitaBI love you so hard. LOL 

Well, I love you, too, and I didn't get the engagement with the tire kicker, which was the best part.  I'm a terrible story teller.

[Lion EA]

I give price shoppers no time at all. The most I'll say is my fees start at $500 and go up from there. Or, $750, $1,000, or $2,500 depending on what he said before I stopped him (SE and does his own bookkeeping, for example). This year, I've told a couple to make extension payments on DirectPay and contact me after 15 July. Or, I've just said that I'm not taking new clients unless they are referred by one of my good clients. Tire kickers don't get more than 30 seconds of my time.

[Abby Normal]

I've never said, "If you have to ask, you can't afford me." but I'd like to do that once before I fully retire.

[BLACK BART]

I've had my share of 'em too but the best story I ever heard was third-hand (both parties are now deceased).  In the early eighties I worked for an accountant who had once worked under a CPA in a nearby large town.  My boss (an honest and truthful man) told me he was an actual witness to this scene:

A regular customer, grouchy and notorious for his chronic complaining, came in to pick up his return.  The CPA quoted a reasonable fee.  The patron promptly threw a fit, let out a string of curses, and roundly chewed them out for all manner of excessive charges, slipshod work, along with many outrageous slurs.   My boss said the CPA simply sat there through the diatribe; then calmly stood up, picked up the return, tore it in half, then quarters, threw it down on the desk, and said: "Now, get your a$$ out of my office!"       

I've always wanted to do that. 

[Medlin Software, Dennis]

Wash, rinse, repeat.  Someone asks about my software, and it is clear they are simply looking to not pay a payroll service, and they have zero payroll experience or training.  I inform no payroll software can make them qualified to manage a payroll.  They reply their "friend" said it was easy.  I suggest they ask their friend if they would be willing to teach them payroll processing rules, to which they answer "is that not what the software does?".  I lose no sleep over these contacts, even the ones who pay first, then "need" to be refunded.  I used to lose sleep with the grief I went through trying to keep these customers.

Had one last week who paid first, asked for a refund when I would not setup their payroll for them and go over their reporting requirements.  They then tried to reorder using a different name (same address though), as "their accountant" said they would teach them.  I said no thanks, since they already ignored my request the second order be paid with a money order (to avoid a charge back), and that any such order would come with zero support for the first year (since they already had a refund because they were not competent to manage a payroll - IMO).

[Roberts]

There is a web service out there called thumbtack - people will remotely do your taxes for a very small amount of money. No clue how well it works for people but it's pretty much just a bunch of tire kickers looking for the lowest bid possible. I've never asked for a bid so I don't know what others are charging but it seems like if you are working remotely, you could make some money that way on the side. The problem is you might be doing a 1040 for $45 - no clue. But hey, that's a lot more money that you'd make per hour as the Intuit call center guy.

[ILLMAS]

I lost track of how many times I "told her"   in my post, sorry friends, just venting and you are my support and thank you to all.

[Catherine]

Obliquely related, but this past week we have been INUNDATED not with tire-kickers but with goggle listings type calls.  I've learned most of them come through Caller ID showing a town rather than a name, and that answering lets them know the number is live.

I've started instead using the speakerphone and humming "Scotland the Brave" or some other tune. The algorithms don't know what to do.  Eventually the calls slow down.  

But I am seriously sick and tired of them this week.

[Randall]

I too seem to have received a lot more robo calls this week.

 

[Roberts]

Oddly, our robo call volume is WAY down lately. Knock on wood.

 

We were getting 3 google listing calls per day. ATT would call daily. Since moving to VOIP it has dropped dramatically for some reason.

 

25 years ago we switched from Southwestern Bell (they made me mad) to Birch telecom (switched to VOIP last fall). We were getting 1-2 calls per day from Southwestern Bell (now ATT) to get us to switch back. That's probably over 5,000 calls from them. I told a guy one time from ATT and he claimed it wasn't possible until I mentioned we had 9 phone lines and said yeah, that's possible then.

[JRS]

We went to cable phone two years ago when we moved.  To date no robots or telemarketing calls!

[Max W]

On 7/15/2020 at 12:58 PM, Roberts said:

There is a web service out there called thumbtack - people will remotely do your taxes for a very small amount of money. No clue how well it works for people but it's pretty much just a bunch of tire kickers looking for the lowest bid possible. I've never asked for a bid so I don't know what others are charging but it seems like if you are working remotely, you could make some money that way on the side. The problem is you might be doing a 1040 for $45 - no clue. But hey, that's a lot more money that you'd make per hour as the Intuit call center guy.

Roberts. twice you said "no clue" and you are absolutely right, you make assumptions without having a "clue" about how it works.  Thumbtack is a very legitimate source of leads and the company vets the service providers, so a the client doesn't get an unlicensed tax preparer, contractor, hairdresser, or whatever.

You post your own profile and then wait for clients to post a request. They supply information about their tax needs, and then you, and others, can respond if they are interested in what they see and submit an offer.  If the client responds to your offer and accepts it, Thumbtack charges you a small fee.  In the early days it was around $10, but has gone up considerably now. 

I started with TT in its first year and acquired 6 or 7 new clients a year for several years and then it started to diminish as there were more tax preparers joining up increasing the competition. Some of the clients a got have been with  me for 5 to 10 years.

I figure, in the early days, I was getting about 1 in 8 that responded, but about 3 years ago it got to the point where it was maybe 1 in 15 and no longer profitable, so I no longer use it.

 

[Roberts]

15 hours ago, Max W said:

Roberts. twice you said "no clue" and you are absolutely right, you make assumptions without having a "clue" about how it works.  Thumbtack is a very legitimate source of leads and the company vets the service providers, so a the client doesn't get an unlicensed tax preparer, contractor, hairdresser, or whatever.

You post your own profile and then wait for clients to post a request. They supply information about their tax needs, and then you, and others, can respond if they are interested in what they see and submit an offer.  If the client responds to your offer and accepts it, Thumbtack charges you a small fee.  In the early days it was around $10, but has gone up considerably now. 

I started with TT in its first year and acquired 6 or 7 new clients a year for several years and then it started to diminish as there were more tax preparers joining up increasing the competition. Some of the clients a got have been with  me for 5 to 10 years.

I figure, in the early days, I was getting about 1 in 8 that responded, but about 3 years ago it got to the point where it was maybe 1 in 15 and no longer profitable, so I no longer use it.

 

Interesting, so you are doing the remote work? How much is a normal going rate for remote work? Because I was specifically talking about the remote work. I've done Thumbtack for local clients. Thervo works the same way pretty much. You do realize I said it was a bunch of tire kickers and you said you get 1 in 15 people as clients? Is that similar to what you get when you meet with a potential client from a different source?

[Roberts]

21 hours ago, JRS said:

We went to cable phone two years ago when we moved.  To date no robots or telemarketing calls!

I wish we had done it 6 years earlier. I was worried about cable down times but so far (knock on wood) we haven't had one.

[Lion EA]

Somehow Thervo put me on their list. I'm trying to lose clients by attrition and slow down and maybe even retire someday, so I would NOT have signed up for it. I received a couple of Thervo emails before I labeled it Junk. They asked me to review the potential client and make a quote. Of course, I did NOT review nor quote. I don't know if there are tax preparers out there who were quoting $45 or so. I doubt that even the unenrolled kitchen table preparers in Fairfield County, CT, and Westchester County, NY, and NYC quoted that low. But, I never looked, so don't know.

[Roberts]

As far as I know Thervo doesn't push the remote option. I don't believe the "remote" workers are living in high end locations. They are living in low cost areas, targeting the entire country and if they can earn $45 for an hour of work they are in the top 10% of income in their county. Just looked it up , you can get a bookkeeper billing at $35 per hour and an EA doing individual returns for $100. Both are remote. $45 isn't realistic I'm guessing but $100 as your starting point is pretty darn low.

[joanmcq]

I work remote, but I won’t work for $45!

[Max W]

On 7/17/2020 at 7:19 AM, Roberts said:

Interesting, so you are doing the remote work? How much is a normal going rate for remote work? Because I was specifically talking about the remote work. I've done Thumbtack for local clients. Thervo works the same way pretty much. You do realize I said it was a bunch of tire kickers and you said you get 1 in 15 people as clients? Is that similar to what you get when you meet with a potential client from a different source?

I very rarely use Thumbtack any more as the cost of acquiring new clients is too high, which is why I have mostly stopped using it.  I only use it for a posting that I can bid on for which I am only charged a fee if They respond to me, not the other way around.

No matter what business you are in, you will get tire kickers, even if they are recommended to you.  Of course there will be a much higher closing ration with these.

As for office appointments, I stopped those in March, but anyone willing to come to the office almost always become a client.  

I do have other sources other than TT,  that are cheaper and I get a better response.

 

[Lloyd Hudson]

On 7/15/2020 at 9:22 AM, Abby Normal said:

I've never said, "If you have to ask, you can't afford me." but I'd like to do that once before I fully retire.

I Will definitely use that on next "shopper". I really do not want anymore clients. 

[Lynn EA USTCP in Louisiana]

56 minutes ago, Lloyd Hudson said:

I Will definitely use that on next "shopper". I really do not want anymore clients. 

I'd like more clients but not those of the tire kicker variety.

[Abby Normal]

On 7/16/2020 at 1:09 PM, JRS said:

We went to cable phone two years ago when we moved.  To date no robots or telemarketing calls!

We have cable phone at home and VOIP at work and we were getting tons of '800 Service' calls awhile back and half the calls at work were robocalls with just city & state showing on the caller ID. It's settle down at home quite a bit. Not sure about work because I haven't been in the office for over 3 months.