How Small Service Tax Businesses Can Benefit from a CRM System (Without Spending Too Much Time and Money)

A persistent issue for any growth-oriented business is how to manage that process, typically referred to as scaling. 

When it comes to increasing productivity and managing larger workloads in accounting firms, many are turning to the novel and innovative solutions promised by CRM for business. 

What is CRM for tax professionals? 

Client relationship management solutions help accounting firms streamline processes, harvest efficiencies, take on more clients, and grow revenues as a result. 

But the benefits aren’t just one-sided: CRM for business also results in better outcomes for end-users, your clients and also improves client relationship and retention. 

If your firm wants to know what automated CRM for accountants can do, then look no further than the powerful suite of solutions from TaxDome. 

When it comes to sophisticated arts like accounting, some firms are reluctant to embrace automation for fear that no general or universal process could be applied to something so nuanced and intricate in practice. 

They would be partially correct. When asking the question “what does CRM software do for a business?” the inquirer should first look at the core needs of a firm and work from that point forward. In other words, each accounting firm is as unique as the clients it serves, and a general process or universal automation is unlikely to work. That is why the solution on offer from TaxDome is comprehensive and adaptable to the needs of the accounting practice. 

When evaluating a CRM for tax professionals, management needs to look at whether the system in question has all the features the firm will require. Consolidated systems that handle sales, marketing, customer service, billing, and document management, among others, tend to be preferable to a range of ad hoc solutions that are cobbled together into a messy, if workable solution. 

Not all client relationship management software for small businesses is created equal. Accounting practices need to perform an extra level of due diligence at the initial stages before proceeding with any software solution. This process entails harmonizing a company’s needs with targeted clients and what best serves them. A holistic relationship manager also helps firms plot strategic decisions regarding clients and service offerings because it can identify latent or hidden needs. Further, this comprehensive approach that accounting and CRM software provides gives firms actionable data to make future revenue projections and estimates. In other words, the CRM accounting software helps companies determine the relative profitability of current client relationships as well as the services they offer. 

One of the strongest propositions in favor of client relationship management software for small businesses and CRM for accountants that is available today, compared to that offered in the past, is the advent of cloud technology. The cloud has enabled enterprise software to accelerate in development at previously unthinkable speeds. 

Not only is it always up-to-date and operating with the latest efficiencies and security, but cloud software can be used in a piecemeal fashion and scaled on an as-needed basis. While accounting firms were tasked with huge capital outlays for sophisticated, static client relationship management software in the past, today’s cloud-based solutions offer cost-effective pricing strategies that remove barriers to entry for smaller firms. 

Further, the distinct nature of cloud-based systems enabled firms to pursue telecommuting and work-from-home strategies, thus saving money on their physical office footprint every month while still maintaining the same production capacity. A major concern for accounting firms in the past with letting employees work from home or at a distance was data security and protecting sensitive client information. 

Read more about some of the best CRM for tax professionals in the tax industry in our previous article.

With today’s cloud CRM for accounting, companies like TaxDome employ the latest in productivity innovations. They use world-class security and user protection to ensure that end-users are shielded from security compromises and breaches. Additionally, because of its constantly updated framework, cloud software adapts and responds to novel threats in real-time instead of the patching system typically used to repair hard-drive-based software systems. 

Watch Kellie Parks talking about TaxDome CRM to share sensitive data with clients faster:

As with any business, tax and accounting firms want to grow as much as possible while providing the quality of service clients expect. Software has made life easier, certainly, but it never offered the kinds of powerful, game-changing solutions that a robust, cloud-based CRM system gives companies today. 

When it comes to pursuing time efficiencies, automation cannot be beaten and, once embraced, will eclipse legacy processes in no time. Often organizations are reluctant to embrace change because of inertia or reluctance to change the status quo. 

With cloud-based CRM software, change is a constant, every day fact of life. When the best practices are the only option left to a firm, that same resistance to change transforms into a growth-oriented mindset that embraces and seeks new opportunities – as well as increased efficiencies. 

Solutions like those offered by TaxDome are sophisticated, but they are also eminently accessible and scalable to a firm’s needs, thus saving both time and money. Here, in this last consideration, the true tale emerges: Firms that embrace automation will reap the benefits of that efficiency in terms of time and money, while those that don’t will place themselves at a disadvantage in the marketplace. 

Accounting and tax firms are no different than other businesses when it comes to weathering an environment of shrinking margins and fierce competition, and CRM systems are just one tool among many they can deploy to get a leg up on the competition.