This week is probably a lot quieter at your tax office than last week. Now that tax season has ended, the dust is starting 
to settle. It’s the perfect time to sit back with a cup of coffee and think about the last three months to evaluate them carefully. How did they go? Are you happy with the way things went?
Here are some items you should evaluate now that tax season is over that will help you improve next year.
Traffic Flow
Did you have a steady flow of traffic or were there some dead weeks throughout the season? Evaluating your traffic flow can help you plan better for next year in terms of staffing levels. Identifying dead weeks can also help you plan promotions to increase traffic during those times.
This Season Vs. Last Season
How did this tax season compare to last tax season? Are you keeping track of the number of tax returns you are doing? If you increased the number of returns, look into what helped draw that traffic. If you decreased, you might want to look at your customer surveys to identify pain points.
Staffing
Did you have enough people working in the office — or too many? Could you have done more business if you had more people on staff? Do you need to hire a receptionist for next year? Did you make the most of any down time that you may have had? Were there hours during the days, nights or weekends that you found hard to staff? Maybe you need to hire for different hours next year. You might also realize that hiring an office manager will help keep your staffing levels in order and the office running more smoothly.
Staff Training
How well did your staff handle tax season? Were they able to take on complicated returns? You should consider continuing or advanced tax training for staff members. If you had a receptionist or office manager, consider training him or her so they can help even more next year. The Income Tax School offers many options for in-house tax training.
Telephones
How were the phones? Were they ringing off the hook? Do you think you lost business from unanswered calls/messages? If the phones were difficult for your staff to handle, you might want to consider hiring an answering service or receptionist.
Office Appearance
Were you able to keep the office clean and tidy? Do you need a plan to get others involved in the day-to-day operations for next year? Did you provide refreshments for your clients? Did you keep the bathrooms clean? Were there a lot of children in your waiting area? Did you have something for them to do?
All of these things are important to the customer experience and can have an impact on return business.
Customer Satisfaction
Did customers appear happy with the services you provided? What could you have done differently? How can you add value to your service? A good way to evaluate this is to send out customer surveys.
Read: Why Customer Surveys are Important
Tax Returns
Did you have any returns that were too complicated for your tax office? If so, consider having some of your tax preparers take some advanced courses during the off-season. If you feel you didn’t receive many complicated returns, perhaps you can evaluate your marketing efforts.
Read: Why Preparing More Complicated Returns is Good For Client Retention
Marketing Efforts
How was your tax office marketing? Did you get many new clients this year? If so, how did you get them? Did you have a special offer or were they referrals? Tracking what works is extremely important.
Employees
How were your employees? Did you have any issues with them? Will you bring them all back next year?
Evaluating the tax season year after year is important for improvement and growth. One easy way to improve the efficiency and marketing efforts of your tax office is to purchase our Tax Practice Management Manuals.
Our manuals include proven systems that will help you compete with National firms, draw new clients, and run your tax office efficiently and effectively.
Find out more about our Tax Practice Management Tools.
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