Jennifer Mitchell tries not to say the words "tax season." She is retraining herself and her staff of 11 at Washington State-based firm Account Sense to think of busy season differently, but she's also designed it to be different.
Starting last year, Mitchell shifted her team to a scheduled model of working on tax returns over multiple months instead of handling them as clients submit them, to cut down on the usual congestion.
"Everybody is scheduled a month," she shared. "We explain how extensions work and we plan throughout the year so there's no surprises and our team has no overtime to work. And we don't have 'bore season,' which is sometimes worse. This is our second year doing it. We didn't lose hardly any clients to it. We thought some would be mad about being extended, but we scheduled everyone out."
Clients, in fact, were given more personalized service under this model, Mitchell reports: "It used to be, anyone who was available would do taxes, but now we know when it's coming in, and we assign a team. [Clients] work with the same two people throughout the year, every year, and they know what's going on. It's far more personalized and we can invest more into people, and getting their tax return out the door."
As Account Sense enters its second season — Mitchell now refers to it as "filing" or "planning" season — under this model, the firm will also be adjusting its offering into mandated service bundles.
"Part two of the scheduled season is packages; bringing people on for planning," she explained. "It's really interesting: We never forced people [to select a service package], but we were here if you need us. Part of implementing it this year is they have to decide which package they want. There are varying levels of planning opportunities for a client — from a couple touch-bases a year to monthly meetings if you want to … . They don't have the option to not meet with us for planning. It's the newest piece we're rolling out this year; it polishes off what we did last year. People have questions, but seem to love it. It's what they've been wanting this whole time but didn't know how to ask for it, or if we offered it."
In both phases, Mitchell's new model was born of trying to solve the problem of burnout.
"I would hire a young person and say, 'Tax season is hard, you work long hours, but summer is kind of nice. Less hours and a lot of vacation time.' They'd say that's just fine. But year after year, literally, they would quit and say 'This is too hard, I don't want this for my family.' After three years of this, I refocused. I can't keep hiring and losing people. They love the business, love working for me, love the clients, but hated the hours. There's got to be a solution for that."
Already a consumer of many books, podcasts and social channels covering the profession, Mitchell picked up "nuggets of information" and brainstormed her new method for tax returns.
After last year's inaugural season, "we didn't lose anybody," she said. "The staff is so grateful and it's exciting. One gal I hired brand-new last season, she teases me that I promised her happiness. She said we came through on that; she's thrilled to be here and has good work-life balance. We shared this with the state society CPA chapter and we already have people reaching out to me wanting to come work for me. It feels really rewarding."
Something specialized
Mitchell describes a similar feeling with another intentional goal she set for Account Sense. In recent years, the firm has made a push to serve women-owned businesses, which now make up just under half of its new client list.
"Deep in my heart, I'm touched to see anything — products, services — with women owners," Mitchell explained. "I never really acted on it, but I always felt it. Probably two years ago, when we were restructuring the firm, we were figuring out: Who do we really love to serve? And [we wanted to work] with those people to feel good every day about the work we do. Operations and management and I were brainstorming. We love working with women — not to be feminist or anti-men — but we brainstormed that we like building relationships and connections with clients, to explain things to them and help them. They motivate us as much as we motivate them. It felt so good and so right putting the marketing out there [targeting women-owned businesses]. We still have a lot of male business owners. But I have a special place in my heart for women."
Of course, as a female business owner herself, and a member of local professional women's group Powerful Connections, Mitchell offers this perspective in advising this burgeoning clientele.
These women-owned businesses span industries, she said, including everything from traditionally male-dominated fields like construction and engineering, to women who are building real estate empires or penetrating the growing niche of medical spas. With that latter industry, Mitchell has found more than one connective thread.
"Medspa and dermatology practice owners, much of the time, are women-owned," she shared. "The industry is growing so quickly, and changing just like accounting. They don't want burnout, so they are leaving hospitals and starting their own spas, which is better for work-life balance … . There are a lot of similarities for what I changed in my business when I was done with burnout and what they're doing. My operations manager used to work as a practice manager in a derm practice, so she knows all the insights. My team, all our accounting and tax work, it's a perfect specialty for us. We're doing specialized marketing."
Like Account Sense's transition to a scheduled filing season, homing in on specific clients is a change from the firm's mission when Mitchell first established it as a solo practice in 2006 and grew it through grassroots marketing, getting her face on billboards and her voice on local radio. Through this exposure, the firm eventually expanded to 1,000 clients, but over the last four to five years Mitchell has strategically shaved that down to about 500 — and hopes to eventually cut it down to 350.
"The history of the firm was more clients — we work with everybody and anybody," she explained. "The last few years, there's more of a focus on who best to serve, so we get a lot out of it, too."
