I'm offering a free template for a practice management and growth calendar for 2022 that includes suggestions for each month for what to do, and space to write in what you plan to do that month. Five areas are covered:
- Individual growth;
- Client service solutions;
- Staff development;
- Business development; and,
- Firm procedures.
There is also a section to add anything else that you want. The template is in a Word file so it can be edited to suit your purposes. Just email me at
The following is my 12-month suggested schedule:
January
Raise all your fees 5% across the board, or whatever percent makes sense for you, but increase your fees. However, do not include clients who are struggling to survive.
I know you are busy, but there are many ways of having a client contact without seeing or talking to clients. One way is to postal mail or email a letter to your clients welcoming them to 2022. Keep it short and give them an update on your firm.
Remind clients they can call you anytime with any tax, financial or business questions or concerns.
Year-round, send clients a birthday card or an email on their birthday.
Schedule a retreat for July or August.
February
Tell your staff that errors on returns will no longer be tolerated (and mean it). Staff must check and double-check their work before handing it in for review.
Book your post-tax season vacation now if you haven’t done it already, and hopefully you’ll be able to take it. Alternatively, block out the time for a non-travel vacation — and take the time off.
Send a postcard or email to clients with a short note that you are open for all clients’ business and financial needs, in addition to their taxes, and they are welcome to call you with any questions or anything else they wish to discuss.
Ask for referrals. The important thing with this contact is to indicate your availability.
March
Close the weekend after March 15. This way your staff can catch their breath, catch up on family duties and have a “whole” weekend to chill out. Whether your staff works virtually or in your office, they could use the time off.
You can skip marketing activities in March — clients might think that if you had time to send them a marketing pitch, you are not too busy, so then why would they be getting their return at the last minute?
April
File your own return on time with no extension!
Close the day after tax season ends; this year it will give staff a three-day weekend.
Schedule a lunch, two hours maximum, on April 22 for a tax season retrospective while everything is fresh in everyone’s minds. A virtual lunch is OK and, if so, give your staff a voucher to buy themselves and their family a nice lunch.
At the end of April, send clients a letter (similar to what you sent out in January) with an update on how you did during tax season and thanking them for being your clients and friends and their referrals
May
Send your clients an email with one of my “tax season checklists” that you can adapt from my Word file that I distribute at the end of every January. Two that come to mind are “Getting rid of tax preparation clutter” and “Ways to reduce tax preparation fees.”
Take your well-earned vacation.
Send a postcard to your clients and prospect list if you take a vacation at an exotic place. You can have them printed before you leave with a nice message, and also have them pre-addressed. When you arrive, buy local stamps and mail them.
Off-site partner meetings should start to be scheduled monthly, or if you are a solo, then with yourself and key staff if any.
June
Start reviewing your clients’ tax returns and any notes you made about additional services they might need. Try my 1/20th rule, which is to provide additional services to 5% of your individual tax clients each year.
Continue with your monthly partners’ meetings.
Try taking off every Friday from now until at least Labor Day. If you are that busy, then work harder and longer the other four days, but take Friday off.
July
Send a July 4 card or email to your clients. If you want to get a little corny, have a photo taken of you and your staff, each holding a flag or wearing a flag T-shirt.
Visit, meet or schedule a Zoom-type meeting with every business client that you haven’t been with since April. Meet with them and show your availability. If you have reduced your in-person meetings, then make it up with twice as many, but shorter, virtual meetings or phone calls.
Use the summer to connect by writing a letter describing your (or a partner’s) vacation to an exotic place if you haven’t sent a postcard (see May). Alternatively, write a letter describing one of your hobbies or some charitable project you or one of your partners or staff were involved in. Make it personal and share the experiences. Connect. Share. Show availability.
I hope you scheduled a summer retreat.
August
Continue your client meetings and the 1/20th calls.
Get started with the extended returns so September and the first half of October won’t be so burdensome.
Try to schedule some CPE.
September
It’s a busy work month, but do not stop your monthly partner or owner meetings.
You should ask for some referrals from every client you interact with.
October
Toward the end of the month, start up your CPE again.
Call tax clients to find out what changes took place with them during the year that might have tax consequences. Anything that has happened that can be worked on before the year ends will have that work shifted from the busiest part of tax season to a less hectic November or December. Make that call! You could also send a letter asking clients if they need any year-end tax planning, saying you should be made aware of anything that happened during the year that would need to be reported on their 2022 return and that it should be worked on now. Even better, make the call or do both.
Do not skip your partners’ meeting. I won’t be reminding you of this anymore.
November
Make the calls you didn’t last month.
This is a good time for a second vacation. Why not?
Start your planning for tax season now.
Send a Thanksgiving card with a message that you made a contribution on behalf of your clients to the local food pantry or a similar organization.
December
Be a realistic businessperson. Did your firm do the best it could this year? Are your staff growing the best they can? Are you keeping up with your clients? Are your clients keeping up with your growth and your increased, improved and expanded capabilities? If the latter hasn’t happened, then determine why and make it happen next year.
Review your clients and determine if work was done that was not billed. Was it out of scope or was it done inefficiently or should not have been done at all?
Bill for whatever extra work you did that you can.
Plan time budgets for next year.
Review your job-planning procedures and cut out nonessential services.
Send a desk or wall calendar to your clients and contacts. It should be something nice and tasteful. If it ends up on a wall, you have just acquired a 12-month “billboard” for very little cost.
Send an email or postal letter asking clients for referrals. One of my colleagues mails a $100 gift certificate to be applied against a client’s tax return fee for every new client they refer. He has received over 150 new clients from this tactic.
Mail or email a listing of what records can be discarded and what should be retained.
Happy holiday and New Year! Restart this calendar for next year.
Extras
If you ever did business with me, you know that I always provide an extra.
There are many ways of keeping in touch with clients in a regular and unobtrusive manner that demonstrate your availability in addition to what was suggested in this calendar. Come up with your own methods and follow through with them.
During the year you can send clippings or reprints of articles, or send a book or give a magazine subscription.
Make frequent “just checking in” calls to see how your clients are doing, and if there are any major changes in their lives where they might need financial or tax assistance.
Notice that I did not refer to any form of social media. This should already be fully integrated into any regular regime.
Use the above as a starting point to develop your monthly client contact schedule for next year.
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