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Generate more revenue the easy way

By Vladimir Briskin

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By Vladimir Briskin

Author

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Updated 7th March 2018 | 4 min read Published 7th March 2018

In these instances taxpayers (or their agents) should:

• File a paper return, along with a completed reasonable excuse claim

• Make a reasonable effort to estimate the income tax liability based on the information they have

• Pay the estimated balance for 2016/17 and make their first payment on account of 2017/18 by 31 January 2018

Should the tax liability calculation for 2016/17 be too low or the deadline of 31 January 2018 be missed because of an exclusion, HMRC will not apply late filing, late payment penalties and/or interest. Automatic issue of these can be cancelled by a reasonable excuse claim.

From February 2018 HMRC will contact “customers” and their agents where they feel that the tax calculation needs to be corrected to confirm their actual income tax liability.

If you are uncertain as to whether or not your client’s circumstances match an HMRC exclusion and IRIS allows you to submit your client’s tax return online you should still file the return online, and pay the tax liability due.

HMRC have stated that they will:

• Identify any cases filed online where the calculation is incorrect

• Make any required correction to the income tax liability

• Inform the customer of the correct liability

• Advise when the revised amounts need to be paid

• Inform the customer that they will not have to pay late payment penalties and/or interest attributable to any additional amount arising from the correction if it is paid before the revised due date

In most cases, if your client’s circumstances fall into one of the HMRC Exclusions the IRIS software will warn you and advise that the Return be sent by post. There are some scenarios, only recently highlighted by HMRC that the software will not warn you about, but the Return will be rejected online with a 6492 error. In these circumstances the return should be sent by post accompanied by a reasonable excuse claim.

Generate more revenue the easy way

It’s often said the easiest way to increase your revenues is to sell more services to your existing clients. Most businesses identify cross-selling as an area for business development, however few seem to achieve it.

Would you like fries with that?

Cross-selling is all about timing and relevance, it’s not about manipulating customers. The most effective way to sell more to someone is when they have a genuine interest. The classic example of this is McDonald’s when their staff ask ”would you like fries with that?”. With that single enquiry McDonalds is able to sell over 4 million kilograms of fries globally every day.

They don’t stop there, McDonalds’ employees will ask every customer if they would like a drink or to supersize their meal. The incremental revenues from these small cross-selling questions have a phenomenal impact of the company’s bottom line. Just imagine 69 million customers every day being asked to buy more.

Taking a fast food approach to your clients may not be appropriate however cross-selling is an established sales technique and one that professional services companies can adopt.

Many practices assume their clients understand all the services available. Most clients only know what information you give them, simply telling your clients about other services can bring in more business on its own.

Where to start?

Understanding which clients take what particular service is essential and this can be achieved using the Client Engagement Matrix, one of many reports that can be produced within IRIS CRM. This powerful and informative visual interface helps identify the white space and gaps in the services clients take from a business.

From the report it’s possible to identify the total Gross Recurring Fee (GRF) per client. The report is also capable of filtering across client grades if selected.

With this valuable insight readily available it’s possible to deliver personalised, targeted email campaigns to clients with pin point accuracy, creating new sales opportunities and informing clients of valuable services they are missing.

Another benefit of the Client Engagement Matrix data is the high and low performing fee analysis. The report highlights average service line values which can be compared against other firms or across industry sectors.

The Client Engagement Matrix helps business leaders to make more informed decisions, target the ‘underperforming’ clients and service lines allowing for speedy resolution. It can:

• Analyse data across all elements of your business

• Trigger campaigns directly from reports

• Identify gaps and weak points in your business and service

• Plan for the future and respond to changing events, fast!

• Provide instant data reporting… No time-consuming data-mining involved

IRIS CRM allows business leaders to collate meaningful information, make better informed decisions and take steps to successfully develop their business.

So the next time you are tucking into a burger and fries just think about the services you are providing and the cross-selling opportunities you may be missing.