This well attended annual series of events keeps franchisees abreast of the developments being driven from the Support Centre and provides a useful networking and discussion forum.
Three of TaxAssist Accountants’ Executive Directors, Sarah Robertson, James Mattam and Daren Moore, and key Support Centre personnel, recently visited nine locations around the UK to host the annual round of Regional Meetings. The events were well attended with over 180 franchisees in attendance, representing over 90% of the network.
The core content of the regional meetings concerned three areas:
New Software Estate
Sarah Robertson, Group Operations Director, presented on the new Software Estate, which includes TaxCalc, Practice Ignition and Receipt Bank and the practical issues around software migration and training. She reiterated that the Software Estate was the foundation to enable franchisees to be more productive, gain efficiencies in their practice, be more profitable and be best positioned to capitalise on the forthcoming opportunities.
Service Development
Group Commercial Director Daren Moore FCCA, announced the launch of 2 new services that will be provided directly from the Support Centre. These new insourced service offerings will cover all aspects of Payroll and Tax and will be delivered through new teams of specialists. Delivering services in this way will help franchisees deliver services more profitably, to generate additional fees and to win new clients.
Daren also presented a new ‘Our Services’ document, setting out the huge range of services clients can access through the TaxAssist Network. This document will prove to be a hugely valuable tool, helping franchisees to differentiate their services and deliver new fees through cross selling activities.
Increased marketing of the brand via national television campaigns and social media awareness and local marketing campaigns
James Mattam, Group Business Development Director, presented the new Brand Awareness Media campaign to increase more exposure for the business via TV, social media paid programmes and social media engagement along with localised planned marketing plan support.
All of the proposed changes were greeted with enthusiasm by the network as Sarah explained: “I am pleased to report that the network is on good form and very positive towards the changes that lie ahead.
“They understand the strategic decisions that have been made with regards to our new software estate and the benefits this technology brings in making them more efficient, productive and cutting edge with clients and they understand that technology is the foundation for how we drive this business forward.
“It was pleasing to hear that the network fully appreciates the amount of work that the Support Centre team is doing to help and support them to be more successful in their practices and I’ve enjoyed reading the positive responses from franchisees following their regional meeting.”
Concerning the new software suite, Nigel Starkey, franchisee in Leicestershire, said: “Today I have signed up with Receipt Bank seeing the virtues of what it can bring us. The pricing deal that has been secured has been the deciding factor. Keep up the good work – still love being part of the ‘TaxAssist’ network and fully appreciate all the hard work you carry out at Norwich!”
Richard Brookes franchisee from Cambridge is also a fan of Receipt Bank and says:” I really enjoyed our regional meeting – very useful as always. I have been using Receipt Bank for years and the new deal has nearly halved my cost.”
Hampshire-based Doug Clanchy commented on the new software suite: “We have implemented Receipt Bank already. It’s early days but I’m pleased with the time saved so far. We have 34 new client proposals signed up through Practice Ignition to date, and 11 awaiting acceptance. I can see that there will be considerable benefits from this when we have been able to evolve our procedures to take full advantage of the functionality. Thank you for a great meeting. The strategic thinking, energy and momentum is back in a big way.”
Andrew Thornton, a franchisee in West Yorkshire, commented: “I took a lot from the regional meeting; there seems to be a lot of good ideas and interesting developments going forward.”
This was a view mirrored by Nick Brook, a franchisee in West and South Yorkshire:” I thought yesterday’s meeting was one of the best I’ve ever attended and full of useful content."