I just started taking on clients of my own this year and went full-time for myself in August. For me, rabbit holing and giving too much detail/spending too much time is something I struggle with when it comes to discussing with potential clients. I understand that there is a cost to client acquisition. However, I feel like I have room for improvement when it comes to figuring out who is sincerely interested in me helping them and who is just price shopping. Case in point, I spent 20 minutes yesterday discussing with a potential client. The phone call seemed to be going great when the mention of fees was brought up. She basically stated "can we come in on the low end of that range?" So I'm asking a few questions here:
1) When someone calls you specifically in regards to tax preparation, how do you weed out those who really want your help versus those who are just price shopping
2)Even if someone is genuinely interested in having you help them, how do you keep the conversation to a minimum without going into too much detail.
3)How do you handle the point of the conversation when it comes to discussing fees? I don't bill hourly because I find it silly, plus 4-5 years of working for firms and tracking every 6-15 minutes became agonizing after a while. I do charge more than the tax shop places around me (H&R Block, Liberty Tax, etc.) but feel my CPA license and experience bring a value to the table that those places don't.
Thanks!