Sep 19, 2019
Patrick Sheehan graduated from law school in 1987 and his first job was for the IRS. He had plenty of responsibilities and treated the five years he worked there as additional education. When he turned 29 he left the IRS to teach at the law school he went to as well as started his own business helping people solve their IRS problems.
[3:50] There are three different divisions you can work at in the IRS; general litigation, tax litigation, and criminal litigation. The last two years Patrick worked at the IRS, he worked in the general litigation division, which really helped him later on with his business.
[5:30] Patrick’s acceptance rate with his clients is around 96%. It really depends on the work you do long before an offer is filed.
[6:40] Most people don’t realize, and that includes practitioners, that the IRS will subsidize the things that are necessary for the health and wealth of the individual. In many ways, you’re trying to do financial planning in reverse.
[8:30] Patrick relates a story of a husband and wife that was about to file jointly and what they did instead that saved them $50,000.
[9:30] The second thing that most successful people have is specialized knowledge. Patrick’s best year in business prior to working with Michael was in 2011 where he brought in $1.1 million, but each year after that the revenue steadily declined.
[11:35] Patrick attended the Austin seminar with a chip on his shoulder. He doubted that Michael would be able to show him something new after 28 years in the business but he had his mind blown. He knew how to do the work but Michael showed him how to market the business.
[13:25] If you solve a problem quickly you are not getting the value of what you’ve brought, and that’s where a flat fee has made a really big deal to Patrick’s bottom line.
[14:40] If Patrick doesn’t take on another client for 2019 his business is on track to do over $1.4 million in revenue. He will have also gone from 3 employees in 2018 to 9 professionals working for him by the end of this year.
[17:40] Patrick used to personally screen clients but he’s now taught his people to screen potential clients in 3 minutes or less. Flat fees and value billing has transformed Patrick’s business completely. Know the value you’re providing and don’t underestimate what you’re worth.
[21:10] Another pro tip is that nobody gets to see Patrick without reserving their spot without a credit card. A lot of people are afraid to implement this but it’s a way of properly positioning and pre-framing the client before they even meet with you.
[23:20] Google Adwords and multi-channel marketing campaigns are very important. When someone sees your business come up in multiple searches and multiple places it’s very powerful and builds credibility.
[24:20] If you want to get into the tax resolution business the Tax Domination Toolkit is super important. Getting access to a mastermind group is also a big asset. It can be overwhelming at first, but the key is to pick one thing and just do it, then work your way through the system.
[25:50] There are 13.2 million people who owe money to the IRS. There are plenty of clients for everybody. For Patrick that means sending his smaller cases to his former competitors so that when they get bigger cases that they can’t handle they hand them off to him.
Mentioned in this episode:
IRStroublesolvers.com
877-4-IRS-LAW
Michael Rozbruch's Tax & Business Solutions
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