We've got your back

According to the Urban Dictionary the definition of the phrase we've got your back:

You are going to watch out and be a second set of eyes for someone. You will look out for their best interests and let them know if they have missed something. You will stick up for them.

 

 

 Client>>>> one that is under the protection of another

When it comes to the IRS, as our client, we've got your back.

12 tempting tax tips from yahoo finance

From Yahoo Finance and Bank Rate


In recent years, as Congress crafted new laws such as housing bills, health care reform or extended tax provisions such as the Bush-era tax cuts, lawmakers were careful to make sure that no major taxes took effect in 2012.

Why? Because it's a presidential election year. No candidate wants to explain to voters heading to the polls why they are facing added taxes.

But there are still many tax considerations in the coming year. Here are 12 tax tips, reminders and planning tools for 2012.


Click this link to read more.

August 6, 2012 Client Newsletter

Staples “the office Superstore” emailed me a rebate last week as part of their rewards program. The email suggested that I could use it online for my next purchase. And therein lies a story.  Badly needing some mailing labels I proceeded to make a purchase at staples.com.  I opted for the “no charge for shipping offer”  if I picked up my purchase at the local Staples store since the alternative was for Staples to ship the labels to me for an additional $17.00 charge.  The shipping charges would be more than the cost of the labels.  The purchase confirmation clearly indicated that the labels would be ready for pick up at the store the next day.  No other instructions about timing or pick up procedures were included in the confirmation.  Perfect.

On the way to work the next day I stopped by Staples to pick up my labels.   First you need to flag down a manager to pick up your staples.com purchase.  After a short time waiting at the customer service/instant printing counter along comes a very nice young man assistant manager. After asking my name he then started typing on the computer.  He then went back to the locked store room and came back empty handed.  “Did you get an email?” he asked.  “Yes” I replied and showed him my copy.  “Well we haven’t got our delivery yet.  You will have to come back when it comes in.”  “Don’t you carry these labels in stock, right here in the store?” I asked lightbulb clearly going on.  More typing on the computer.  “Yes we do” he answered.  “Well can’t I just take one of them off the shelf?”  “I don’t know” he answered.  “Let me check.”  He then put in a call to what I later found out was the general manager.  Five minutes later the general manager called back.  “No can do” he said.  “You have to come back when the delivery comes in.”

So here is the situation.  I am in the store.  They have the product I ordered and paid for.  There is no information on my confirmation that there is a special time when I could pick it up.  I really didn’t want to come back to the store to pick up something that they already had in stock.  I also learned a long time ago that you should never take the first no for an answer.  Especially considering the sign at the entrance of the store, signed by the general manager, pledging that my customer satisfaction was his number one priority.  

“Can I speak to the general manager please?”  Thinking that maybe he could solve the problem .   “Well he is talking to another manager.”  “Perhaps you can pull him away for a minute.”  

Five minutes later general manager arrived.  I explained the situation.  More typing on the computer.  Another visit to the locked store room.  And then the general manager said something to me that you should never tell a customer.

“You have to come back even if we have it in stock right now.  I am not going to take one off the shelf for you. That’s our policy.”  

Back in March 2012 I posted a link from our blog to the Inc.com site of an article written by Ron Barley titled The 5 Worst Things You Can Say to a Customer.

From that article:

'That’s our policy.'

I’d wager that even as you read those words, you flashed-back to a past personal experience in which someone spoke them as if they were a magic wand that would miraculously make you go away. But, of course, you didn’t go away. You just became more frustrated, and more convinced that particular company had little interest in your eventual satisfaction.

In seminars, I call it “TOP,” and it is a phrase that is less than useless. It is destructive. TOP is the customer service equivalent to “That’s tough” or “You’re out of luck.” It’s primary purpose is to shut down a conversation. TOP only accelerates the transformation of current customers into a former customers, and was undoubtedly crafted by someone completely oblivious to the value of customer retention. Even worse, for some customers it’s a declaration of war. Every dispute-gone-viral tracked by my firm has involved some version of that terrible text.

Whenever someone tries TOP on me, I respond with a carefully crafted policy statement of my own, “Your internal policy decisions have nothing to do with my expectations of customer satisfaction.” And that’s the point, customers should not accept contract verbiage as an excuse for a less-than-promised product or service. “That’s our policy” might save a current sale, though all future business will likely be lost.

I did have to come back later that day to pick up my mailing labels.  Even more interesting is that Staples shipped my mailing labels from their warehouse, already in stock in their store via UPS, in a large box securely stored in their locked storeroom that only managers have access to, which means that a customer has to wait to pick up their purchases, because their managers might be busy talking to other managers about important Staples stuff.

Ron Sargent CEO of Staples writes on their website “we've known for years that a focus on results includes a focus on Staples Soul. Soul is our desire to be a leader in environmental sustainability, business ethics, diversity and community engagement.”

“Environment.  We generate business and environmental benefits — for ourselves, our customers and our communities — by leading the way in sustainable business practices. We focus on offering more sustainable products and services, providing easy customer recycling solutions, and operating our business in an environmentally efficient way.”

What is the definition of insanity?

This situation would never have happened in your small business.  It was a vivid reminder to me that small businesses who figure out how to stand out in world against so many larger, wealthier rivals almost always find the answer is superior customer service.  We don’t just give lipservice to customer service.  We are nimble.  We run circles around the big guys.  We don’t pretend to have good customer service.  We live it.  We fix very fixable customer service issues on a daily basis making our customers feel good about doing business with us while Staples loses future business by setting bizarre policies and pay lip service to environmental causes..  


I recently ran across an interesting report of what I call an IRS audit failure.  The TIGTA (Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration)  recently found that IRS audits have led to a substantial number of recommended adjustments to items reported on S corporation returns. The number one adjustment is a failure for the stockholder employee to take a reasonable salary.  However, the number of audits closed with no recommended adjustments (no-change) is very high for returns selected by the Discriminant Index Function system.  In other words the IRS is auditing returns that don’t need to be audited.  62 percent of S corporation returns audited based on the Discrimination Index Function system last year were closed as no change and compliant taxpayers are being burdened by unnecessary audits.


Don Fuener will be out of the office August 21 and August 23 to August 30, 2012.

August 6, 2012 Client Newsletter

Staples “the office Superstore” emailed me a rebate last week as part of their rewards program. The email suggested that I could use it online for my next purchase. And therein lies a story.  Badly needing some mailing labels I proceeded to make a purchase at staples.com.  I opted for the “no charge for shipping offer”  if I picked up my purchase at the local Staples store since the alternative was for Staples to ship the labels to me for an additional $17.00 charge.  The shipping charges would be more than the cost of the labels.  The purchase confirmation clearly indicated that the labels would be ready for pick up at the store the next day.  No other instructions about timing or pick up procedures were included in the confirmation.  Perfect.

On the way to work the next day I stopped by Staples to pick up my labels.   First you need to flag down a manager to pick up your staples.com purchase.  After a short time waiting at the customer service/instant printing counter along comes a very nice young man assistant manager. After asking my name he then started typing on the computer.  He then went back to the locked store room and came back empty handed.  “Did you get an email?” he asked.  “Yes” I replied and showed him my copy.  “Well we haven’t got our delivery yet.  You will have to come back when it comes in.”  “Don’t you carry these labels in stock, right here in the store?” I asked lightbulb clearly going on.  More typing on the computer.  “Yes we do” he answered.  “Well can’t I just take one of them off the shelf?”  “I don’t know” he answered.  “Let me check.”  He then put in a call to what I later found out was the general manager.  Five minutes later the general manager called back.  “No can do” he said.  “You have to come back when the delivery comes in.”

So here is the situation.  I am in the store.  They have the product I ordered and paid for.  There is no information on my confirmation that there is a special time when I could pick it up.  I really didn’t want to come back to the store to pick up something that they already had in stock.  I also learned a long time ago that you should never take the first no for an answer.  Especially considering the sign at the entrance of the store, signed by the general manager, pledging that my customer satisfaction was his number one priority.  

“Can I speak to the general manager please?”  Thinking that maybe he could solve the problem .   “Well he is talking to another manager.”  “Perhaps you can pull him away for a minute.”  

Five minutes later general manager arrived.  I explained the situation.  More typing on the computer.  Another visit to the locked store room.  And then the general manager said something to me that you should never tell a customer.

“You have to come back even if we have it in stock right now.  I am not going to take one off the shelf for you. That’s our policy.”  

Back in March 2012 I posted a link from our blog to the Inc.com site of an article written by Ron Barley titled The 5 Worst Things You Can Say to a Customer.

From that article:

'That’s our policy.'

I’d wager that even as you read those words, you flashed-back to a past personal experience in which someone spoke them as if they were a magic wand that would miraculously make you go away. But, of course, you didn’t go away. You just became more frustrated, and more convinced that particular company had little interest in your eventual satisfaction.

In seminars, I call it “TOP,” and it is a phrase that is less than useless. It is destructive. TOP is the customer service equivalent to “That’s tough” or “You’re out of luck.” It’s primary purpose is to shut down a conversation. TOP only accelerates the transformation of current customers into a former customers, and was undoubtedly crafted by someone completely oblivious to the value of customer retention. Even worse, for some customers it’s a declaration of war. Every dispute-gone-viral tracked by my firm has involved some version of that terrible text.

Whenever someone tries TOP on me, I respond with a carefully crafted policy statement of my own, “Your internal policy decisions have nothing to do with my expectations of customer satisfaction.” And that’s the point, customers should not accept contract verbiage as an excuse for a less-than-promised product or service. “That’s our policy” might save a current sale, though all future business will likely be lost.

I did have to come back later that day to pick up my mailing labels.  Even more interesting is that Staples shipped my mailing labels from their warehouse, already in stock in their store via UPS, in a large box securely stored in their locked storeroom that only managers have access to, which means that a customer has to wait to pick up their purchases, because their managers might be busy talking to other managers about important Staples stuff.

Ron Sargent CEO of Staples writes on their website “we've known for years that a focus on results includes a focus on Staples Soul. Soul is our desire to be a leader in environmental sustainability, business ethics, diversity and community engagement.”

“Environment.  We generate business and environmental benefits — for ourselves, our customers and our communities — by leading the way in sustainable business practices. We focus on offering more sustainable products and services, providing easy customer recycling solutions, and operating our business in an environmentally efficient way.”

What is the definition of insanity?

This situation would never have happened in your small business.  It was a vivid reminder to me that small businesses who figure out how to stand out in world against so many larger, wealthier rivals almost always find the answer is superior customer service.  We don’t just give lipservice to customer service.  We are nimble.  We run circles around the big guys.  We don’t pretend to have good customer service.  We live it.  We fix very fixable customer service issues on a daily basis making our customers feel good about doing business with us while Staples loses future business by setting bizarre policies and pay lip service to environmental causes..  


I recently ran across an interesting report of what I call an IRS audit failure.  The TIGTA (Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration)  recently found that IRS audits have led to a substantial number of recommended adjustments to items reported on S corporation returns. The number one adjustment is a failure for the stockholder employee to take a reasonable salary.  However, the number of audits closed with no recommended adjustments (no-change) is very high for returns selected by the Discriminant Index Function system.  In other words the IRS is auditing returns that don’t need to be audited.  62 percent of S corporation returns audited based on the Discrimination Index Function system last year were closed as no change and compliant taxpayers are being burdened by unnecessary audits.


Don Fuener will be out of the office August 21 and August 23 to August 30, 2012.