As a consultant in a very specialized field, people ask me all the time – “How do you get new clients?” The truth is, much of my work comes from referrals from other professionals, like fellow CPAs, bookkeepers, temp-CFOs, and attorneys. Those professionals are the ones in the trenches and they are the ones that will be able to identify situations where their clients are beginning to expand into other states, hire employees outside their home state, or hold inventory or other property in various states. They, like us, are trusted business advisors, looking to add value to their clients’ businesses and are uniquely positioned to identify scenarios where our services can assist their clients.
But we need to be able to help them to know when it makes sense to bring us to the table!
Following are a few questions that we recommend other professionals keep in mind as they assist their clients with financial and legal matters across state lines. To the extent any are strong YES answers, it might be a good time to check in with us at Miles Consulting Group.
- Does your company have any employees working in states beyond your home state? This includes employees based in the home state, but traveling regularly into other states. (For example, a mobile salesforce, trainers, installers, etc.)
- Does your company use the services of independent contractors working on the company’s behalf in states outside of your home state? (Many companies don’t realize that independent contractors can create a filing requirement.)
- Does your product or service require installation, training, or regular maintenance? If so, are any of those services delivered outside of your home state?
- Do any of your products or services include a software or cloud-based (SaaS) component? (This is currently a hot topic as states are just beginning to grapple with the concept of “software as a service”.)
- Do you rent office space, warehouse space, etc. outside of your home state?
- Do you maintain a stock of inventory in any other states besides your home state? This includes inventory as part of an internet fulfillment company such as FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon).
- Do you sell products on-line?
For additional information on how we can enhance the value of your existing team, please click here to check out our video about partnering with other service providers.