26
Tax School Series Session 3 Filling Classes
Tax School Series
Session 3
Filling Classes
Welcome to the Tax School Series. This series of modules is designed to introduce you and your Tax School staff to the tools and resources available on JHnet and the Jackson Hewitt Learning Center. These tools and resources, along with the best practices and practical suggestions youll hear about in these modules, will equip you for a productive Tax School season.
This module is called Filling Classes. Well cover recruiting and converting leads into students. Before we get started, let me quickly show you what the entire series covers.
Tax School SeriesYour Path to Staffing for a Successful Tax Season
Session 5 Building Careers
Communicating Employment Opportunities, Evaluating Student Performance & Student to Employee Hiring ProcessSession 4 Sharing and Building Knowledge
Delivering ContentSession 3 Filling Classes
Recruiting and Converting Leads into StudentsSession 2 Getting the Word Out
Marketing, Generating Leads, and Entering Leads into Employee EducationSession 1 The Right Start
Planning, Staffing, Training, and Building Curriculum
The additional sessions cover planning, staffing. training, marketing, building your curriculum, and finally, the employment process. By the end of the series you will have gained valuable information concerning critical tax school tasks, roles, and responsibilities. For your reference, each session will be posted to the Operate Your Tax School Business Center on JHnet.
ObjectivesBy the end of this session, youll know how to:Use the Recruiter training curriculum Handle incoming calls and match tax course facts and features to callers interest using the Tax School Call Scripts ManualUse the Tax School Call Campaigns to contact and manage leads How to Conduct Free Information SeminarsRegister students for classes in Employee Education
\
Operate Your Tax School Business Center
Whats NewTax School - By Task and By RoleTax School ToolseServices for Tax SchoolTax School ReportsJH Learning Center LinksTax School A - Z
The Operate Your Tax School Business Center is your starting point for planning your Tax School. This is where youll find all the tools, reference materials, and resources youll need. These were covered in the first Session on planning your tax school, so I will just show them to you briefly before moving on. At the top of the page is the Whats New section these are hot topics, and it changes throughout the season. The next section is the Tax School section. This is organized by Task and by Role. This structure makes it easy for you to find the information you need based on the way you run Tax School. Smaller organizations may have one person responsible for many tasks, and they would use the By Task section. Larger organizations may have a specific person for each task, and they would use the By Role section. This way, you can decide which way works best for you.
At the bottom of the page are Tools, eServices, Reports, and JH Learning Center Links. These quick links provide you with instant access to the most commonly used resourced for Tax School.
Finally, in the left navigation panel, youll find links to many of these same tools, as well as the Tax School A-Z list. This is topical reference like an index of all the Operate Your Tax School reference materials. If you know what you are looking for, using the A Z list is probably the fastest way to find it.
Now, lets take a closer look at the Recruiting and Registering Leads task, then at the Recruiter Role.
The Recruiting and Registering Students task covers much of what well be talking about, and its here that youll find links to all the tools Ill mention. I encourage you to visit this page and refer back to it as you plan and execute your marketing efforts. Some of things youll find here are a description of the recruiting task (***Click), links to tools that are highlighted in the task explanation (***Click), a complete tool listing(***Click), and links to the Learning Center. Now lets look back at the Recruiter Role.
Recruiter ResponsibilitiesHandling inquiries Establishing relationships with leads and enrolling them in Tax SchoolTracking and managing leadsFollowing up with those who havent registeredTraining support staff to assist with inquiriesHolding Free Information SeminarsProcessing student registrations and mailing Registration PacketsProviding input into the hiring of Tax Preparers
The Recruiter role page covers the job summary, and gives you quick links to the Tasks recruiters perform most often, the Tools they use most frequently, and the Learning Center.
The Tax School Recruiter plays a critical role in the success of Tax School. The recruiter is the person who will handle incoming phone calls, drop-ins, and internet leads, as well as outbound mail and call campaigns in the effort to sell your courses. They will be the primary point of contact for leads, and their performance will ensure you meet your Tax School goals. They will need to know scheduling, pricing, and Tax School policy, and have the ability to engage a caller or drop-in lead and match the benefits of Tax School to their needs. Responsibilities you may want to assign to the Recruiter are: (***Click)
Handling drop-in, telephone, and Internet inquiriesEstablishing relationships with leads and enrolling them in Tax SchoolTracking and managing leads in Employee EducationFollowing up with those who are interested but havent registeredTraining support staff to assist with inquiriesHolding Free Information SeminarsProcessing student registrations Mailing Registration Packets to studentsAnd providing input into the hiring of Tax Preparers
Lets take a look at the Recruiter training curriculum on the Learning Center. (***Click)
The Core Curriculum courses for Recruiters include The Role of the Tax School Recruiter, The Art of Recruiting Students, The Tax School Registration Process, How to Handle Caller Hesitation, and more. All recruiters should take all the core courses. Operators can decide whether to assign the supplemental materials based on the individual recruiter. It is important that recruiters understand their role and responsibilities, as well as the skills needed to turn inquiries into registrations.
Determine Preparer Needs Sample and Template
This is the Determining Preparer Needs worksheet. To ensure you are staffed appropriately when it is time to open your offices in January, you need to know what your goals are and how you are going to achieve them. We touch on this worksheet in each session, so Ill be brief. First you set your tax season return goal and indicate what time of day you anticipate returns will be prepared, then enter how many preparers you already have for each timeframe. The worksheet will then populate based on national averages and historical information to provide you with some guidelines you can use to help set your tax school goals. For our example today, we are going to focus on the registration goal. (***click) This number is based on a rate of 20% of registered students becoming tax office staff members. If you would like more detail on using the Determine Preparer Needs Chart please refer to Session 1 of this tax school series.
Recruiting Flowcharts
Reaching that registration goal depends on managing your leads. There are four primary types of leads and on JHnet and the Learning Center there are flowcharts that will walk you through these. There are Prior-year Tax School leads, Tax Season ProFiler leads, Current-year Tax School Marketing Leads and JacksonHewitt.com leads.
Prior-year leads will already be in your system. We recommend sending prior-year leads a mailer to determine if they are still interested in Tax School and are ready to register, and also to update their information in Employee Education. You can either use the Employee Education Contact Report to filter based on the number of years. Postcards are available through RR Donnelly.
ProFiler leads and JacksonHewitt.com leads will automatically populate in Employee Education. Remember it may take multiple contacts before a registration commitment is made.
Your current-year Tax School leads are the calls, email, and walk-ins your marketing has generated. These leads can be tracked using the Tax School Registration Form and as a lead the Employee Education eService.
Tax School Registration Form
The Tax School Registration Form is covered in detail in Session 2 as part of entering leads. This form allows you to track lead information beginning with the first contact. From where they heard about your tax school to on the second page (***Click) which classes they might be interested in it is all entered on one form. You then enter the information you capture on this form into Employee Education.
Entering LeadsNew StudentsSession 2 Getting the Word OutOperate Your Tax School Business Center Main Page Task 4 Managing LeadsEmployee Education Job Aid Entering LeadsExisting EmployeesEmployees do not need to be entered as leads Avoid creating duplicates!
Entering new leads into the Employee Education eService is covered in Tax School Series- Session 2 Getting the Word out, on the JHnet Operate Your Tax School Business Center Main page and the step by step intructions are located on the Employee Education Job Aid Entering leads. Remember that to avoid creating duplicate records, existing employees should NOT be entered in the system as leads, their employee record should be used to register them for classes.
Matching Tax Course Facts and Features to Callers InterestsLearn to Prepare Own TaxesSelf-EmploymentEarn Extra IncomeInterested in Working for JH
Flexible Hours/ScheduleSeasonal EmploymentProfessional EnvironmentCompetitive WagesTraining
So, now that you know the number of leads that you need to register to achieve your goals, you have to handle inquiries appropriately to meet that goal. The Art of Recruiting Students module in the Recruiters curriculum teaches recruiters how to determine what the callers are interested in or what motivates them to call about tax school. Are they interested in learning to prepare their own taxes, make extra money, or secure seasonal employment?
There are many factors that motivate people (***Click) to call about Tax School and being able to match their interest or motivation to Tax School features is vital to turning leads into registered students and in turn potential employees. A tool that is helpful is handling tax school calls year-round, is the Tax School Call Scripts Manual. (***Click).
Handling Incoming Tax School CallsIn the Tax School Call Scripts Manual:Sample ScriptMatching Fact and Features to Callers InterestTax School Inbound Call Recruiting Flowchart
The Tax School Call Scripts Manual walks you through handling incoming calls. It is vital to handle these calls properly to maximize your lead to student conversions. Make sure everyone in your organization is trained to handle these calls and that all leads are recorded and sent to your recruiter on the Tax School Registration Form. Anyone answering the phone should have a copy of the Call Scripts Manual, Tax School Registration Forms, a course schedule, and the Table of Contents of all course offerings handy when taking calls. Follow the script and pay attention to clues from the caller to determine what they are interested in. Tailor your responses to their needs. The flowchart shown here depicts the steps you will go through when handling an inbound call. Refer to this flowchart in the Manual until you are comfortable handling these calls.
Once this call is completed, the process continues with outbound phone calls until you receive a registration or the inquiry loses interest. The Tax School and the Interested But Not Registered Call Campaign assists in managing this process.
Tax School Call Campaign
Tax School Call Campaign data is populated based on leads entered into the Employee Education eService. There is a Practice Mode which you can use before you actually start the campaign. Lets walk through how you make a call.
Tax School Call Campaign
This is what the Tax School Call Campaign looks like. Every call begins with this page! Lead information is displayed at the top (***Click) contact numbers, inquiry date, how referred, and interested reason. The middle of the page (***Click) displays the current script you should be using, and to the right of that (***Click) are the options you select from when the lead answers. What you select here determines what displays next in the script pane.
You can also link directly to the Employee Education eService (***Click) to update information during the call and to make sure you have accurate address information to send out Registration Packets. Well take more about Registration Packets in a few minutes. You can also indicate if the leads wants to be contacted again (***Click), does not want to be contacted (***Click), end the call (***Click), or go back (***Click) to a previous screen.
Tax School Interested but Not Registered Call Campaign
So, what happens when a lead doesnt register for a class? If you select the Customer Requests Call Again, these leads are moved to the Interested but Not Registered Call Campaign. This allows you to recontact people that have expressed interest but have not registered yet, and prevents you from losing those leads.
After you have contacted all your leads using the Tax School Call Campaign, you should use the Interested but Not Registered Call Campaign to follow-up with those that havent registered yet.
Employee Education Contact Information Report
Create LabelsFilters:DateTypeInterested ReasonProFiler Y/N
If you choose to send postcards or other mailing pieces to leads, you can use the Employee Education Contact Information Report to create labels. You can sort these reports by different variables and then create mailing lists for each piece of marketing you want to send depending on the type of lead you are dealing with.
Tax School Registration PacketEnrollment AgreementTax School BrochureYour customized Course Catalog Free Information Seminar flyer or invitation
As soon as you receive a commitment from a lead to register for a class, you should send them a Tax School Registration Packet. Give them a couple days to receive the package, then make a follow-up call while the lead is still hot. There are a number of items you should include in your tax school registration packet. (bullets)
Enrollment Agreement. There are customizable Enrollment Agreements on JHnet, and state specific information depending on your state regulations.
Tax School BrochureFree Information Seminar flyer or invitationYour customized Course Catalog
Free Information Seminar Provides Tax School prospects with a taste of tax school, presents a tax topic, showcases courses.
Goals: Impress leads with what you have to offerReinforce marketing messageEnroll qualified leads in Tax School
Free Information Seminars are structured events that you offer in your office to give unregistered leads a taste of the Tax School experience. The Free Information Seminar is an opportunity to impress attendees with your professionalism, knowledgeable instructor, classroom set-up, and the Jackson Hewitt tax course materials. The goal of the Seminar is to register leads for Tax School. On JHnet, youll find a complete tool kit (***Click) for holding one of these events. It contains everything you need to have an easy and successful Free Information Seminar.
Tax School Aptitude TestQuick test to verify leads tax knowledgeBasic and Intermediate versionsOnline and Paper versions
Also available is a Tax School Aptitude Test (also referred as the TSAT) provides the ability to determine which course a person should take. Many people with prior tax experience express interest in our courses. The Tax School Aptitude Test allows you to see exactly what knowledge they have and assists in determine which courses are a good fit for the lead.
Registering Leads/Employee
Registering leads or employees for a class is a simple process on the Employee Education eService. The Employee Education Job Aid Registering leads located on the OYTSBC walks you through this process.
Students RegistrationClass InformationClass Name, Number, and Instructors NameRegistration InformationRegister Date, Receipt #, Fee, Amount Paid, Bal Due Amt, and Books Issued DateLogin InformationURL to taxschool.com, pctr, username and password
At the end of the registration process in Employee Education, you now have the ability to print a recap of the registration for the student. This recap includes (read bullets).
Also, please know that you can print this registration form for the student at any time in Emloyee Education.
Student PacketWelcome Letter Registration RecapClass/Lab ScheduleBIT Users Guide (also available on taxschool.com)BIT Participants Guide
When students register and pay for a course, according to your franchise policies, give them a student packet which includes the following:
Read the bullets.
SummaryNow you should know how to:Use the Recruiter training curriculum Handle incoming calls and match tax course facts and features to callers interest using the Tax School Call Scripts ManualUse the Tax School Call Campaigns to contact leads Conduct a Free Information SeminarRegister students for classes in Employee Education
***Add quick review of whats been covered
Location Settings
Just a quick reminder - Please verify that your Tax School Locator and email address are current in the Location Settings eService. Do this for each office! This is the email address that your jacksonhewitt.com referrals will be sent to. If you dont know for sure that these have been updated for this year, check them now!
Dont miss the live Tax School Q&A eSession which features.
Hear from a PeerSubject Matter ExpertsOpen Q&A Session
Welcome to the Tax School Series. This series of modules is designed to introduce you and your Tax School staff to the tools and resources available on JHnet and the Jackson Hewitt Learning Center. These tools and resources, along with the best practices and practical suggestions youll hear about in these modules, will equip you for a productive Tax School season.
This module is called Filling Classes. Well cover recruiting and converting leads into students. Before we get started, let me quickly show you what the entire series covers. The additional sessions cover planning, staffing. training, marketing, building your curriculum, and finally, the employment process. By the end of the series you will have gained valuable information concerning critical tax school tasks, roles, and responsibilities. For your reference, each session will be posted to the Operate Your Tax School Business Center on JHnet.\The Operate Your Tax School Business Center is your starting point for planning your Tax School. This is where youll find all the tools, reference materials, and resources youll need. These were covered in the first Session on planning your tax school, so I will just show them to you briefly before moving on. At the top of the page is the Whats New section these are hot topics, and it changes throughout the season. The next section is the Tax School section. This is organized by Task and by Role. This structure makes it easy for you to find the information you need based on the way you run Tax School. Smaller organizations may have one person responsible for many tasks, and they would use the By Task section. Larger organizations may have a specific person for each task, and they would use the By Role section. This way, you can decide which way works best for you.
At the bottom of the page are Tools, eServices, Reports, and JH Learning Center Links. These quick links provide you with instant access to the most commonly used resourced for Tax School.
Finally, in the left navigation panel, youll find links to many of these same tools, as well as the Tax School A-Z list. This is topical reference like an index of all the Operate Your Tax School reference materials. If you know what you are looking for, using the A Z list is probably the fastest way to find it.
Now, lets take a closer look at the Recruiting and Registering Leads task, then at the Recruiter Role.The Recruiting and Registering Students task covers much of what well be talking about, and its here that youll find links to all the tools Ill mention. I encourage you to visit this page and refer back to it as you plan and execute your marketing efforts. Some of things youll find here are a description of the recruiting task (***Click), links to tools that are highlighted in the task explanation (***Click), a complete tool listing(***Click), and links to the Learning Center. Now lets look back at the Recruiter Role.The Recruiter role page covers the job summary, and gives you quick links to the Tasks recruiters perform most often, the Tools they use most frequently, and the Learning Center.
The Tax School Recruiter plays a critical role in the success of Tax School. The recruiter is the person who will handle incoming phone calls, drop-ins, and internet leads, as well as outbound mail and call campaigns in the effort to sell your courses. They will be the primary point of contact for leads, and their performance will ensure you meet your Tax School goals. They will need to know scheduling, pricing, and Tax School policy, and have the ability to engage a caller or drop-in lead and match the benefits of Tax School to their needs. Responsibilities you may want to assign to the Recruiter are: (***Click)
Handling drop-in, telephone, and Internet inquiriesEstablishing relationships with leads and enrolling them in Tax SchoolTracking and managing leads in Employee EducationFollowing up with those who are interested but havent registeredTraining support staff to assist with inquiriesHolding Free Information SeminarsProcessing student registrations Mailing Registration Packets to studentsAnd providing input into the hiring of Tax Preparers
Lets take a look at the Recruiter training curriculum on the Learning Center. (***Click) The Core Curriculum courses for Recruiters include The Role of the Tax School Recruiter, The Art of Recruiting Students, The Tax School Registration Process, How to Handle Caller Hesitation, and more. All recruiters should take all the core courses. Operators can decide whether to assign the supplemental materials based on the individual recruiter. It is important that recruiters understand their role and responsibilities, as well as the skills needed to turn inquiries into registrations.
This is the Determining Preparer Needs worksheet. To ensure you are staffed appropriately when it is time to open your offices in January, you need to know what your goals are and how you are going to achieve them. We touch on this worksheet in each session, so Ill be brief. First you set your tax season return goal and indicate what time of day you anticipate returns will be prepared, then enter how many preparers you already have for each timeframe. The worksheet will then populate based on national averages and historical information to provide you with some guidelines you can use to help set your tax school goals. For our example today, we are going to focus on the registration goal. (***click) This number is based on a rate of 20% of registered students becoming tax office staff members. If you would like more detail on using the Determine Preparer Needs Chart please refer to Session 1 of this tax school series.
Reaching that registration goal depends on managing your leads. There are four primary types of leads and on JHnet and the Learning Center there are flowcharts that will walk you through these. There are Prior-year Tax School leads, Tax Season ProFiler leads, Current-year Tax School Marketing Leads and JacksonHewitt.com leads.
Prior-year leads will already be in your system. We recommend sending prior-year leads a mailer to determine if they are still interested in Tax School and are ready to register, and also to update their information in Employee Education. You can either use the Employee Education Contact Report to filter based on the number of years. Postcards are available through RR Donnelly.
ProFiler leads and JacksonHewitt.com leads will automatically populate in Employee Education. Remember it may take multiple contacts before a registration commitment is made.
Your current-year Tax School leads are the calls, email, and walk-ins your marketing has generated. These leads can be tracked using the Tax School Registration Form and as a lead the Employee Education eService.The Tax School Registration Form is covered in detail in Session 2 as part of entering leads. This form allows you to track lead information beginning with the first contact. From where they heard about your tax school to on the second page (***Click) which classes they might be interested in it is all entered on one form. You then enter the information you capture on this form into Employee Education.
Entering new leads into the Employee Education eService is covered in Tax School Series- Session 2 Getting the Word out, on the JHnet Operate Your Tax School Business Center Main page and the step by step intructions are located on the Employee Education Job Aid Entering leads. Remember that to avoid creating duplicate records, existing employees should NOT be entered in the system as leads, their employee record should be used to register them for classes.So, now that you know the number of leads that you need to register to achieve your goals, you have to handle inquiries appropriately to meet that goal. The Art of Recruiting Students module in the Recruiters curriculum teaches recruiters how to determine what the callers are interested in or what motivates them to call about tax school. Are they interested in learning to prepare their own taxes, make extra money, or secure seasonal employment?
There are many factors that motivate people (***Click) to call about Tax School and being able to match their interest or motivation to Tax School features is vital to turning leads into registered students and in turn potential employees. A tool that is helpful is handling tax school calls year-round, is the Tax School Call Scripts Manual. (***Click).
The Tax School Call Scripts Manual walks you through handling incoming calls. It is vital to handle these calls properly to maximize your lead to student conversions. Make sure everyone in your organization is trained to handle these calls and that all leads are recorded and sent to your recruiter on the Tax School Registration Form. Anyone answering the phone should have a copy of the Call Scripts Manual, Tax School Registration Forms, a course schedule, and the Table of Contents of all course offerings handy when taking calls. Follow the script and pay attention to clues from the caller to determine what they are interested in. Tailor your responses to their needs. The flowchart shown here depicts the steps you will go through when handling an inbound call. Refer to this flowchart in the Manual until you are comfortable handling these calls.
Once this call is completed, the process continues with outbound phone calls until you receive a registration or the inquiry loses interest. The Tax School and the Interested But Not Registered Call Campaign assists in managing this process.Tax School Call Campaign data is populated based on leads entered into the Employee Education eService. There is a Practice Mode which you can use before you actually start the campaign. Lets walk through how you make a call.This is what the Tax School Call Campaign looks like. Every call begins with this page! Lead information is displayed at the top (***Click) contact numbers, inquiry date, how referred, and interested reason. The middle of the page (***Click) displays the current script you should be using, and to the right of that (***Click) are the options you select from when the lead answers. What you select here determines what displays next in the script pane.
You can also link directly to the Employee Education eService (***Click) to update information during the call and to make sure you have accurate address information to send out Registration Packets. Well take more about Registration Packets in a few minutes. You can also indicate if the leads wants to be contacted again (***Click), does not want to be contacted (***Click), end the call (***Click), or go back (***Click) to a previous screen.So, what happens when a lead doesnt register for a class? If you select the Customer Requests Call Again, these leads are moved to the Interested but Not Registered Call Campaign. This allows you to recontact people that have expressed interest but have not registered yet, and prevents you from losing those leads.
After you have contacted all your leads using the Tax School Call Campaign, you should use the Interested but Not Registered Call Campaign to follow-up with those that havent registered yet.If you choose to send postcards or other mailing pieces to leads, you can use the Employee Education Contact Information Report to create labels. You can sort these reports by different variables and then create mailing lists for each piece of marketing you want to send depending on the type of lead you are dealing with. As soon as you receive a commitment from a lead to register for a class, you should send them a Tax School Registration Packet. Give them a couple days to receive the package, then make a follow-up call while the lead is still hot. There are a number of items you should include in your tax school registration packet. (bullets)
Enrollment Agreement. There are customizable Enrollment Agreements on JHnet, and state specific information depending on your state regulations.
Tax School BrochureFree Information Seminar flyer or invitationYour customized Course Catalog
Free Information Seminars are structured events that you offer in your office to give unregistered leads a taste of the Tax School experience. The Free Information Seminar is an opportunity to impress attendees with your professionalism, knowledgeable instructor, classroom set-up, and the Jackson Hewitt tax course materials. The goal of the Seminar is to register leads for Tax School. On JHnet, youll find a complete tool kit (***Click) for holding one of these events. It contains everything you need to have an easy and successful Free Information Seminar.Also available is a Tax School Aptitude Test (also referred as the TSAT) provides the ability to determine which course a person should take. Many people with prior tax experience express interest in our courses. The Tax School Aptitude Test allows you to see exactly what knowledge they have and assists in determine which courses are a good fit for the lead.
Registering leads or employees for a class is a simple process on the Employee Education eService. The Employee Education Job Aid Registering leads located on the OYTSBC walks you through this process.At the end of the registration process in Employee Education, you now have the ability to print a recap of the registration for the student. This recap includes (read bullets).
Also, please know that you can print this registration form for the student at any time in Emloyee Education.When students register and pay for a course, according to your franchise policies, give them a student packet which includes the following:
Read the bullets.
***Add quick review of whats been coveredJust a quick reminder - Please verify that your Tax School Locator and email address are current in the Location Settings eService. Do this for each office! This is the email address that your jacksonhewitt.com referrals will be sent to. If you dont know for sure that these have been updated for this year, check them now!
