Nico Viljoen Written by Nico Viljoen, Executive Director, The Tax Shop Franchise Group The term ‘brand’ originally derives from traditional farming practices, where farmers used branding irons to mark their animals, so that they knew which animal belonged to which farm. The term was later adopted by producers of consumer goods to distinguish their product from others that were similar.  ‘Coca Cola’, and ‘Pepsi’ are obvious 20th century examples of this.  A brand became the name which told the client or consumer the source of a service or product. In today’s world of sophisticated marketing communications, the brand concept has become more complex.  The term ‘brand’ no longer only refers to the name of a service or product, it extends to a company’s whole offering – ‘the intangible sum of a service’s or product’s attributes’ as David Ogilvy put it.  The Tax Shop Franchise is a strong brand that provides value to the organisation well beyond its tangible wort...

Nico Viljoen Written by Nico Viljoen, Executive Director The Tax Shop The Tax Shop Franchise Group, tailor-made for accountants and tax practitioners, uses three big mental shifts to develop inter alia thinking capacity and capability.  The main objective of the mental shifts is for The Tax Shop franchisees to have more freedom, money and time. From linearity to complexity Management systems and processes tend to be linear (assume similar inputs result in similar outputs). Though, The Tax Shop has a more nuanced view of the world as it involves people.   We continuously reflect on the franchise and ask questions such as: What motivates people, what are their interests, what are their needs and how engaged do they become? Mechanical systems may be linear but as soon as the human element becomes involved, the system becomes complex, adaptive and dynamic, which means that similar inputs may bring about wildly divergent outputs. Mechanical systems may be linear ...

Nico Viljoen By implementing the systems in The Pioneering Practice Programme, one will build a marketing engine and, in the process, de-commoditise one’s firm in the eyes of his/her audience, resulting in the attraction and referral of more A-Grade clients and have more time, money and freedom. The Tax Shop Franchise Group associated with Amanda C. Watts because we believe The Pioneering Practice Programme will benefit all Accountants and Tax practitioners and make life easier as the programme covers inter alia the following exciting areas which are relevant and useful to all Accountants and Tax practitioners: Creating a brand and a message that will get attention! How to speak to your prospects so they stop, listen and sign up. How to position your firm as experts and attract more of the right clients. How to stop wasting time in 1:1 sales meetings and sign up groups of clients at a time! Where to find your best leads and how to convert them. For more information about...

Nico Viljoen, Executive Director Context – the world is changing The world has become self-describing and self-interpreting and organisations are exposed to the “now third wave” which means “hyperscale” and demands a bold, new architecture for businesses. Hyperscale businesses are pushing new rules of digitization; challenging conventional management intuition about scale and complexity and is a potent competitive force. Digital powerhouses already flexing their hyperscale muscles to move from search and social networking into new sectors like banking and retail. The world is moving rapidly towards global connectivity that will further change how and where people associate, gather, and share information, and how they create, consume and capture value. Digitization has significantly altered the ways accountants and tax practitioners think of competition and industry and has change the nature of business in industries. It has redefined the boundaries between partners and comp...

Many industries have been disrupted by online applications. It’s quite unbelievable to stop and think that the largest retailer in the world (Amazon) has no shop or that the largest taxi service (Uber) has no stock of vehicles or that the largest accommodation bookings site (Airbnb) doesn’t let out any of its own properties. Similarly, online applications are making it possible for firms to do a lot of menial accounting work without the need for an actual accountant or bookkeeper. The above is leading many to question the future role of the traditional accountant. There has even been speculation in academic circles that the “accountant” as we know him/her today will not be around 10 years from now. This begs the question then - where does this leave those currently in the accounting profession? Adapt or die! At The Tax Shop we have and are taking huge strides to ensure that we remain relevant in our profession and as service providers to our clients by adopting innovative cloud...

Regardless of the industry in which any business operates, having an ally in the form of a strategic partner will benefit a business.  Strategic partnerships provide competitive advantage and opportunities to access a broader range of resources and expertise.  Such partnerships can often provide distinctive skill sets and product lines that are different from the competition.  Such distinctions are of even greater significance in a franchised operation where the benefits from strategic alliances can be leveraged across the entire franchise group.  The main objective of such alliances is the true synergy of one plus one equals five instead of two. We have always regarded our strategic partnerships with great importance and are proud to have formalised partnerships with top professional organisations and software providers, allowing us to offer unique and customised services to our clients.  We currently have alliances with the following: Prominent accountin...

BACKGROUND The Tax Shop concept was originally inspired by the high demand for professional accounting, taxation and related business services and was the first publicised franchise to offer accounting and tax services in South Africa. The Tax Shop footprint has grown to cover all nine provinces and with expansion into southern Africa it has established itself as the leading service provider in its field. The Tax Shop outlets are acknowledged for their exceptional standards, value pricing and quick delivery times. It is their aim to make people’s lives easier and with their team of knowledgeable and experienced franchisees, The Tax Shop has gained a reputation for professionalism and service excellence. THE CONCEPT The Tax Shop is ideally suited to accountants, bookkeepers, auditors and related practitioners who are starting up or who wish to expand their existing practices. The Tax Shop has distinguished itself as a genuine one-stop, professional services provider with a rang...