A Lesson About Running Random Promotions

TPG used to have a promotion called “$5,000 Fridays in February”. The idea was simple. Tax Pros could enter-to-win $5,000, awarded randomly every Friday, during the month of February. Unfortunately, despite our best intentions, the promotion didn't have the impact we desired. Rather than providing a reward that recognized hard working tax pros, the effect was just a cash handout out of money. There was no sense of whether the prize made a difference to the betterment of the tax pro that received them. Many of our long-term customers who did not win, felt slighted. In fact, one of our clients mentioned running a similar contest for his taxpayer clients — a random TV giveaway. His customers, felt unappreciated and undervalued.

So, we decided to rethink our promotion and came up with the “Tax Office Makeover” contest. It intentionally recognizes and rewards tax pros who have worked hard at growing their business, overcoming life’s tough challenges, and helping make their community a better place. We also decided to document the transformation through an entertaining and informative, online YouTube series, to help educate tax pros on improving their office and overall brand.

By and large, the new promotion continues to be well received, and we couldn’t feel better about genuinely improving the livelihood of a well deserving tax pro. Here is a quick teaser of the online show, “Tax Office Makeover.” You can find the full series on YouTube or by visiting the SBTPG website.