With the end of the hectic RRSP season comes tax season. But rather than thinking of tax time as another looming deadline, says Sara Gilbert, founder of Strategist Business Development in Montreal, consider it an opportunity to strengthen some of your most important relationships. And develop some new ones.

This quieter time of year enables you to provide extra support to your clients and their accountants, Gilbert says. You can help your clients — and their accountants — to have a smooth and worry-free tax season.

Gilbert offers the following suggestions on how you can exceed the expectations of your clients and cultivate new centres of influence (COIs):

> Make sure your clients are prepared
Contact your clients and let them know about the tax forms they may have received or should be expecting in the mail. Inform them of the purpose of the various forms and invite them to get in touch with you if they need any extra information.

For example, your clients can expect to receive T5 forms, which specify the investment income they received — in addition to the familiar T4 slips prepared by their employers or T4As stating pension income.

Make this correspondence a part of your communication plan. Include this information on your newsletter or email marketing messages. Also, use your social-media networks to provide regular reminders of the ways you can help.

> Contact your top clients
Pay extra attention to the clients with significant assets and more complex investment situations.

Call those clients and inform them that you have all the necessary tax slips that their accountants will require. You can say: “Would you like me to call your accountant and ensure they have these documents? I can also answer any questions they may have about your investment portfolio.”

> Offer to make life easier for your clients’ accountants
If your clients give you permission to get in touch with their accountants, you are being given a valuable opportunity to network and establish relationships with potential COIs.

The key is to wait for the appropriate time to begin building that relationship. During the tax rush, act as a resource who can organize the information the accountant needs. And make yourself available for any questions or concerns he or she may have.

Once tax deadlines have come and gone, take those accountants out for coffee or lunch. Ask them for feedback on the assistance you provided and if there are any suggestions they have on simplifying the process for next year.

“That accountant will be sending clients to you because you’re proactive and you’re willing to work with them to make their lives easier,” Gilbert says. “That is priceless to COIs because they’re busy.