Partner Program Marketing Resources to Help You Build a New Revenue Stream

The CorpNet Partner Program allows CPAs, accountants, bookkeepers, and other financial and tax professionals to create an additional revenue stream for their businesses while building trust and loyalty with their clients. By enabling you to resell CorpNet business formation and compliance services — or get a commission when you refer clients to CorpNet — you can augment your income and maintain a steadier bottom line when the crazy-busy tax season has passed.

As a Reseller, you collect the necessary information from your clients, and CorpNet prepares their forms and submits them behind the scenes as your silent fulfillment partner. You get special wholesale pricing on our services and then resell them to your clients at whatever price you choose. As a Referral partner, you direct your clients to CorpNet, and we handle the entire process. We give you a commission (a percentage of the service price) on the sales we obtain from the clients you refer to us.

You may be thinking, “This sounds great, but I don’t have time and don’t want to invest the money in developing all the marketing materials necessary to promote the service offerings.” Fortunately, that need not be a concern! When you become a CorpNet partner, we give you turn-key marketing assets and all the resources you need to assimilate our services into your business model. We recently presented a live webinar on the topic, and I’d like to share that information with you in this article as well.

Marketing Resources for Partners

Your clients have grown to trust you and know they can rely on you for exemplary service. With their confidence in you already established, I expect they will be thrilled to know you can now help them — or refer them to CorpNet for assistance — with registering their entity and handling ongoing compliance filings. With your help, they’ll have more time to concentrate on other essential aspects of their business.

We aim to make it as easy and straightforward as possible for you to roll out our business formation and compliance services to your clients. Whether you sign up for our Reseller or Referral program (or both!), we provide professionally developed marketing collateral to help you get the word out about your new service offerings. Our white-label design allows you to brand the materials as your own — or co-brand them with CorpNet. Ultimately, you choose what makes the most sense for you.

Below, I’ll share the various marketing and promotional pieces we give you when you sign up as a CorpNet partner. If you have any suggestions regarding other materials that would help your efforts, I encourage you to reach out to your account manager.

Marketing Brochures and Checklists

Our brochures provide an overview of all the CorpNet services you can offer your clients, and our checklists give your clients a rundown of the common tasks and requirements they need to fulfill when starting a business. We have these materials branded with CorpNet’s name and contact information (for Referral partners) and white-label versions (for Reseller partners) with logo and contact information areas you can customize with your logo (or co-brand with your logo and CorpNet’s) and company contact information. And if you’d like us to add anything to the brochure’s content, we can make changes upon your request.

• CorpNet Company Brochure
• Service One Page Brochure – CorpNet Branded
• Service One Page Brochure – Editable File for Partner Contact Information and Logo
• New Business Checklist and Brochure – CorpNet Branded
• New Business Checklist and Brochure – Editable File for Partner Contact Information and Logo

Website Content for a Dedicated Services Page on Your Website

Naturally, you’ll want your website to include the services so that your existing clients and prospective customers can learn that you’ve broadened what you can provide. We’ve created a template for website copy, which you can modify as you see fit and include on one of your existing website pages or a new one.

I think you’ll find it quite helpful and time-saving. It provides basic information describing the different business entity types and the services we offer you as our partner.

Formation

• Sole Proprietorships
• Partnerships
• C Corporations
• S Corporations
• Limited Liability Companies (LLC)
• Professional Limited Liability Companies (PLLC)
• Professional Corporations
• Nonprofit Corporations

Compliance

• Business Owner Information Report*
• Doing Business As (DBAs)
• Business Name Searches
• Business Name Reservations
• Assign a Registered Agent
• Obtain a Federal Tax ID Number (EIN)
• Register for Sales and Use Tax
• Register for Payroll Taxes (SUI/SIT)
• Obtain a Business License

*This new reporting requirement (effective January 1, 2024) applies to newly registered business entities that meet specific criteria. Companies created or formed during 2024 have 90 days after their entity is registered to file their BOI report. Those created or formed on or after January 1, 2025, must submit their BOI report within 30 days of registration. Entities created or formed before 2024 are also subject to it and have until January 1, 2025, to submit their BOI report.

Email Copy for Deploying an E-Newsletter to Your Clients

Email is an ideal way to announce to existing clients that you can help them with their business formation and ongoing compliance needs. With our email copy template, you can spread the word without writing content from scratch. Edit the text to meet your specific needs and offerings, include it in your e-newsletter or marketing e-blast, and link it to your website page that describes the services. You can use it as you wish! Whether your recipients use a smartphone, tablet, laptop, or desktop computer, the pre-formatted email will look professional on any device.

Client Questionnaires to Help Clients Determine Their Needs

Every client is different! So, we’ve prepared a set of questions for your clients to complete when they are forming an LLC or Corporation so you can gather important information from them. These questionnaires can also be used for clients with an existing LLC or Corporation who want to move or expand their business into another state.

Your clients’ answers will also help you determine the various formation and compliance services they need. For example, registered agent services, state payroll tax registration, DBA (fictitious name) filing, Form 2253 to elect S Corporation status, etc.

FAQs About the Tax Savings Advantages of LLCs and Corporations

We also provide a list of FAQs you can give your clients to educate them on the different entity types, how they’re treated for tax purposes, and what’s involved in setting them up. You are welcome to brand our FAQs piece with your own logo.

While many entrepreneurs start their companies as Sole Proprietorships or General Partnerships, eventually, they may want to protect their personal assets by forming an LLC or incorporating. These FAQs will help them consider which entity might offer the most advantageous tax outcome. Of course, they are meant as informational resources and not as a substitute for professional tax or legal advice!

Digital Display Banners for Attracting New Clients

For our referral partners who wish to get a commission for sending clients to CorpNet rather than branding our services as their own, we have designed digital banners you can add to your website or social media platforms. You choose the banner you’d like to use and then embed it with the unique referral partner URL we give you. When someone clicks on the banner, it will direct them to the CorpNet website. If the individual places an order, it will recognize our Partner ID, and you’ll get credit for the sale.

As a referral partner, you can take your full commission or use our banners with coupon codes embedded in them to pass a portion of your commission on to your clients as a discount on their orders.

Articles, Webinars, Videos

We are constantly updating our collection of information about everything related to starting and running a business.

Specifically for our partners, we offer webinars and videos on various topics to augment their knowledge and help them feel more comfortable speaking with their clients when reselling or recommending our services.

You will find valuable insight into everything from a deep dive into the LLC structure to how to structure multiple businesses to the 2024 BOI reporting mandate and more.

Also, our website’s Launch Blog covers virtually every topic imaginable, enabling you to augment your knowledge of the services you can sell through our partner program.

One thing I want to mention: As an accounting professional, you must be careful to avoid engaging in the unauthorized practice of law. In other words, do not offer legal advice without a license to practice law! However, you can give insight pertinent to your certified area of expertise and credentials and provide clients with information that helps them come to their own conclusions about what entity might be most advantageous for them. And, of course, you can direct your clients to a licensed attorney for legal guidance.

Interactive Business Structure Wizard Tool

Our Business Structure Wizard is a helpful tool for identifying the most beneficial entity types for a client. After answering the series of questions our tool asks, you can see the best matches. The tool scores each entity type, giving it a percentage score. The higher the percentage, the more likely the business structure will be a good fit. The tool is an excellent starting point for homing in on which business structures to consider.

Feel free to give your clients the link to the Business Structure Wizard so they can complete it themselves, or you can complete it for them while you’re meeting with them face-to-face or over the phone.

Free Business Name Search

When you have a client who wants to start a business or change their existing business’s name, they can check to see if the company name they want to use is available by using our free Business Name Search tool. Like our Business Structure Wizard, the Business Name Search Tool is part of CorpNet’s website and unavailable in white-label format. If you’re a Reseller partners and want only your brand in the spotlight, you can use the tool on your client’s behalf to check business name availability or reach out to your CorpNet account manager, and we can check the name for you.

Performing a business name search is valuable because if another company registered in the state already uses the name your client desires, the state might reject your client’s formation documents — and filing fees are not refundable.

Portal with Compliance Checks

The CorpNet Compliance Portal is your dashboard for staying on top of your clients’ compliance responsibilities and due dates. It provides alerts for when filings (such as annual reports, BOI reports, registered agent renewals, business license renewals , etc.) are approaching. The portal is free of charge, and you incur no fees for the setup and maintenance of your dashboard.

You may have as many clients in the portal as you want. Before we add them to your dashboard, your CorpNet account manager will do a compliance check to determine which ongoing filings and reports each client is responsible for.

You can view them at any time by logging into the portal. You will also receive email notifications when upcoming compliance tasks are nearing their due dates so you can remind your clients of their responsibilities and help complete them.

Because states’ ongoing compliance requirements and deadlines vary, your dashboard simplifies tracking what’s due when for clients regardless of which state — or how many states — their business is located in.

Steps to Maximize Revenue

Now that I’ve covered the marketing and informational resources you have at your disposal, I want to discuss how you can effectively use them to generate income for your company.

1. Determine what CorpNet services you’d like to offer for business formation and ongoing compliance – You can pick and choose! For example, you may decide you’re wholly comfortable branding certain services like filing a DBA and payroll tax registration as your own and reselling those CorpNet services to your customers under your name but would rather refer clients to CorpNet for filing articles of incorporation and dissolutions.
2. Create a website page that lists the services you’re offering – Make it easy for your website visitors to distinguish between which services are related to forming a business entity and which are associated with maintaining compliance after a business is registered.
3. Send an email to your clients (or your marketing mailing list) to introduce them to the services you’re offering – Emphasize that you’ve expanded your offerings to provide clients with convenience and additional value.
4. During your tax planning and preparation meetings, take a moment to introduce your ability to help your clients with their business formation and compliance needs – Give them the brochure and checklist and share the website link so they are aware of how you can help them.
5. Remind your clients when their critical compliance tasks are due and how you can help – This will build trust and make it easier for them to keep their business entity in good standing with the state and tax authorities. Many new entrepreneurs don’t realize they have ongoing entity maintenance requirements and they miss critical deadlines. You can keep them on track!
6. Ask your clients to help you spread the word – Chances are, they’ll be happy to let their fellow business owners know you can save them time and hassle.

Partner With Us and Grow Your Revenue!

We’re here to help your accounting business thrive and grow! Contact your CorpNet account manager if you have any questions about our marketing and other resources.