In case you missed last week: Why can’t we copy Jim Hitchner? riffs on Jim’s success from augmenting his traditional 1:1 BVFLS client service valuation practice with 1:many BVFLS user products (like his newsletters and webinars). And even if you didn’t miss this last week, it’s worth another read.
On to this week: Up to now, our BVFLS organizations have devoted most of their resources (much of which we provide via volunteer time and membership dues/program fees) to making sure we are technically capable of doing the work. Have our needs shifted? Do we need them to do something different with those resources?
And if you’re new here, welcome aboard. This is what we do!
Join me this Friday at 1pm ET on Practice Development INSIDER for my interview with Ron Seigneur. Ron saw an opening and built a practice area – reasonable compensation. He took a risk and created an industry niche – cannabis valuations. We’ll be discussing what it takes to identify and develop opportunities like this.
Is there anything missing from the services our BVFLS organizations provide us?
If you have been following me for any length of time, you know I have written several times about the disruption in our profession being caused primarily by free or near-free online valuation platforms like BizEquity.
A recent rumination resulted in this LinkedIn (lightly edited) comment from a colleague:
The entire BizEquity issue illustrates the failure of [X] to educate the public about the value of a professionally prepared valuation. If [X] would focus on service to its members, rather than revenue generation, the public might understand the reason to hire a qualified BV professional. Guess that will not happen in my lifetime.
Are our BVFLS organization failing us?
I believe the answer is no.
But I think we are failing them.
How so?
Because we need to take some personal responsibility here.
One of the best pieces of advice I’ve received: You don’t get what you don’t ask for.
Have we asked any of our BVFLS organizations to help us educate the public about the value of a professionally prepared valuation?
Have we collectively said:
“Hey, we’re pretty good with the technical stuff.
We need you, ASA/AICPA/NACVA, to create a unified market-driven campaign to educate the public about what we do and why it’s important.
Because we can’t do it by ourselves – particularly since most of us are 1-3 person practices.
We don’t have the time. We don’t have the resources. We don’t have the reach.
But you, ASA/AICPA/NACVA, do.
And we need your help.”
If we don’t voice our changing needs (assuming you agree that we have changing needs) with the BVFLS organizations that serve us, we aren’t serving them.
This is similar to a political issue.
Politicians listen when they get a few dozen phone calls and emails.
That’s because so few people bother to do or say anything.
So if you think some of the resources of our BVFLS organizations need to be redirected towards marketing, it’s time to let them know.
ASA: 800-272-8258
AICPA: 888-777-7077
NACVA: 801-486-0600
So what
So back to the comment by my LinkedIn colleague.
What does “service to members” look like to you – today – given the inroads being made by BizEquity and similar platforms?
What help does your practice need?
In real life
I think it’s good to remember that most business owners – at least the kind we would like to have as clients – aren’t just Googling “cheap business valuations” and gravitating to online platforms. (But business owners with a few hundred thousand dollars up to, say, a million in revenue … I think that is exactly what they are doing.)
Rather, I suspect the business owners we would like to have as clients are being directed to the likes of BizEquity by their trusted advisors – attorneys, bankers, and CPAs – and being told by those advisors that a BizEquity report is “good enough” given the need/purpose of the valuation.
Those trusted advisors – they are the “public” we need help educating.
Related posts
Big Data Valuations: What we BV experts are up against
Big Data Valuations: What you said about them
Has anyone noticed that we are being disrupted?
So I got this call from the AICPA
Cheers!
Action Items:
– If you like what I write about, tell a colleague.
– If something resonates and you want to reach out directly, email me.
– If you think we share common interests, connect with me on LinkedIn.
– If you want a sense of how well your practice is working for you, take this Practice Self Assessment.
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