rod burkert

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Diversifying where you get business from will make you less dependent on attorneys

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In case you missed last week: Finding the time to write a book (or any activity that will build your authority in our BVFLS profession) shows that know matter how busy you think you are, the “time math” reveals we do, in fact, have the time. In fact, this post may make you wonder where you are spending your time.

On to this week: BVFLS firms report that almost one-half of their practice revenues come from attorney referrals. This makes sense to me … but are there alternatives that can lessen that dependence?

And if you’re new here, welcome aboard. This is what we do!

Is BizEquity a threat to us? In my opinion, not yet because the business owners who are attracted to BizEquity’s current platform are most likely not our ideal client archetype. But that could and probably will change.

If you hear BizEquity’s footsteps in your background, I recommend that you follow them on LinkedIn. That way, you can read their announcements and see what they are up to.
And if BizEquity is not on your horizon, I recommend that you occasionally check their news feed just to keep tabs on them. I saw that one of my blog posts is a featured article.

By the way, did you know you could earn a Certified Business Valuation SpecialistTM credential through BizEquity’s Business Valuation Institute?

One of the fun projects I participated in earlier this year was the compilation of the BVR Firm Economics and Best Practices Guide, 2019/2020 Edition. The survey results are grouped into eight chapters, including one on marketing.

The following table and narrative are in response to this question: What percentage of your BVFLS business came from the following referral source groups in the last 12 months?

Firms with business from lawyers get over 44% of their BVFLS revenue from this source, as shown in Exhibit 67. In fact, 40% of all firms in the survey received more than half of their work from this source.

Still, only 5% of firms in the entire survey database depend on one client group only, proving that BVFLS client development is a complicated activity. Lawyers are the top market, for sure, but no one is dependent on legal referrals alone.

Non-BVFLS partner referrals and previous or existing client referrals are the other major sources of engagements. CPA firms with BVFLS practices have an advantage here—they are twice as likely to receive new work from client referrals as BVFLS-only firms are, likely because they already have the trust of their tax and audit clients.

Many BVFLS firms have become quite savvy at marketing to lawyers. There may be an opportunity for some firms to expand their marketing efforts toward the “secondary” market groups, however. [emphasis added]

This is particularly true for BVFLS partners at CPA firms; they tend to be more reliant on referrals from their CPA partners—and lawyers—and less attentive to other potential sources of business.

CPA firms—“Big Four” or otherwise—business brokers, investment bankers, and the M&A world are also smaller but dependable sources of business for some firms.

So what

I totally get this dynamic. And I am not suggesting that we stop marketing to attorneys. But I do have three observations.

#1 – I find that many BVFLS practitioners fall all over themselves to get in front of attorneys at the top tier law firms. I consciously market to attorneys at the 3rd and 4th tiers and fellow solo practitioners. These attorneys are underserved, underappreciated, and frankly, less arrogant easier to work with.

#2 – I find it interesting that less than 1 out of 5 (17.2%) sources are actual business owners whose companies we do the work for. Showing up (as well as speaking to and writing for) chamber of commerce, industry association, and trade organization events that are attended by business owners (as well as attorneys and CPAs) could raise that percentage.

#3 – Forging strategic partnerships with other professional service firms, particularly smaller CPA practices that do not have in-house valuation professionals, is another way to bring in business. In my mind this is, again, and underserved and underappreciated market.

In real life

Attorneys will always constitute the lion share of our referral opportunities. But I imagine they see us approaching them like a group of Hare Karishnas at an airport … which can make it hard for some of us get in front of them.

I think it would be valuable to make developing less obvious referral partners part of your 2020 marketing plan, particularly if you are in a 1-3 person practice.

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.

Finding the time to write a book

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In case you missed last week: Are our BVFLS organizations failing us? Or are we failing them? Since their inception, our BVFLS credentialing organizations have functioned primarily to ensure we are technically competent. Do we need them to reallocate resources and embark on a campaign to educate the public about the value of a professionally prepared valuation?

On to this week: It’s been said that having a book is the new business card. But what would we write a book about … what topic? And more importantly, how/where would we find the time for the undertaking?

And if you’re new here, welcome aboard. This is what we do!

I am looking for 5 BVFLS professionals who want a plan to start growing their practices faster and smarter in the next 30 days.

Note: For this to be useful, you must (1) be good at your craft and (2) have authority to implement the strategies and tactics we create for getting the kind of work you want at the fees you deserve. If that’s you, email me with the words “faster and smarter” in the subject line and I’ll get you the details.

Chris Mercer. Jim Hitchner. Nancy Fannon. Ron Seigneur.
The first four guests on my Practice Development INSIDER series.
All of them have written a book … multiple books, actually.

Why write a book

You know why.
To build Authority in the practice area or industry niche you want to be known for.

In his interview, Ron stated: “Once you write the book you become the expert.”

In her interview, Nancy said: “To write a book, you don’t need to write about a topic that you are already an expert in. Pick an area where there is a need and an opportunity. You will be become an expert in the area because of the [amount of] research and writing you will do.”

Research by Hinge Marketing says one of the top ways buyers of professional services are convinced that someone is an expert is because s/he wrote a book on the topic of concern to them.

I hope I don’t need to convince you why to write a book.
If you’re like me, I suspect the problem is finding the time to write a book.

How do you find the time

We are all busy.
But how busy, really?

My coaching surveys say most practitioners generate 1,000-1,500 chargeable hours per year while working 2,000-2,500 total hours per year. Where is that delta of 1,000 hours per year going? Because there’s only so much admin, CPE, marketing, and professional reading that needs to be done.

Let’s look back on a model I wrote about in 2016. It turns out there are only five levers you can push to get more time and money in our practices. Here was my example:

$300 per hour
x   5 hours per day
x   5 days per week
x   4 weeks per month
x 10 months per year
= $300,000 billings per year

Today, I am focused on the time, not the dollars.
And the model is based on 1,000 chargeable hours.
(But the $300,000 of revenue ain’t too shabby!)

So what

Here is what those four time-based levers mean.

  • If you believe in an 8-hour day, then on average there are 3 hours a day, 5 days a week, 4 weeks a month, 10 months a year to accommodate 600 hours of admin, CPE, marketing, and professional reading.
  • You don’t need to work 10-12 hours a day.
  • You don’t have to work weekends.
  • There is 1 free week per quarter to get away from the grind and take a vacation.
  • There is 2 months of time per year to build Authority, including writing our books!

And that is how/where we find the time!

In real life

No one I interviewed said writing a book is fun or easy.
(Dorothy Parker famously said: “ I hate writing, I love having written.”)

Now you might be thinking, but Rod, you haven’t written a book.
You would be absolutely right.
And here is how I am remedying that.

Two of my coaching clients and I each want to write a book. We formed an accountability group that meets virtually twice a month to spur each other on. We are starting with something small … short-ish e-books to nail down the discipline so that we can publish by the end of the year. Then I write a book-book in Q1 2020.

Interested in joining us?

Related posts

Get more time, money & freedom from your BVFLS practice with these 5 levers

Reading that can help

Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World by Cal Newport
Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by James Clear

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.

Are our BVFLS organizations failing us? Or are we failing them?

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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.

Why can’t we copy Jim Hitchner?

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In case you missed last week: Value and Impact – A tale of two practitioners diagrams impact and value against two practitioners’ efforts. Practitioner #1 is a generalist. Practitioner #2 is a specialist. Who will get the farthest, fastest? With less stress? One picture is worth a thousand words.

On to this week: Are you a ‘risk assessor’ but not a ‘risk taker’? Do you lack the time to ‘navel gaze’? Do you think there can only be one ‘Jim Hitchner’? If so, you might want to watch this video (or read the transcript).

And if you’re new here, welcome aboard. This is what we do!

One thing I found last week: It’s Never Too Late To Start Reinventing Yourself from Further, a curated newsletter aimed at Generation X. Given the several posts I’ve written about disruption in our industry, this is an excellent read. Here’s the blunt truth, at some point over half of the people in the U.S. labor market, will be fired or demoted — especially if they’re deemed “older.”

Imagine that five BV prospects you’ve been nurturing say yes … all in one day … or over the course of one week.
If you got five new engagements “tomorrow” what would break first … you or your practice?
I am guessing it would be you!
How can you keep that from happening?

Hi. I’m Rod Burkert.
And welcome to my Practice Development Corner, the place where business valuation professionals like you come to learn how to turn the practice they have into the practice they want.

You’ve probably said to yourself: If I only had more clients, I’d hit my revenue goal and life would be good … really good.
I know I’ve said that.

We all say we want more CLIENTS.
But a Chinese proverb cautions us to be careful what we wish for.
In this case, it’s because our client work is 1:1, and that is not the best way to scale our practices.
In every practice … at every firm, there is a limited number of 1:1 clients we can serve at a given time – without working more hours or hiring more people.
It’s the Goldilocks number.
If we get less than that number – it sucks.
If we get more than that number – it sucks.

But what if there was a way to scale your practice so that you could serve, theoretically, an unlimited number of USERS … without working more hours … without hiring more staff … resulting in more revenue and more profits.

For example. Last month I interviewed Jim Hitchner on my INSIDER webinar series.
We talked about how Jim scaled his practice with 1:many fee-based newsletters and webinars.

Later, I talked about this with a colleague.
I asked her: Why do you think more people in our profession aren’t trying to do something like Jim?

She said: I’d venture to say that while we are ‘risk assessors’ we are generally not ‘risk takers.’
I said: What is more risky … continuing to do 1:1 work that we know doesn’t scale or trying something different that we know does.

She said: Doing something like Jim requires some time to ‘navel gaze’ and determine what else we could do. Few people in our profession have that time because we are too busy selling it to someone who doesn’t give a flip about us beyond the report we produce.
I said: Ouch.

Last, she said: There is only one Hitchner, and it’s hard to compete in his space.
I said: I don’t want people to compete with Jim in his space. I want people to copy Jim in their space!

I will be talking about how to ‘Scale Your Practice’ at the AICPA’s FVS Conference in Las Vegas on November 6.
If you’ll be there, stop by … listen to what I have to say … and let’s talk.

That is this episode’s practice development message.
Hopefully, it helps with your navel gazing.
Let me know what you think by taking a few seconds to like, comment on, or share this video.
Even better – if you are looking to grow your BVFLS practice faster and smarter so you can get more time, money, and freedom from it – subscribe to my YouTube channel.
Thanks for watching!

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.

Value and Impact: A tale of two practitioners

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I hope our last conversation inspires you to fight industry disruption … to dig in … to strike out on your own if an Accounting/BV firm merger does not suit you … to fight the likes of big data valuation solutions. And do this by finding a niche and becoming so damn good at/in it that you can’t be ignored.

On to this week. A diagrammatical follow-up to niching and specialization and a tale of two BVFLS practitioners.

And if you’re new here, welcome aboard. This is what we do!

Does your website have case studies or testimonials that show you can do what you say you can do?
If you were searching for someone like you, isn’t that what you would look for?

Imagine two practitioners exerting the same amount of effort (getting the work and doing the work) to create value (dollars) and make an impact (results).

Practitioner #1, the generalist, is moving in lots of directions … s/he is busy.
Practitioner #2, the specialist is moving in one direction … s/he is productive.

Who will get the farthest, fastest? With less stress?
One picture is worth a thousand words.

So what

As measured by value created and impact made – for you and your clients – does your practice have the level of contribution it could?

How/where do you get the highest level of contribution from your efforts?
It’s not by being a generalist.

In real life

Our work is not a calling.
It is important that our practices work for us as well as for our clients.

Related posts

Your 3 greatest fears about niching
$3 million in practice revenue by specializing
20 questions that will help you find your practice niche

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.