Greetings from South Dakota. The RV is resting just outside of Rapid City where Amy is holding down the fort while I attend and speak at the NACVA conference in Las Vegas. Please stop and say hello if you see me walking the halls!

Our last conversation discussed how the BVFLS niches might be losing their luster among the Top 100 accounting firms. Relax. There is nothing wrong with the industry … apparently the Top 100 firms are not expanding into the BVFLS niches as rapidly as they were in this past. This might create opportunities for the smaller firms and solo practitioners who make up the lion share of our profession.

On to this week. I’ve been spreading the gospel about BVFLS practice development since 2013. Five years (10,000 hours) into it, I finally developed my own framework that can be used to close the gap between the practice you have and the practice you want. Let me know if this model resonates and helps with your practice development efforts. Did I miss anything important?

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

One thing I found last week: Never pack, do laundry, or drag a bag through the airport again. For you road warriors out there, there is this is pretty cool – though not inexpensive – service.

“DUFL stores your clothing in your personal DUFL closet, and allows you to virtually pack by selecting your clothing items from within the app. Once you’ve scheduled your trip, you’ll travel bag free, and your freshly cleaned and neatly packed clothing will meet you at your specified destination. When you’re ready to head home, schedule a pick up from the hotel and we’ll clean your clothes and have them waiting in your virtual closet ready for your next trip!”

People I talk to all seem to have slightly different ideas about practice development. Here is one definition from a Forbes.com article that I like:

Business development is the creation of long-term value for an organization from customers, markets, and relationships.

A good definition … especially at the level of a large firm. But how do you execute on it? How do you excel at it? How do you turn the practice you have into the practice you want?

Enter my framework, which I will be unwrapping at the NACVA Annual Consultants’ Conference on Thursday, June 21 in Las Vegas.

Four Pillars of BVFLS Practice Development^TM

Fundamental premise of this framework

To turn the practice you have into the practice you want, I consider something you might be overlooking:

Understanding your audience of leads, prospects, clients, and referral sources … what, exactly, they are going through … and how to be in front of them when they need you and are ready to buy. Because it’s not about you … it’s about them.

I am not big on preaching theory, but rather explaining how theory gets put into practice. I do that by teaching not only what I know, but also what I do. I, and other successful BVFLS colleagues I know, work these four pillars.

The gap

I am going to start with the gap in my framework because once you understand what creates the gap you will understand how the pillars close the gap.

The gap between the practice you have and the practice you want is … authority.

Authority is your competitive advantage. It stems from:

• Having specialized knowledge AND advancing your unique perspective of it.
• Being known for that expertise AND getting recognized for it.

Think of Damodaran, Fannon, Grabowski, Hitcher, Mercer, Pratt, Trugman and other titans in our profession. They have authority.

How did they get it? Two ways:

• They created the space for their authority to exist by specializing.
• They used a combination of tactics to communicate their authority.

The 4 pillars

#1 – Marketing is where you show up. You never know when a buyer of your professional services will need you. Thus, you need to be present in the various channels where your audience engages – in person and online. That means speaking and writing … perhaps even doing videos or podcasts. And you can’t show up when you have the time – marketing that works is done consistently and persistently.

#2 – Messaging is what makes you different. You work in a crowded marketplace of professionals. Why should your audience pick you? Standing out has little to do with being “right” or “good” or following the rules. It has much more to do with getting noticed and building a lasting, memorable reputation by accentuating what’s different about you. And it isn’t enough to say you’re different; you have to be different.

#3 – Positioning is who you serve. You can’t be everything to everyone – it would be exhausting. You must serve one specific audience (or two). Go narrow and deep on a practice area or industry niche that you enjoy working in. Be so damn good at it that people can’t ignore you. Eventually, it will sink in that you can do what you say you can do – successfully – because you are the expert.

#4 – Business Model is how you generate revenue. While 1:1 client service is certainly the cornerstone of our practices, it is not the holy grail because it does not scale. Financially successful entrepreneurs don’t sell their time. Rather they create, package, and sell their intellectual property – things like apps books, models, newsletters, templates, toolkits, and webinars – in a 1:many environment.

So what

Together, the four pillars will make your audience aware of you. The pillars will help your audience understand what you do and why you are different from your competition. The pillars will get your audience over the twin hurdles of respecting your expertise and trusting that you have their best interests in mind.

So that when someone in your audience FINALLY has an interest in what you do … AND they have the ability to buy from you … AND they are ready to engage you … well, there you are in all your glory. Because my framework ultimately answers your buyer’s most important question: What do I get by hiring you?

In real life

At the end of the day, you want your practice to work for you. You want your practice to provide the time, money, and freedom so that you can create the experiences that matter most to you and your family. Practice development – my framework – is the means, not the goal.

Turn your considerable valuation skills inward towards your own practice. As a valuation specialist, how would you assess your practice along the lines of my framework? What shortcomings do you see in your clients’ business models that you don’t recognize in your own?

Reading that can help

How Clients Buy: A Practical Guide to Business Development for Consulting and Professional Services – Tom McMakin and Doug Fletcher.

Cheers!

Action Items

– 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 like my blog, please recommend it to a colleague.

– If you want to get a sense of how well your practice is working for you, get a Practice Self Assessment.

Greetings from nearby Payson, AZ. We moved all of 12 miles from our last location and are still considered to be in Mogollon “Rim Country.” But now the RV has upgraded cell signal booster and carrier aggregation hardware that will make it easier/faster to pull in the internet AND six roof-mounted solar panels that can generate 1,020 watts of solar power (pretty good, but a far cry from the 1.21 gigawatts needed to go Back to the Future).

I hope our last conversation about resetting your marketing plan causes you take a hard look at yours. The marketing strategies and tactics that got you to where you are today are not likely going to get you to where you need to be tomorrow. If you’re working harder than ever, harder than you want to, then your marketing plan isn’t working FOR your practice and your practice isn’t working FOR you.

On to this week. What pisses you off about our industry? There has to be something you don’t like about why or how we do what we do. Do you think your prospects, clients, and referral sources might feel the same way? So what if you took a stand? What if you stood out by promising something different than the standard operating procedures your competition follows?

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

One thing I found last week: The Validation Paradox – Finding Your Best Through Others, a TEDx talk by a business coach I follow pretty closely. Expectations, whether set by you or set by others, create closets we all need to come out of. The best way to do that is to reach out to others so we can live a life beyond those expectations … a life of awe. If you think that sounds corny, you need to set aside 12 minutes to watch this.

I write a lot about standing out from your competition. Particularly, about how important it is to be different, not better. Some people have asked me for more ideas about how to do that.

One way is to differentiate yourself by taking a stand against something you don’t like about our industry.

I got this idea from Forbes contributor Pia Silva and her book, Badass Your Brand. Then, while I was reading the book, a person in one of my coaching groups developed a list of 10 issues he sees in our industry, but few talk about. And certainly, fewer still take a stand against.

I edited that list and suggest a way you can turn each problem into an opportunity to differentiate yourself. These are all things that we would want if we were paying for an expensive valuation project. Why not stand out for them? Why not make some of them your differentiators?

10 things I don’t like about you

#1 – We are not part of the trusted advisor team, and between the client and us stands a middleman/gatekeeper who decides whether our work should be “good enough” or the best it can possibly be.

How to differentiate yourself: Stop marketing to attorneys and CPAs and start marketing to business owners in your industry niche. Originate your own relationships and clients and so that you are in a position to make referrals, not rely on them.

#2 – We run away from specialization. And we bullshit clients when we try to tell them being a specialist doesn’t matter. And then we complain about the ensuing fee compression.

How to differentiate yourself: If you are not an expert, you are a service provider just like everyone else. When you search for someone to solve your problem, you look for someone who has solved that problem multiple times, successfully – and willingly pay for that expertise. So stop being a generalist. Be the expert in your practice area. Own your industry niche.

#3 – Our reports are standards-friendly, stilted, and often inscrutable because they are so text dense. It’s almost as if we don’t want the client to read our reports.

How to differentiate yourself: Design a report that is client facing. Make it easier to follow and understand. Use charts, tables, and bullets to summarize key points. Consider adopting the PowerPoint-style reports that are popping up. And find a way to still make them comply with professional standards.

#4 – We design our reports to play defense. We add so many limiting conditions to explain what we didn’t do or are not responsible for that our valuation work product loses value.

How to differentiate yourself: Stop throwing in the kitchen sink from some source of illustrative list of assumptions and limiting conditions and only use the ones that apply. Re-word the ones you use so they can be understood by your client.

#5 – While the report is in process, we don’t communicate with our client frequently enough to let them know what’s going on.

How to differentiate yourself: Imagine you ponied up $x,000 for a retainer and then didn’t hear from the person … for weeks. Given the size of your fee, you should be happy to take the time to impress your client with weekly status update calls – here’s what happened this week and here’s what’s expected to happen next week.

#6 – We take too long to deliver our reports. Years ago, we saw 4-6 weeks as the standard time quoted to complete a draft report. Despite tools that make us more efficient and effective today, 4-6 weeks is still the norm.

How to differentiate yourself: In today’s day and age, there are not too many things anyone is willing to wait 4-6 weeks for. Once you have the information you need, promise to deliver a working number within 2 weeks, followed up by the report in another 1-2 weeks.

#7 – We miss or ignore opportunities to strategically educate the client. Many reports consist of simply restating what is in the schedules, with minimal to no analysis. Economic and industry information is often presented by just attaching the downloads as an appendix.

How to differentiate yourself: Each industry has its own nuances. Know what information is important to your clients. Draw their attention to key economic and industry data and trends they can use to make better business decisions.

#8 – We should, ipso facto, be experts on transacting businesses and intangible assets, yet that is the work we most frequently shy away from.

How to differentiate yourself: With the demise of gift/estate tax work, shift the focus of your practice. Transaction work and intellectual property seem to be growing pies. Offer value-added consulting work to compete with the brokers who give the valuation away for free.

#9 – We bristle at being asked to provide a portfolio of our work or even a sample work product.

How to differentiate yourself: You are asking someone to write a pretty big check without seeing an example of what they are getting. Be bold. Put some of your sanitized reports (for a concentrated practice area or industry niche) on your website.

#10 – We don’t understand or embrace value pricing. Fixed fee pricing is not value pricing. And hourly rates almost never coincide with transparency or the value we deliver.

How to differentiate yourself: Abandon the billable hour model. Start pricing with certainty. Offer your clients a protective put on fees. If you’ve done something enough times, you should have a pretty good idea what it’s going to cost at each stage.

So what

So these are some ideas. What else pisses you off about the way we do what we do? How can you stand out by being the anti-that-thing?

Being different requires guts because you won’t please everyone. You will stand against something the industry does as much as you will stand for something you do. But in exchange, you will gain the kind of loyal clients and referral sources that can’t be “acquired,” only earned.

And look again at the ideas I presented. What do you have to lose by trying?

In real life

I am talking about disrupting negative aspects of the BV profession. Maybe you think that is too grand a vision for you – individually or as part of a group – to accomplish.

Well, you don’t need to disrupt the entire profession … just your competition.

Reading that can help

It’s much more fun to be a game changer than a game player. So take a look this short article from Forbes.com: Disruption: Innovation By Any Other Name. Here are some key quotes (emphasis added):

“True disruption comes when you fundamentally change a market, a business model, or a way of doing things and, ideally, make a significant impact on humanity.”

“Others define disruption as the sum of many innovations that, once combined, provide a credible alternative to an existing way of doing things that creates a disruption in the market.”

“If you look at companies that are widely accepted as being highly disruptive, Uber and Airbnb, for example, they have focused on making everyday actions more convenient and, in so doing, have ultimately disrupted the status quo irreversibly.”

Cheers!

PS – I’m a fan of actionable ideas that move you forward, so I hope you find this content useful. If something resonates and you want to reach out directly, you can email me or schedule a call with me!

PPS – If you think we share common interests, connect with me on LinkedIn. If you like my blog, please recommend it to a colleague.

Greetings from … well, it’s hard to say. We posed at a corner in Winslow, AZ and then drove about an hour south from there to … the Mogollon Rim. Why? We are meeting up with friends who will install solar power on our rig so that we can do some more remote stays and save money over “traditional” RV parks that have become quite expensive of late.

I hope you found our last conversation to be useful. Because identifying with, educating, and helping a prospect who has never gone through the valuation/ forensic accounting/litigation support process before understand what’s going to happen and why every step of the way is how you pre-sell an unsigned client.

On to this week. Our practices have to work FOR us. Our marketing has to work FOR our practices. The marketing strategies and tactics that got us to where we are today are not likely going to get us where we need to be tomorrow. If you’re working harder than ever, harder than you want to, your practice isn’t working FOR you. And your marketing plan – the efforts that bring work to your door – may need a reset.

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

Audience participation question: First you build a practice … then you grow it. What stage are you in? And given that stage, what’s the one thing that, if you were more effective at, would move the dial furthest, fastest this year? Email me and I’ll try to help … my inbox is always open!

Regardless of whether you are practice building or practice growing, you may discover that your current marketing plan (you have a plan, right?) needs a reset.

WHY you might need a marketing plan reset

This part is easy. If you find yourself (or your firm) having to market harder to land the same amount of business you used to enjoy, your marketing plan needs a reset. For example, you likely need a reset if your practice was built on performing gift and estate tax valuations!

But your marketing plan may also need a reset for more insidious reasons. Perhaps, because:

• Your marketing isn’t occurring where prospects are looking when they need you.
• Your messaging isn’t spreading the word about what you do in multiple channels.
• Your positioning isn’t differentiating you from others who do the same work.

The important point here is recognizing that having to market harder for work is a symptom, not the problem.

First things first

This part is not so easy. Because if you accept the need to reset your marketing plan, the first question to ask is not: What am I going to do? It is: Who, exactly, am I marketing to?

I think many of us started our BVFLS practices backward (me included because what the hell did I know back in 2000). We opened our practices and then started looking for clients to fill the pipeline. The better way would have been to figure out what specific clients we were interested in serving, determining what their needs were, and then opening a practice meant to serve those clients and their needs.

So if you are going to reset your marketing plan, first figure out who, specifically, you are marketing to and, thus, who you are NOT marketing to. Because if you are marketing to everyone you are marketing to no one, and your messaging and positioning will get lost. And if this happens, your marketing plan will be right back right where you started – in need of a reset.

The important point here is recognizing that your target market (the niche audience you serve) is smaller if you are a solo than if you are a firm.

HOW to reset your marketing plan

Now we’re back to an easy part. Because once you know who you are marketing to, you just need to figure out how to get out in front of that audience with your marketing, messaging, and positioning.

So, where does your audience show up – offline and online? What industry rags do they read? What trade shows do they attend? What social media do they pay attention to?

Now, where do you show up? Are you writing for the industry rags? Speaking and networking at the trade shows? Hosting your own events? Emailing a regular newsletter? Posting on LinkedIn? Creating a YouTube video series? Presenting a podcast show? Updating your website?

And are you doing these things consistently? Persistently?

The important point here is recognizing that you don’t have to do it all … but you have to do something, regularly and well … and you have to do it in front of your audience.

In real life

Marketing. Messaging. Positioning.
They are different and related.

Which is most important?

In my opinion, it’s positioning. Because if you can’t differentiate yourself from others who do the same work, your practice will never be as robust as it could be … primarily because you will have trouble attracting the best clients and the ones you do get will be looking for the best price, not the best solution.

So what

It’s imperative that your marketing plan provides the right first, second, third, and more impressions. That your plan makes it clear what you do, who you work with, why it matters, and what makes you different. That your plan showcases why you are the right choice to help leads, prospects, clients and referral sources with their BVFLS needs.

Things change. Best practices evolve.

To grow your influence, build your brand, and be seen differently in the practice area/industry niche you want to be known for you will need to try new strategies and tactics.

Email me if I can help.

Reading that can help

No reading.

But I will be speaking in much more detail about the importance of marketing, messaging, and positioning at several upcoming BVFLS conferences and webinars (because that is where my audience shows up). If you’re in attendance, please stop by or say hi!

Cheers!

PS – I’m a fan of actionable ideas that move you forward, so I hope you find this content useful. If something resonates and you want to reach out directly, you can email me or schedule a call with me!

PPS – If you think we share common interests, connect with me on LinkedIn. If you like my blog, please recommend it to a colleague.

If you’re not using social media to find leads and engage with your prospects, clients, and referral sources I hope our last conversation inspires you to take another look at the available tools. If you are using social media to do this, I hope that conversation inspires you to step it up a notch to see how much better you can get at it!

On to this week. Empathy – identifying with and helping a client who has never gone through the valuation/forensic accounting/litigation support process before understand what’s going to happen and why every step of the way – is how you pre-sell an unsigned client.

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

One thing I found last week: How (And When) To Say “No” When Someone Asks For An Introduction from FastCompany.com.

My take: When we introduce someone as a friend or colleague we are making a statement that we know and approve of this person, even if we don’t use that exact language. Thus, we should only introduce those people whom we know and trust to maintain the relationship we have with the people we make introductions to.

Sometimes the best examples and lessons come from an experience in a completely different setting. For me, this was one of those times.

My wife, Amy, is in the process of writing and publishing a book … something she has never done before. Something she has no experience with. Something she may never do again.

One of the steps is hiring a book designer. And I watched and listened and learned while one person did the most amazing job of pre-selling herself and her services. So that by the time Amy received the contract, there was no question that she would sign … and pay.

Here’s how the book designer did it.
See how you can relate it to your BVFLS engagements.

Education

The first thing the designer did was to lay out every phase of the required book design process and incorporate and explain the industry-specific jargon along the way. There was a lot of:

• “Amy, you might be wondering why it’s done this way. Here’s why.”
• “Amy, you might be curious why I need this from you. Here’s why.”
• “Amy, this part is going to take this long. Here’s why.”

And at the end of the discussion:

• Amy knew exactly what was expected of her.
• Amy knew exactly what to expect from the designer.
• Deadlines for both parties were established.
• The preferred method of general communication was agreed upon.
• The method of delivering the draft and final deliverables was set.
• Fixed fees were quoted for each phase of the design process.
• A payment schedule for those fees was outlined.

By the time Amy got to this point, it was clear this designer knew what she was doing and could take on Amy’s book. And the other designers Amy interviewed easily fell by the wayside.

I don’t know if Amy got the lowest price. But it didn’t matter because she was so pre-sold on the designer’s clear vision for and competency to handle the project.

Invitation

If education is about why and what, the invitation is about how … how do you work with me.

And since the designer did such a great job with the education, it was easy for Amy to accept the designer’s invitation – her contract.

• It was 3+ pages long.
• It was an exact resuscitation of what Amy and the designer already discussed.
• It was written in plain English.

So what

After observing what went on between Amy and the designer, I know I could be doing a lot better job of pre-selling my valuation clients. Particularly, being more patient with explaining the whats and whys and because ofs.

And our engagement letters? Let’s face it, our engagement letters are designed to protect us, not educate clients. If we want better “win” rates, maybe we need to look at them more as the invitation that they are – and make clients feel comfortable when they don’t know what the heck they’re doing – instead of using them to play defense.

By the way, the designer’s contract price was $5,000 … a low-end valuation fee for most of us. The stakes get higher (i.e., the more we need to pre-sell) as the fees get higher.

Reading that can help

A while back, Seth Godin ranted about the obfuscation and legalese that appears in most agreements. Here’s what he said:

Our connection economy thrives when people understand what to expect from one another. We’re more likely than ever to engage in interactions that involve an exchange, something that deserves a specific clarification. I’ll do this and you’ll do that.

More and more agreements are being made, because more and more transactions happen outside or between organizations. The question then: What does good drafting look like?

If the agreement starts with ‘whereas’ and continues along with, ‘notwithstanding the foregoing,’ and when it must be decoded by a lawyer on the other side, something has gone wrong. These code words, and the dense language that frequently appears in legal agreements, are symptoms of a system out of whack. It’s possible to be precise without being obtuse.

There’s actually no legal requirement that an agreement not be in specific, clear, everyday English. To do otherwise disrespects the person you’re hoping to engage with …. In fact, if the goal is to avoid confusion and the costs of the legal system when conflicts occur, the clearer, the better. [emphasis added]

Consider this clause, which can change everything: ‘Any disagreements over the interpretation of this agreement will be resolved through binding, informal arbitration. Both of us agree to hire a non-involved attorney, submit up to five pages of material to state our case, and abide by her decision.’

The best thing about this clause is that you’ll almost never need it. Mutual respect and clear language lead to agreements that work.

Certainly gives us something to think about!

Cheers!

PS – I’m a fan of actionable ideas that move you forward, so I hope you find this content useful. If something resonates and you want to reach out directly, you can email me or schedule a call with me!

PPS – If you think we share common interests, connect with me on LinkedIn. If you like my blog, please recommend it to a colleague.