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The real work begins after the report is delivered

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Greetings from South Dakota (again); the RV is parked just outside of Sioux Falls. We are making our way west to spend a month or so in Colorado before heading south to Texas for the November/December half of winter.

So last week’s conversation about my conversation with the AICPA stirred some emotions. My take: we practitioners could overlook a lot of stuff (and guff) if we weren’t seriously worried about competition (e.g., BizEquity, OQPs) and the problems it creates (e.g., firm differentiation, fee compression). The most direct comment I got: “We had a good thing going, and we f’d it up.”

On to this week. I guess I never really thought about what happens after delivering a report. All I let myself think is: report done – answer some questions – next client, please. But of course, there is that very last (and critical) step of “selling” the report to the client.

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

One thing I found last week: the seriously thought-provoking Habits vs Workflows blog post by Cal Newport (author of Deep Work). When most people talk about personal productivity, they tend to focus on improving the habits they deploy to wrangle their work.

But there is something more relevant: the underlying workflows that dictate what you spend your time using the habits you’ve developed. If you’re not focused on the right workflow (what you do), the best habits (how you do it) won’t get you where you need to be.

The real work begins after the report is delivered.

Maybe that is not a revelation for you. But it never occurred to me the way it did until one of my best BVFLS friends made that actual comment in a case we are jointly working on – appropriately, after we delivered our report to the attorney.

In litigation, you have to convince the attorney of the reasonableness of your inputs, assumptions, and conclusions. (And then again to the opposing attorney, his/her expert, and the trier of fact.)

Same with an auditor in any fair value valuation.

Same with the IRS in any tax purpose valuation.

Same with company owners in any buy-in or buy-out valuation.

In all these cases, you are selling yourself again. The first time was to convince someone to hire you. The second time is to convince that someone that they made the right choice (i.e., after the report is delivered).

So what

If you want work, the first sale is important. If you want repeat work, the second sale is crucial.

Here are some ideas to make that second sale easier. To the extent you can, in each report you submit:

  • Focus more on making it more reader-friendly and less standards-compliant (and you will still comply with standards).
  • Put all of your major valuation assumptions in one section of the report where they will be easy to find.
  • Provide support for all of those assumptions.
  • Explain what you did and why.
  • Explain what you didn’t do and why.
  • Within your valuation schedules, include sensitivity analyses where appropriate.

And here’s a great tip to check for bias that Jim Hitchner gave to me:

  • List all of your valuation assumptions on a sheet of paper.
  • Indicate whether that assumption, all other things held constant, leads to a higher or lower result.
  • See if there is a preponderance of assumptions that lead to a higher or lower value. If so, be prepared to justify.

In real life

I still call my clients every Friday to give them status updates for the projects I am working on. That helps a lot in greasing the wheels with the client to get them to buy into my inputs, assumptions, and conclusion.

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.

So I got this phone call from the AICPA …

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Greetings from Iowa … we are getting some routine service work done at the Winnebago factory. Along with the work we had done at my in-laws in Wisconsin, we will be in tip-top shape – inside and out – for our continued travels.

I hope you found our last conversation about service providers vs experts to be useful and that it gives you ideas on how to become an even better expert … because none of you are “just” service providers, right?!

On to this week. So yeah, I got this phone call from the AICPA on Monday. I spoke with someone on the media relations team for the FVS Section. But it wasn’t about other qualifying professionals getting the ABV credential. It was about something totally, and surprisingly, different … which tells me someone is paying attention.

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

Other than Damodaran’s and Mercer’s blogs (and mine!), what BVFLS blogs do you read, either occasionally or regularly? Email me … I would love to know what you’re consuming.

Imagine my surprise. Someone at the AICPA read my blog post, Has anyone noticed that we are being disrupted? Here’s why he wanted to chat:

I’m gathering info on the challenges these free valuation calculators present to the valuation profession (and risks to biz owners who use them). Looking forward to getting your thoughts on this important topic!

So I was impressed … not just that somebody in the FVS Section was reading my blog, but that they were looking for input from professionals like me to combat the problem I wrote about.

And it became apparent that my interviewer was looking for ammunition to shoot down those free (or near-free) valuation calculators. He was surprised that I couldn’t give him the bullets. Why? Because I didn’t think it was in the best interest of our profession to make someone, or someone’s product, bad and wrong.

Rather, I wanted to arm him with information that could make us better and stronger. Here were my 5 major points:

#1 – We don’t control the client’s buying process

The inner circle of any client’s team of trusted advisors is an accountant (who is not necessarily an appraiser), an attorney, and a banker. This is due to the sheer number of occasions that those professionals have to interact with the client.

If those advisors don’t understand the value of what we provide, or they do understand and still believe a less expensive option is “good enough” for the intended purpose of the valuation, the free calculators will win out.

Solution: The valuation profession needs a concerted marketing campaign aimed at influencing trusted advisors to explain the value of what we bring to the table. We still won’t win every engagement, but at least our tributes are out there.

#2 – We don’t walk the mile in our client’s shoes

Too many of us hear but don’t really listen to what the client needs. Psychology research reveals that a stated problem is rarely the problem … it’s usually something else. So investing the time to understand the problem is critical to preparing a proposal that solves the problem.

And even when we do put ourselves in the client’s shoes and understand the problem, we must recognize that not every prospect is an ideal client. S/he may be someone else’s ideal client (including the free calculators), but not ours, and we need to walk away.

Solution: We need to get over the fear of not being able to immediately respond to the inquiry, “How much will it cost to value X?” There is just so much more to it than that.

#3 – Those free calculators don’t necessarily come up with a wrong value

We imagine that the free calculators produce black box values that aren’t worth the paper their inferior reports are written on. But have you taken a look at any of these free calculators’ reports? Or the client list these free calculators have served? Because there are plenty of people who believe the results are, again, “good enough.”

And there is no guarantee that a professionally prepared report will produce a more accurate result. Gasp! Give two qualified appraisers the same data, and we all know there will be two results … sometimes widely divergent. One of them is closer to the correct value than the other. But which one? Are we willing to bet with our money?

Solution: The latitude conferred by “professional judgment” (or what passes for it) is the bane and the bounty of our industry. But when someone steps out of bounds (requires a whistleblower), there must be serious penalties levied by our credentialing organizations. But that might impact dues.

#4 – The free calculators are not biased

Whether we admit it or not, we are all biased. At the foundation, we each have our own set of business and life experiences that we have interpreted to mean something. Then, we don’t get all of the information. Or we only hear one side of the story. Or clients lie to us. And, oh yeah, clients pay our fees.

The only bias in a free calculator is that of the person doing the data input … the calculator is agnostic as to what it does with the data.

Solution: Report reviews … that second (or third) reality check that will root out even the unintentional bias. But according to poll questions answered by hundreds of attendees in 25 report writing webinars I’ve given, 70% of appraisers say they have never had their report reviewed by a technical editor or proofreader, and 35% say they do not have someone in their firm who is qualified to review their reports.

#5 – There is the belief that these free calculators will not disrupt us

LegalZoom. TurboTax. RocketMortgage. SquareSpace. I imagine the people in the industries disrupted by these products said the same thing.

There is serious freaking money behind these free calculators, more than you and your 100 closest colleagues will ever make doing valuations. And they are in it for the long game.

Solution: Cher belts out “If I Could Turn Back Time,” and she really can. Then our competing organizations could focus on tearing down walls instead of building them.

In real life

Before you get the wrong idea, I am not pro-free-valuation-calculators.
But as a BVFLS practice development coach, I am a pragmatist.

And to be sure, the best of the best professionals are not just surviving but are thriving in each of the disrupted industries I alluded to above. I believe that will happen with the best of the best valuation experts if they focus on their positioning (who they serve), messaging (what makes them different), and marketing (where they show up).

So what

Steve Jobs said we can only connect the dots by looking backward.
The question is where do you want to be when that reckoning happens?

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.

Are you a service provider or an expert?

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We are down to our last few days in Wisconsin. We’ll be pulling out Monday, having made some interior improvements that will make keepin’ on even more comfortable for how we live and work in the RV.

And it appears I have some catching up to do!

Three weeks ago, I wrote about how you come up with your price. It ISN’T the hours you work times some manufactured hourly rate. It IS the value of the problem you solve because most problems don’t have a value that hours times rate will quantify.

Two weeks ago, I offered up a video rant about our profession’s internecine conflicts on BV organizations, standards, and credentials – feuds that do little to bolster our standing among the clients we serve. Meanwhile, Rome is burning and our industry is being disrupted by forces that feed off of these conflicts.

Last week, there was a BVFLS serenity prayer that many of you seemed to like. In short, we need to be in front of our leads, prospects, clients, and referral sources when they need us … because they don’t need us very often.

On to this week. When it comes to the work you do, are you a service provider or an expert? Have you thought about the differences? Do you realize there are differences?

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

Labor Day and summer are in the rearview mirror. We are down to the last third of 2018. Are you two-thirds of the way toward reaching your practice building goals for the year? Email me and I’ll try to help … my inbox is always open!

Our BVFLS industry/profession/world is changing:

  • The number of appraisers (choices) is increasing.
  • The businesses we value are more complex.
  • The audience of leads, prospects, clients, and referral sources we hope to serve are more educated.
  • The triers of fact we must go up against are more sophisticated.
  • The valuation mechanics are more intricate (anyone attending a recent Hitchner webinar can testify to this).

As a result, the people who hire us need fewer service providers and more experts.

Differences between service providers and experts

Here are some thoughts, not meant to be all-inclusive, but enough to give you an idea of where you might fall in the continuum between the two archetypes.

Providers hang out shingles that welcome all or most.
Experts magnetically attract their ideal clients and actively repel those who are not.

Providers offer a generic service.
Experts solve a specific problem.

Providers tell clients what they can do.
Experts ask clients what they want/need to accomplish.

Providers ask clients, “What do you think? Will this work?”
Experts tell clients why a decision is the right one and offer reasoning to back it up.

Providers strive to make their clients happy at all costs.
Experts don’t sacrifice the truth of a matter to make their clients feel good.

Providers learn what the need to know to perform the next engagement.
Experts accumulate authority/reputation in their niche over a lifetime.

Providers say this is the way it’s done because it’s the only way they know.
Experts offer alternatives because they’ve seen the problem so many times.

Providers charge based on time and rate or fixed fees they believe their market will bear and hope they land the work.
Experts charge a premium fee based on their value contribution and still win the business.

So what

When asked, my webinar and live audiences report that they would all want to hire an expert to solve their problem, whatever the problem. Yet, I know (via poll questions) that most of the appraisers in the audience say they are not experts.

We can’t be all things to all people. A blurred message that speaks to many will get you an average practice. A clear message that appeals only to a handful will get you a thriving practice. Which do you want?

In real life

Do you want/need to move from service provider to expert? It’s a fundamental step that I work on with all of my coaching clients. Because when you elevate yourself to expert status, you do the work you want, attract the clients you enjoy serving, and get paid what you are worth.

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.

The BVFLS serenity prayer

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Hey everyone. Just a short post today since most of us are thinking about the upcoming Labor Day weekend and the unofficial end of summer. (Where did THOSE months go?!) And maybe not a “post” so much as a reminder about what we do.

Success is the product of persistence and percentages.

If I am persistent, I can make my audience of leads and prospects aware of me.

And if I keep showing up, that audience will understand what I do and why I am different from my competitors.

Which will get them over the twin hurdles of respecting my expertise AND trusting that I have their best interests in mind.

But at the end of the day, I recognize that people will hire me when they need my services – not when I need their business.

And at any given time, only a small percentage of the universe needs my services – even if I am the best at what I do.

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.

Marketing isn’t about us – it’s about them

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Have you wondered why it’s getting harder to reach the leads and prospects we want to sell to and serve?
What if almost everything we’ve considered to be marketing … is wrong?

Hey, what’s up everyone! 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.

In the beginning, we complained about certain valuation organizations’ very existence.
The IBA came first.
Then the ASA.
Apparently, two organizations were all the industry needed.
Because when NACVA saddled up, it was an interloper.
And the AICPA … well they were so late to the game that it was just making a money grab.
Not a productive conversation.

Then we started arguing about standards.
Whose standards are “better”?
What does that even mean?
And do our clients care? (We were told they do.)
That effort was a tremendous diversion.
And what changed?

Currently, we are debating credentials.
As if a credential, by itself, makes one person a better valuator than another.
Or as if our clients think a credential is THE most important reason for picking an expert. (We were told they do.)
More time – and opportunity – lost.

I am not saying that organizations, standards, and credentials are unimportant.
But the sniping has been going on ever since I earned my CVA back in 1995 … for my entire freaking valuation career.
And I fear the mistake we’ve made is conflating these sideshows with marketing.
Imagine the strides we might have made as a profession if all that time and money would have been invested in a unified campaign to make buyers of our services aware of who we are and what we do.

So would we like it to be easier to reach the leads and prospects we’re hoping to sell to and serve?
Then how about we focus on understanding what issues matters to them?
How about we focus on where they are and where they’re going?
How about we focus on fitting into their world?
And at the end of the day, delivering an experience and a report that dovetails with their wants and needs?
Because marketing isn’t about us … it’s about them.

That’s it for this episode.
What do YOU think?
Let me know by taking just a few seconds to like, comment on, or share this video.
Thanks for tuning in!

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.