Get Referrals From CPAs
Most CPAs dislike doing valuations because they lack training and also because they face tremendous liability exposure if they screw it up. (For details see I Will Ask My CPA .) Yet when owners conclude they must have a valuation, who is the first person they call? Their CPAs of course! You can get a steady stream of referrals from CPAs by letting them know you are a source of business valuations from a vendor that offers no accounting services (and therefore does not compete with for the CPA's client).
This approach works best with smaller accounting firms (fewer than five partners). The larger the firm the greater the likelihood one of the CPAs does valuations and therefore competes directly with the services you are proposing to offer. Larger firms rarely refer owners in need of a valuation. The smaller the firm the greater the odds nobody on staff does valuations - and the more interested they will be in the solution you propose.
In today's competitive environment most CPAs are anxious to retain their existing clients. So imagine the dilemma arising when a client asks the CPA to do a valuation. The CPA thinks to herself: I really don't want to do the valuation. I am not trained in valuations, there is tremendous liability if I screw up. But if I tell my client "no", what am I really telling that client to do? Go up the street to another CPA firm. Goodbye client!
To implement this marketing idea we suggest you use the nearby link to the CPA Yellow Pages to make a list of all the CPAs community. Using the CPA Phone Script posted nearby, call and introduce yourself as an authorized distributor for SPARDATA and try to set up a three-way teleconference including the CPA, you and a SPARDATA sales representative. Then watch the referrals start rolling in!
This is a true win-win. The business owner gets a superb valuation, delivered promptly and for a reasonable price. The CPA addresses the client's need, secure in the knowledge that SPARDATA offers no accounting services so is absolutely no risk to try to steal away the CPA's client. The advisor enjoys a productive source of referrals (the CPA) and an affluent new client (the business owner).
If this approach makes sense to you, add SPARDATA to your team. A n expert business appraiser, since 1990 we have prepared over 27,000 valuations of privately-owned businesses and professional practices. We specialize in valuing businesses with sales between $1 million and $40 million, and with from 10 to 300 employees. Our bestselling SPARDATA Reports cost $6,000 and take 6-8 weeks to prepare (or clients may pay a small premium for a rush order completed in 3 weeks or less). About half our clients use our valuations to buy or sell a business; the other half use them for other purposes such as updating a buy-sell agreement, doing succession planning, gifting stock etcetera.
Few business valuation firms have more experience and credibility than SPARDATA . Hundreds of law firms, accounting firms and financial advisory firms use SPARDATA as their business valuation provider; some of the most prominent include New York Life, MassMutual, PNC Bank, Transamerica, MONY and Piper Jaffray. Federal regulatory agencies using SPARDATA include the Internal Revenue Service, the U. S. Department of Labor and the Securities and Exchange Commission.
