Strategy for Expanding your Business Advisory Services

You're a Management Consultant, CPA, or Fractional CFO, and you want to expand your service suite. But you don't know how.

What are your options? You could get another professional credential, go to yet another mixer and get a pocket full of business cards, or take your COIs golfing again. Or you could call old clients "just to check in." But that's not working.

How are you going to shift gears?

Maybe you should consider adding new services that existing clients really need, while expanding the range of clients you can serve... 

Management Consultants and CPAs are using CoreValue to power professional services including:

• Strategic Planning & Engagements
• Business Process Analysis and Advisory
• Business Value Advisory
• Equity and Succession Planning
• Revenue Growth Planning & Engagements
• M&A Prep and pre-due diligence stress testing
• Long-Term Business Advisory Consulting
• CEO Coaching Services
• Business Development: expanding firm services, client acquisition, CEO workshops

Is this a proven process? Consider this data from analyzing 20,000 companies with aggregate revenues $350 Billion:

Average company profile:

• Gross Revenue: $10.47MM
• Equity Value at Risk (Value Gap): 27% or $2.8MM
• 21.63% Annual GR Growth by Implementing the Executable Growth Plan
• Top CEO Goals, per CoreValue Discover data:
• 59% want help with Growing Revenues
• 22% want to Strengthen Operations (making their company easier to run)
• 19% are Preparing to Sell. Of these, 83% convert to Growth once risks to equity value are discovered (courtesy: Pinnacle Equity Solutions LLC)

For more data, see http://www.corevalueforadvisors.com/data

In plain terms, the data tells you that your average client wants to grow, but doesn’t know how to: you can help with Strategic Planning and Plan Execution. The typical company cannot convert 27% of their equity value to cash in a transaction --but they don't know it. The Value Gap is the CEO’s ROI for engaging Business Advisors. The data tells you the earlier clients implement an Equity Plan the better. You can help with analysis, reports, planning and tactical execution. CEOs are not accessing the capital and expertise needed for revenue and value growth; you can help by connecting your client’s company to a growth engine by connecting them to your firm.

Professional services firms are moving from an hourly model to a value model. Many of our customers are making this same strategic shift in their business model --and new services are the path. What matters to Managing Partners:

• Quality Assurance: by implementing a standard business consulting methodology and deploying compliance-approved reports, every client will receive the same high value
• Traction and success depend heavily on demonstrating client ROI --client should see/be shown a ≥10X return on advisory project fees. The Value Gap communicates the growth your services are delivering

Advisory Firm growth is benefiting from technology and training in several ways:

1. The Discover initial assessment of company strength and value can be used with all existing corporate clients as a free executive service. This starts the business consulting conversation to win Strategic and Growth Planning, Valuation, Equity and Succession Planning, and long-term growth advisory engagements. This same technology has a module used in CEO workshops with terrific results converting leads to opportunities
2. Valuations: adding the deep-dive analysis’ CoreValue Operational Value Report
• Differentiates your valuations from the competition by including actionable analyses and recommendations
• Generates the data needed for writing compelling ‘value growth service’ proposals
3. Strategic Planning: the technology and training are specifically designed for auditing or creating strategic plans to reach corporate goals --including increasing revenue and margin and shareholder value
4. Equity and Succession Planning: data shows that
   • 83% of equity and succession planning clients need to grow shareholder value in order to meet ownership’s personal wealth goals
   • Only 12% of companies secure LOIs for sale, and only 20% of LOIs survive the first pass at due diligence: that’s a 97.6% failure rate. Do you need to offer a service that helps your clients prepare for successful M&A at the top of the range of values, and change illiquid value into AUM?
   • The Executable Growth Plan helps clients transform their company into a valuable, marketable asset
5. Business Development: Your entire team can participate in marketing and sales training, and specifically use CoreValue Discover and Discover Marketing Workshops to connect your firm’s services to quantified client needs. High conversion rate

Firms serving middle market companies report fees in the following ranges:

• $0 for the Discover initial assessment of company strength and value --this identifies engagement opportunities (and delivers a branded report to clients).
• $4,500-$10,000: Deep-Dive Analysis, and delivering the client’s Operational Strength and Value Report (including preliminary recommendations on increasing revenues and shareholder value)
• $5,000-$15,000: Equity and Succession Planning using the Deep-Dive Analysis and Executable Growth Plan
• $5,000-$50,000: Strategic Planning, which you build using the Operational Strength and Value Report and the Executable Growth Plan
• $5,000-$25,000: Business Plan (audit or create) using the Operational Strength and Value Report and the Executable Growth Plan
• $3,000-$5,000/month retainers for being the peer to the CEO, the General Contractor managing deployment of the Strategic Plan --Grow Value (1) in advance of M&A, or (2) other client company goal e.g. increase revenues by X% by Y date

To shift gears, adding these services and building a thriving consulting practice, you need  technology and training.  We'd be glad to help.

Low Risk, High ROI: the average firm is seeing a profit using CoreValue starting with their second client engagement.

We'd love to know what you think, please comment below or email blog@corevalueforadvisors.com 

The annual conference date is set, learn more about how your colleagues are winning new engagements, driving client growth, and making their practices thrive.