Does That Firm Come with a Sun Roof?

I’ve spent parts of the last two weekends performing one of my least favorite tasks.

Yeah, I know for many of you, that’s probably a fairly lengthy list, but in the spirit of brevity, I’ll be direct.

Car shopping.

I would put that right up there with cleaning the gutters or shoveling heavy snow.

I know many of you are probably thinking what’s wrong with this guy? After all, most folks relish the often exciting process of getting into a new shiny vehicle with a sparkling interior that has not yet met a smudgy child’s fingerprint or become the victim of an accidental beverage spill.

And you’d probably be right.

But as you probably have surmised, I’m not like most. To tell the truth, if I listen to one more pitch by a salesman with a rumpled shirt and rubber-soled shoes, or watch as my better half constructs yet another pro-con comparison chart, I may start taking hostages.

And lest we not forget the decisions involved – lease vs. own; down payment or no down payment; leather vs. cloth; did I want the in-vehicle navigation system? How about 4 cylinder or 6?

If only I could hit the New York Powerball jackpot, then I’d have a lot more options and not have to sweat out the financing. I’d simply order a midnight blue or fire engine red Shelby Cobra with a V-8 engine the size of Nebraska and be done with it.

But my vehicular browsing spree got me to thinking. If the decisions surrounding a car purchase/lease are that overwhelming, I can only imagine the stress and confusion involved in a merger.

Which is no doubt why so many firms procrastinate until the 11^th hour.

Unfortunately, in an affiliation, it’s not always that cut and dry as say, opting for the custom tire package and Sirius satellite radio. Or not.

In many cases what you see is what you get and save for a cull-out sale for certain portions of a practice you’re sort of driving it off the showroom floor as is, so to speak.

Which is why we can never over-emphasize the importance of proper due diligence or even well before that, stress how critical it is to have a clear vision of why you’re merging. Don’t go through the often painful process of M&A because your office has some extra room, or even worse, because everyone else is doing it.

I once had a client call me and complain that I had not brought him any deals recently. The fact that he was deeply in debt and had not completely digested a previous merger was irrelevant. He pointed to the fact that three of his competitors had recently completed mergers and he wanted to keep pace.

Sometimes it’s not even worth arguing. I assured him I would keep looking.

By that logic I would simply research just what are the best selling cars of 2013-14 and follow the crowd.

Gee, I hope it’s not a Bentley – I would probably have to ask my bosses for a 5-year advance on my salary.