Don’t Come Crying Later

Post tax season is what we refer to here as “smiling and dialing,” a lengthy cold-calling process for stagnant leads in an attempt to either requalify them as potentials or delete them entirely from our database.

I’m not going to sugar coat it and regale you with amusing stories as a result of these calls, because they are few and far between. More often than not, you’re relegated to voice mail and the chances of a callback are akin to the Washington Generals beating the Harlem Globetrotters.

But every so often I’ll connect with a firm that on the surface would appear to be right in the cross-hairs in needing our services. 

Case in point, earlier this month I called a 4-partner firm in the Tri-State area (for those of you not familiar with that regional reference it’s New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.)

All the shareholders in said firm were over the age of 55 with two in their early 60s. Months before they had requested some information on succession planning and new partner admissions, but since then have been as silent as a Times Square street mime.

So, naturally when I phoned to get an update I was put directly into voice mail and a subsequent email was returned with a firm request that the firm be taken off our mailing and contact list.

Sadly, this is more the rule rather than the exception for many, despite reams of evidence and statistics to the contrary about the importance of succession planning and the dangers of procrastination thereof.

I was severely tempted to forward a link to that memorable scene in the 1994 cult favorite “Pulp Fiction,” where the “fixer” for a mob boss tells two bumbling hit men who have gotten themselves into a jam, “I’m here to help. If my help is not appreciated, then lotsa luck gentlemen.”

It took a while for me to learn that not everyone wants help, no matter how much they may need it.

You don’t have to be The Amazing Kreskin to envision the future of the above-mentioned firm not so far down the road. You’ll have partners wanting to slow down and little, if any, talent waiting in the wings to assume the roles. In all probability they’ll eventually be forced into a merger with terms a lot less favorable than had they decided to move forward just a few years earlier.

When that time comes, I may or may not get a call for our services. But if not, lotsa luck gentlemen.