In the 2000 movie “Boiler Room” a thinly
veiled portrayal of the infamous Stratton Oakmont brokerage firm that was later
featured in “The Wolf of Wall Street,” the main character Seth is enjoying a
breakfast bowl of Cheerios when he receives a call from a telemarketer.
The salesman is selling subscriptions to The
New York Daily News, an institutional tabloid in the Big Apple for those of you
who are not from the area. Seth tells him he’s not interested and the salesman
thanks him for his time and prepares to hang up.
The ensuing conversation goes something like
this.
Seth: “That’s your pitch? You’re giving up?
C’mon sell me on it.”
The salesman goes full bore into his script
and then waits breathlessly for an answer.
Seth: “See, that’s better. But sorry, I
already subscribe to the New York Times.”
Sort of smile inducing for sure, but too close
to home especially in our business.
Accountants by nature are not what is known
in sales parlance as “closers.” I’m convinced that procrastination and driving
15 mph in a 55 are somehow required courses as opposed to electives in
accounting education.
I’ve had box seats to far too many lost
M&A and succession-planning opportunities among practices because one or
both parties took “erring on the side of caution” to another level. Terms like
pulling the trigger was a phrase many heard only on reruns of vintage TV westerns
like “Gunsmoke,” or “Bonanza.”
Case in point.
A sole practitioner in the Northeast had no
succession plan and a rather inflated opinion about the value of his practice,
despite the fact his average 1040 was in the neighborhood of $400. He was
introduced to 11 firms (yes ELEVEN) and yet found something wrong with each
one. After working with him for nearly a year, I cut my losses and told him to
go look for advice elsewhere.
Last I heard he merged with quite possibly
the worst match ever in terms of compatibility and subsequently de-merged
within a year.
Ditto for a 2-partner firm in New England whose
ongoing indecisiveness could have inspired a rewrite of Hamlet. The potential
successor firm waited a tad too long and wished them luck. As of this writing
they are still hoping for a white knight to come along. And there are reams of
more case examples where those came from.
There’s
a time to be cautious and there’s a time to close – even if it’s a leap of
faith. But as any salesperson will tell you, if you do nothing, the answer is
always “no.”
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