Tag: Growth rate

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Simplifying Gross Margin Calculation in a Boutique Professional Service Firm

Simplifying Gross Margin Calculation in a Boutique Professional Service Firm

In the world of boutique professional services, understanding and calculating gross margin is essential for evaluating business performance and profitability. However, traditional approaches involving complex operating expenses can be time-consuming and prone to errors. By harnessing the potential of two key metrics—Revenue per Employee (RPE) and Profit per Employee (PPE)— boutique professional service firms can streamline the gross margin calculation process while gaining valuable insights into their financial standing. This article explores how RPE and PPE can simplify gross margin calculation and offers an illustrative example to demonstrate their practical application.

The Importance of Gross Margin in a Boutique Consulting Firm

Gross margin serves as a vital financial metric, illuminating the core profitability of a firm’s operations, excluding non-direct costs and overhead. For a boutique firm, monitoring gross margin is crucial for evaluating efficiency, pricing strategies, and overall financial health.

Understanding Revenue per Employee (RPE)

Revenue per Employee represents a fundamental performance indicator that gauges the average revenue generated per staff member. Calculating RPE is straightforward:

RPE = Total Revenue / Number of Employees

This metric provides crucial insights into the revenue-generating efficiency of the firm. A high RPE indicates that each employee significantly contributes to the firm’s revenue, while a low RPE may signal the need for improved resource allocation or a reevaluation of sales and marketing strategies.

Exploring Profit per Employee (PPE)

Profit per Employee is a metric that evaluates the average profit generated per employee. The formula for PPE is simple:

PPE = (Total Revenue – Total Expenses) / Number of Employees

By focusing on profitability per employee, boutique professional service firms can assess how effectively they utilize their workforce to achieve profits. A rising PPE indicates a more productive and cost-effective business operation, while a declining PPE may prompt cost management or process optimization measures.

Simplifying Gross Margin Calculation with RPE and PPE

By utilizing RPE and PPE, boutique professional service firms can simplify gross margin calculation significantly. The formula for deriving gross margin using these two metrics is as follows:

Gross Margin = RPE – COGS per Employee

    • COGS (Cost of Goods Sold) per Employee: In the context of professional services, COGS includes direct costs related to delivering services to clients, such as software subscriptions, research materials, and project-specific expenses.

By subtracting the COGS per employee from the RPE, boutique professional service firms can obtain a straightforward and accurate gross margin figure without involving operating expenses.

Illustrative Example

Let’s consider a boutique consulting firm, Elite Consultants, with 30 employees. Over the course of the year, the company generated a total annual revenue of $6,000,000, and the COGS for client projects amounted to $2,400,000.

Step 1: Calculate Revenue per Employee (RPE) RPE = $6,000,000 / 30 = $200,000

Step 2: Calculate Profit per Employee (PPE) PPE = ($6,000,000 – $2,400,000) / 30 = $120,000

Step 3: Calculate Gross Margin per Employee (GMPE) = $200,000 – $80,000 = $120,000

In this example, Elite Consultants achieved a gross margin per employee of $120,000 for the year.

Is $120,000 of gross margin per employee a lot or a little? To find out, become a member of Collective 54 and access our Pro Serv Benchmarking Database.

Conclusion

Gross margin calculation in boutique professional service firms can be significantly simplified by leveraging the power of Revenue per Employee (RPE) and Profit per Employee (PPE). By eliminating the complexities of operating expenses from the equation, businesses can obtain a clearer picture of their financial performance and profitability. Armed with these valuable insights, boutique professional service firms can make data-driven decisions, optimize resource allocation, and ultimately, position themselves for sustainable growth and success in a competitive market.

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Episode 58 – Growth Rate: The Ultimate BS Detector – Member Case with Darren Isaacs and Paul Emery

Your growth rate is important than the size of your firm. It is more important than your client roster, and it is more important than your service offerings. On this episode, we interview Darren Isaacs, Co-Founder and CEO, and Paul Emery, Co-Founder at Makosi.  

Transcript

Sean Magennis [00:00:15] Welcome to the Boutique with Collective 54, a podcast for founders and leaders of boutique professional services firms. Our goal with this show is to help you grow, scale and exit your firm bigger and faster. I’m Sean Magennis Collective 54 Advisory Board member and your host. On this episode, I will make the case that your rate of growth is your most important number. It’s more important than the size of your firm. It is more important than your client roster, and it’s more important than your service offerings. Potential acquirers want to see strong growth in both top line revenue and bottom line profits. I’ll try to prove this theory by interviewing Darren Isaacs, co-founder and CEO, and Paul Emery, co-founder at Makosi. Makosi helps audit firms drive growth, improve profitability and pursue important strategic goals by delivering an on demand audit workforce backed by their technology and their proven process. You can find them at Makosi M-A-K-O-S-I dot com. So Darren and Paul, great to see you both and welcome. 

Darren Isaacs [00:01:33] Sean, appreciate it. 

Paul Emery [00:01:35] Thank you. 

Sean Magennis [00:01:36] So let’s start with an overview, Darren, I’m going to call on you. So can you briefly share with the audience an example of why the rate of growth is such an important number? 

Darren Isaacs [00:01:47] Sure, I think you know, the saying used to be that if you’re not growing you, you’re dying? And so it’s really important to understand what market dynamics might actually be driving growth and also to ensure that your growth exceeds that of your competitors because of a long enough period of time. If you’re growing slower than your competitors. You are really slowly having your  lunch eaten, so you know they pay attention to how your competitors are faring in that equivalent market. Yup. And it’s also important to consider not only your rates of growth against your competitors, but also what that growth means for cash flow, infrastructure compliance and other things that go along with that growth. 

Sean Magennis [00:02:30] Fantastic. And we’re going to dove into those questions, but that’s a really good distinction. So making sure that your growth exceeds the growth of your competitors. So I’d like to get your both of your thoughts on some of the best ways to demonstrate growth in the context of a potential investor. The five specific things I’ll walk you through and get your thoughts on each. I’ll ask one of you to tackle an item and then I’ll rotate to the other. So the first one is the first thing to understand is what does good growth look like from the perspective of the investor? Darren, what are your thoughts on this concept? 

Darren Isaacs [00:03:09] I think an investor really wants to see a long track record of consistent and sustainable growth of revenue, but they’ll also pay very careful attention to how gross margins have fared over those years as well. There are also various inflection points along that path of growth that come into play again, particularly with respect to two to non-revenue generating infrastructure and people, so revenues and net margins should be growing together. Yes, and they should also be clear, defined as of the scalable expenses you know, as as as growth is, is ensuing. 

Sean Magennis [00:03:50] Excellent. Thank you. So the second one is we advocate a five to 10 year track record of consistent revenue and profit growth. And you’ve alluded to some of that. Paul, what’s your opinion on this concept of sustainability? 

Paul Emery [00:04:05] Yeah, I think from the perspective of Makosi, we’ve gone through like hyper growth over the last three years and and it’s something that we’re like very, very conscious about in terms of because we’ve gone through four digit growth numbers over the last 12 months, which is a lovely tagline. I think when you speak to investors, and it gets a lot of grins, a lot of big eyes, kind of rubbing of the hands into it. That’s great. But you know, from when you get to the stage of due diligence and you’re looking back, you’re like, all hang on a minute. Is this sustainable? Yes. So I think for us, we understand that, and I think that that’s kind of like our transition or an inflection point where we remain right now is that we’ve been focused on grabbing as much market share as possible over the last three years. And now we need to kind of transition from revenue growth to just really focusing on that profitability piece. So we have a consistent record over time. Yes. And especially for firms that are in hyper growth, I think you need to be hyper vigilant around that service offering. And at what point is it going to start slowing down? And do you have other strategies in play in order to kind of continue growth into the future over a five, 10, 15 or 20 year period? So you know what? That’s exactly where we’re at right now. It’s like, Okay, it’s great. We’ve had an awesome ride over the next three years, but is this just transition now to really say, OK, this part of the business is growing really fast, but how are we setting up three or four others under that umbrella to continue that growth into the future and make it sustainable? And I think for the founders, you like that rocket ship, you like that uncertainty. You like that chaos that comes along with all of it. But to transition the company from the grow to scale stage, yes, it needs that next level of professionalization. And that’s something that we’ve been working very, very hard on. And so transitioning from five to a track record of consistent revenue growth, I think it’s something that we’re looking at is like, OK, maybe we don’t have the skills internally to have that set building up management team really kind of doing some self-reflection on things of that. So it’s. It seems very simple, right, to say, OK, we need to get five to 10 years worth of consistent growth, but it always comes a little bit trippy because you are having to do a lot of internal reflection to speak. Speaking of profound is what our unique ability to do that sort of stuff. 

Sean Magennis [00:06:43] Fine tuning, building your team, you know, tweaking all the elements that an investor is going to look at. Yeah, you’ve hit the nail on the head there. So when our firm Capital 54, is considering making an investment or we’re doing advisory, we look at the following and I acknowledge these are incredibly high bars. And you know, not all. It’s not an apples to apples, but we look at a 20 to 30 percent top line growth, a 70-80 percent gross margin and a 30 to 40 percent net margin. Darren, what are your thoughts on these benchmarks and be open, you know, I mean, this is real talk that we’re having now. 

Darren Isaacs [00:07:23] So, I mean, pretty, pretty extreme numbers there, and I guess I agree with your thesis on top line growth and in fact, that that might even be a bit conservative in this COVID world. Yes. You know, I also agree on the net margin front, but maybe where I differ is on the gross margin front. So the first and I really generalize, I think that margins at those levels are potentially unsustainable in this new gig world. Mm-Hmm. You know, with access to global to, you know, to skills on a global scale. And then secondly, I’d be more interested in firms who are strategically positioned to grow those, those gross margins. So over time, this. Yeah, exactly. And know, unfortunately, I have this curse of being an accountant. So, you know,  those opportunities aren’t always, you know, visible in the actual numbers. Right. It’s really important to kind of dig into the strategy of that business and understand what the opportunities of the growing gross margins think. Things like automation to tech enable your service delivery. And so, you know, how are investors looking at strategy and seeing how this firm is going to grow out, you know? Rev Yes, grow gross margins even  faster. And it’s really a kind of a multiple from a strategy point of view. 

Sean Magennis [00:08:50] I like that and you know, my view is these are targets. You know, these are nice to have. It may not be real. And your example of the impact of the new gig economy businesses is very accurate. I think the important thing and Paul said it earlier, is to have some comparisons. Look at what your competitors are doing because that will give you a leading indicator, at least a benchmark. So thank you. That’s really great. The fourth one we recommend, including profit growth in our list of due diligence requirements. Many young firms don’t focus on profit growth. They spend their time focusing on and obsessing over top line revenue, and they haven’t decoupled their revenue growth from their headcount headcount growth. Paul, any thoughts or opinions on that? 

Paul Emery [00:09:43] Yeah, I mean, this question strikes very close to home. 

Sean Magennis [00:09:47] It’s your business. 

Paul Emery [00:09:48] In that gross stage where we were very, just focused on revenue. And so we built on what we call our advisory board, but it’s essentially we monetize a kind of ex-partners Rolodexes. And it was and it was great to kind of grab market share in a very rapid way. But as we kind of transition from revenue focused to profit focus with our growth, it’s that transition and making sure you have having those kind of big conversations and your kind of bolstering the organization to kind of address those issues because if you cut it, don’t get ahead of that and you kind of keep operating in that grow operation, that kind of growth mindset. It can kind of really, really hurt you because we’ve been going through such a rate of growth that, like a lot of our support functions, like our finance functions, operations functions have really struggled to keep up with the sales in the business development of the business. And so we’ve lacked a lot of transparency into those numbers to be able to say actually what we’re looking at and then, you know, you do catch your breath for five minutes and you look at those numbers not, oh, well, we should probably adjust this. And so I would very much advocate that you, you know, be proactive on that, making sure that you do have a solid finance function set up. So you’ve got visibility into the numbers, especially if you’re kind of an operator in the business now and you’re transitioning to the true owner. Yes, you need that top down view. It’s really, really important that you’re able to kind of dig into those numbers and have that clarity to make sure that the business is going to be profitable in the long term. 

Sean Magennis [00:11:37] Fantastic well-said. And then the fifth one, and we’ve touched on this a little bit of best practices to actively go out into the market. Seek accurate apples to apples comparatives. How do you do this, Darren? What’s your opinion on this? 

Darren Isaacs [00:11:52] I think it’s yeah, I mean,  it’s a good practice. You know, I think it’s mostly practical if you’re in a fairly vanilla category, you know those metrics might be quite easily attainable. Mm hmm. I think it’s been harder for us because we’ve created an entirely new category. COVID has also blown the doors off in so many ways. So to you looking in the COVID world, this is so fresh, which is really, really challenging. And so, you know, things, things just move so much quicker now. Mm hmm. So our view at the moment is quite simple. You know, just keep our eyes on the road and keep our competitors in our peripheral vision, you know? Yes. You know, and so just to kind of be aware of them, but don’t don’t be too focused on them. I think what’s more interesting for us is actually how our  clients are benchmarked against their peers. Mm hmm. And so if we’re able to benchmark how our clients are doing against each other, then it just enables us to add so much more, more value to them. So, you know, really enabling us to drive much more meaningful outcomes for them and thereby commanding higher margins and an overall satisfaction from their client. 

Sean Magennis [00:13:13] I really like that. That’s nuanced and it’s smart. Thank you. That’s great. So, you know, there’s so many variables on making sure you put your best foot forward in terms of, you know, the value of affirm, the value of the work that you’re doing. And I loved your comment. Darren, you’re an accountant, probably a recovering accountant, right? And facts always win out. So this takes us to the end of this episode, and as is customary, we end each show with a tool. We do so because this allows a listener to apply the lessons to his or her firm. Our preferred tool is a checklist, and our style of checklist is a yes no questionnaire. Our listeners ask yourself these 10 questions, and if you answer yes to eight or more of these, you have an excellent growth story that will attract investors. Darren and Paul have graciously agreed to be our peer examples today. I’ll ask Darren five of the Yes No Questions and Paul five, so we can learn from this example. So Darren, you’re first up. 

Sean Magennis [00:14:19] Question number one, are you growing revenue faster than your boutique competitors? 

Darren Isaacs [00:14:25] Yes. 

Sean Magennis [00:14:27] Number two, have you been doing so for a few years? 

Darren Isaacs [00:14:31] Yes. 

Sean Magennis [00:14:32] Number three, are you growing your profits faster than your boutique competitors? 

Darren Isaacs [00:14:38] Oh, yes. 

Sean Magennis [00:14:40] Number four, have you been doing so for a few years?

Darren Isaacs [00:14:44] Yes. 

Sean Magennis [00:14:45] And number five, are you growing your revenue faster than the practice inside the large market leaders if you have a comparative practice? 

Darren Isaacs [00:14:54] So this is a tricky question. We are the market leaders. So yes. 

Sean Magennis [00:14:58] Fantastic. Paul, I’m going to switch to you. Number six, have you been doing so for a few years? In the context, well, you’re a first mover, so that’s a trick question, will give you a pass on that one. 

Sean Magennis [00:15:10] Number seven, while you’re growing your profits faster than the practice inside the lodge market leaders or do you think, given that you’re a market leader, that you’re growing your profits faster? 

Paul Emery [00:15:23] Yes. 

Sean Magennis [00:15:24] And you’ve been doing so for a few years. 

Paul Emery [00:15:26] Yes, we’ve been doing so for a few years. 

Sean Magennis [00:15:27] Yeah. And then number nine. Are you growing your cash balance to cover payroll for 12 months? 

Paul Emery [00:15:35] Hopefully. 

Sean Magennis [00:15:37] This is why we’re working on the business is key, right? But to me, you’re smiling. 

Paul Emery [00:15:44] I think so. 

Sean Magennis [00:15:45] It’s good. And then finally, number ten, do you have at least 12 months of forward visibility? 

Paul Emery [00:15:52] I would say somewhat. 

Sean Magennis [00:15:53] Okay. 

Sean Magennis [00:15:55] That’s that’s great. Listen, these are important things for you and our listeners to to think through and then to go back and answer for yourselves. Do you have them? And if you don’t have them or if you think you have them to double check. So growth matters a lot and relative growth matters even more. So a year or two of great results doesn’t mean that you’ve got a sellable boutique. A decade of market beating growth will command an outstanding price and excellent terms, and profit growth is as important as revenue growth. This indicates that you’ve cracked the code. You are one of the few who broke the link between revenue and headcount growth. Be sure to run a tight ship. And we’ve heard that from Darren and Paul. Be prepared to demonstrate reliable forward visibility and plenty of working capital. So Darren and Paul, a huge thank you to both of you today. I’m so excited for you and your business. It’s got to be thrilling to be a first mover, market leader.

And if our listeners have enjoyed the show and want to learn more, pick up a copy of the book The Boutique How to Start, Scale and Sell the Professional Services Firm. Written by Collective 54 founder Greg Alexander. 

And for more expert support, check out Collective 54, the first mastermind community for founders and leaders of boutique professional services firms. Collective 54 will help you grow, scale and exit your firm bigger and faster.

Go to Collective54.com to learn more. 

Thank you for listening. 

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Episode 4: Rate of Growth – The Ultimate BS Detector

Your rate of growth is your most important number. Learn why it is more important than your size, client roster, and service offerings.

In Episode 4 of The Boutique, Sean and Greg talk your rate of growth being your most important number. Learn why it is more important than your size, client roster, and service offerings.

 

After listening to the Podcast, you are invited to join a Q&A session on Friday, October 9th facilitated by Greg Alexander, Chief Investment Officer of Capital 54. Register Here

TRANSCRIPT

Various Speakers [00:00:01] You can avoid these landmines. It’s a buy versus build conversation. What’s the root cause of that mistake? Very moved by your story. Dive all in on the next chapter of your life. 

Sean Magennis [00:00:16] Welcome to the Boutique with Capital 54, a podcast for owners of professional services firms. My goal with this show is to help you grow scale and sell your firm at the right time for the right price and on the right terms. I’m Sean Magennis, CEO of Capital 54 and your host. On this episode, I will make the case that your rate of growth is your most important number. It is much more important than the size of your firm. It is more important than your client roster, and it is more important than your service offerings. Potential acquirers want to see strong growth in top line revenue and bottom line profits. I’ll try to prove this by interviewing Greg Alexander, Capital 54’s chief investment officer. Greg really is a true expert when it comes to growing revenues and profits in the professional services sector. Greg, what advice do you have for the audience with regards demonstrating growth to a potential investor? 

Greg Alexander [00:01:28] Yeah, so the first thing to understand is, is what does good growth look like from the perspective of an investor? So as the chief investment officer of Capital 54, you know, when I consider making an investment into a firm, I’m looking for the following… So roughly a five to ten year track record of consistent revenue and profit growth and also, you know, within those five to ten years, that means revenue growth roughly 20, 20 to 30 percent top line. Shoot for gross margins in the 70 to 80 percent range and look for net margins in the 30, the 30 to 40 percent range is probably a good number to shoot for. 

Sean Magennis [00:02:08] Mm hmm. So, Greg, these are those are really high bars to to leap over. So I’m curious, tell me why the five to ten year requirement firstly. 

Greg Alexander [00:02:18] Yeah. You know, I tell you a recent story that might illustrate why sustainability of growth is key and that’s really the word here. \. 

Sean Magennis [00:02:27] Yes. 

Greg Alexander [00:02:27] And that’s the reasons for the five to ten years. So I was recently involved in an auction run by an investment bank for an I.T. services company. This firm had a strategic relationship with a software provider in a very hot area called data analytics, and they helped clients use the data to make better decisions through data visualization and the bank running the auction touted the boutique as a high growth firm. When I met with the management team, they were very proud of what they had accomplished and I was presented with slide after slide of steep revenue and profit growth, and the growth was accelerating. Now, see, I had looked at a few firms in this space and I had a somewhat uncommon and maybe unfair information advantage. This firm was growing revenue at roughly 22 percent per year and had done so for about three years. Problem was that their boutique competitors, other firms I had looked like it, looked at, excuse me, were growing their top lines at twice the rate. You see that the data visualization space was hot and kind of high water was raising all ships. When I dropped out of the bidding process, this firm, unfortunately, was insulted and when I explained my rationale and provided my evidence, they claimed that my comparisons were not apples to apples and that the firms I compared them to would not, quote, pure place. 

Greg Alexander [00:03:55] This firm ultimately was unable to find an acquirer. So it appears that I was not the only one who felt this way and had seen other firms at the command of the facts and unfortunately, the story gets worse and this is why the requirement of five to ten years is so important. You see, the data visualization space cooled off a bit. The software provider, the golden goose, so to speak, stopped laying the eggs. And as the rate of growth slowed, so did the growth rate of its service partners. So it’s not enough to ride a wave so to speak you know. You have got to have a real business that can make it through let’s say it’s a decade. 

Sean Magennis [00:04:35] So, Greg, I assume the moral of the story is growth is relative and most importantly, know your facts. Know your data if you’re doing the comparisons. Is that accurate? 

Greg Alexander [00:04:46] It is. You know, sometimes I get pitches and they say, you know, hey, you know, I’m a large firm. A number of employees of big revenue and you look at the growth and it’s five, seven, ten percent, you know and so the size of the firm is less important to the investor. It’s the rate of growth and the relative rate of growth that really matters. 

Sean Magennis [00:05:05] Yes, it makes total sense and additionally, I’m curious why you include profit growth in your list of requirements. Many young firms focus on profit and we see that coming out of Silicon Valley and other places around the world. They don’t focus on profit growth. They spend their time obsessing over top line revenue growth. 

Greg Alexander [00:05:27] Yeah. You know, unfortunately, a lot of firms have great top line growth, but no profit growth. And that’s a deal killer for most especially for me. The key thing to think about as it relates to a services business, and this is different than a product business, and maybe this is the most significant difference between selling a product firm and a services firm. Yes, a services firm has to figure out how to decouple revenue growth from headcount growth and until they can do that, they’re not going to generate any profits. You can grow from 20 million to 40 million, but if you’re doubling headcount in the process, you’re not making any more money. So until they really figure this out and there’s a lot of ways to do that, that go beyond the scope of today’s podcast, but until they figure that out, they shouldn’t try to sell the firm. When they do, gross margins and EBITDA margins will jump and that’s the time to sell. You know, you open in your podcast, you want to sell at the right time for the right price on the right terms. That’s the right time when you figure that out because you’ll see lots of growth and EBITDA and that will prove that you have a sustainable, scalable business model and that’s when you have lots of firms interested in making an investment in your firm. 

Sean Magennis [00:06:47] Thank you, Greg. So top line growth for our listeners, bottom line profitability. Those two have to be done the right way in order for you to get the right price and an effective sale. 

Greg Alexander [00:07:00] Correct. 

Sean Magennis [00:07:01] Outstanding. 

Sean Magennis [00:07:05] We will be right back after a word from our sponsor. Now let’s turn the spotlight on Collective 54 members who are making an impact in the professional services field. Collective 54 is the only national peer advisory network for owners of professional services firms who are focused exclusively on growing, scaling and maximizing business valuation. Today, we have the pleasure of introducing you to my dear friend Sanjay Jupudi. He’s president and founder of Qentelli, a firm focused on business transformation through digital innovation. 

Sanjay Jupudi [00:07:45] As the president and founder of Qentelli. I offer more than 18 years of experience leading global teams, working with Fortune 500 organizations, building companies and heading operations, sales and delivery. Being in leadership roles at enterprises, nurturing startups and as an entrepreneur, I provide hands on experience and product development, implementation and I.T. consulting spanning across Europe, Americas and Asia. Qentelli empowers their clients to build right operational models and to deliver a great digital experiences and Qentelli worked with clients from various industry domains and leading geographically distributed teams that provide a broad range of services, including customer experience management, customer experience testing, enterprise mobility, dev ops and quality. 

Sean Magennis [00:08:31] Please get to know Sanjay and other business owners who are leading innovation in the professional services industry by visiting Collective54.com. Learn more about our collective 54 can help you accelerate your success. 

Sean Magennis [00:08:50] So here we go again. Greg, in an effort to provide immediate takeaway value for you, our audience. I prepared a 10 question. Yes, no checklist. Listeners, please ask yourself these 10 questions. If you answer yes to eight or more of these questions, you have an excellent growth story that will attract investors. Number one, are you growing revenue faster than your boutique competitors? Number two, have you been doing so for more than a few years? Number three, are you growing your profits faster than your boutique competitors? Number four, have you been doing so for more than a few years? Number five, you’re growing your revenue faster than the practice inside the lodge market leaders. 

Greg Alexander [00:09:56] Let me. Let me interrupt you there just for one moment, because we didn’t talk about this. But this is important. 

Sean Magennis [00:10:00] Yes, please. 

Greg Alexander [00:10:02] When you go to sell your firm, there’s really two types of buyers. There’s the private equity buyer and there’s a strategic buyer. The strategic buyer can be defined as another firm that wants to buy your practice to expand their offerings. So when they when they consider that it’s a buy versus build conversation, I can build the practice myself by hiring people and trying to sell the same service or I can buy a boutique and bring that into my firm. Those are two ways to do it. So this question number five, how you’re growing your revenue faster than are you growing your revenue faster than the practice inside the the large market leaders is really important, because if you’re not, those strategic buyers are not going to be interested in your firm. They can do what you do better than what you’re doing. So why bother you?

Sean Magennis [00:10:50] Precisely. 

Greg Alexander [00:10:51] Right. On the flip side, if they identify your practice area as strategically relevant for them and they’ve been trying to get it done, but they can’t. You’re going to become more attractive to them because they can buy you throw some money at it and solve a strategic problem. So that’s why that question is in here. 

Sean Magennis [00:11:07] Excellent, Greg. So very much a creative to their market, which will which will give them an opportunity to buy versus doing it themselves. And then the follow on to number five was, again, have you been growing your revenue for more than a few years? 

Greg Alexander [00:11:22] Right. And that’s a sustainability factor. 

Sean Magennis [00:11:24] Excellent. 

Sean Magennis [00:11:25] Number seven, are you growing your profits faster than the practice inside your largest marketing competitor’s? Very much like your previous point. And then number eight, have you been doing so for more than a few years? Number nine, are you growing your cash balance to cover payroll for at least 12 months? And number 10, do you have at least 12 months of forward visibility? 

Greg Alexander [00:11:57] Yeah. So let’s talk about nine in 10 a bit. There’s a difference between cash flow and income. And boutique businesses run on cash flow so it’s one thing to grow your revenues and it’s one thing to grow your profits but you also want to be growing your cash balance. 

Sean Magennis [00:12:14] Yes. 

Greg Alexander [00:12:14] So that you can use that free cash flow, so to speak, to fund growth initiatives, whether that be bringing out new services, investing in marketing, hiring new people, whatever it may be, so that the look at cash is different than the look at revenue and different than look at profits. 

Sean Magennis [00:12:32] Outstanding, thank you. Greg. So what we’ve learned today is growth matters a lot and relative growth matters even more. A year or two of great results doesn’t mean that you have a sellable, sustainable boutique. A decade of market beating growth will command an excellent price and excellent terms and profit growth. Greg, as we’ve discovered and experienced, is as important as revenue growth. This indicates that you have cracked the code. You were one of the few who broke the link between revenue and headcount growth. Please be sure to run a tight ship. Be prepared to demonstrate reliable forward visibility and plenty of working capital. 

Sean Magennis [00:13:27] Again, thank you, Greg. And if you enjoyed the show and want to learn more, pick up a copy of Greg Alexander’s book titled The Boutique How to Start Scale and Sell a Professional Services Firm. I’m your host, Sean Magennis. Thank you for listening. 

 

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