Capítulo 3.Validación de la propuesta
3.3 Conclusiones parciales
A Registered Investment Advisor
210 Regency Court, Suite L100, Waukesha, WI 53186
Telephone (414)821-1008 Principals Associates
Facsimile (4!4)821-1048 Bruce R.Heling.CPA CFP Kelly W. Sachse.CFP
Wisconsin WATS (800)221-3467 Cheryl A. Moss. CPA CFP
March 18, 1994
Jay Abraham Abraham Publishing 944 Indian Peak Suite 110 Rolling Hills Estates, CA 90274
Dear Jay:
I am responding to your query regarding how we have put your principles to work and the results obtained. Please feel free to use this information in any manner you wish.
A little background - we are CPA financial planners here in the Milwaukee area. Our mission is to assist our clients to maximize the quality of their lives, now and in the future, through the process of wise financial decision-making. Our target markets include professionals, small business owners and wealthy individuals.
In the process of our financial planning we first help clients to quantify and crystallize their financial goals, for example, retirement. This is the easy part - anyone with half a brain and a computer can do these projections. The hard part is "finding the cash" with which to fund a client's retirement goal. This is where we earn our keep - analyzing cash flow, debt, income tax and investment structure in order to "get the cash" to fund the clients' goals preferably without negatively impacting current lifestyle.
One of the most important things that first attracted us to your boot camp in
February 1993 was the idea that we could use your concepts and strategies to help our professional and small business clients to "find the cash" (to fund their personal financial goals) by maximizing the marketing efforts in their businesses. What an intriguing addition to the more traditional financial planning tools we used in the past to help our clients meet their goals! And a new source of revenue for our firm in consulting fees.
Since the boot camp, we have had the opportunity to apply your principles on behalf of one of our clients, a local CPA. Our agreement with him was that he would pay the hard costs (mailing list, postage, stationary, etc.) and we would put in the time to develop and implement the marketing effort.
Our fee would be 15% of the first year's gross revenue plus 10% of gross revenue for the next four years on clients obtained as a result of our programs.
We ordered a mailing list of prospects in his target market, (subcontractors in the construction industry), designed a letter and sent out the first test mailing to 300 of the 3500
Fee-Only Financial Planning, Consulting & Investment Advisory Services
Members. American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, Wisconsin Institute of Certified Public Accountants. Institute of Certified Financial Planners, International Associaton for Financial Planning
names on the list. The initial response was, on its face, very discouraging - only one response. It was somewhat comforting in that it was a very high quality lead - 3 times the average annual billing the CPA normally has with clients in this industry. Still, we (and I'm sure the CPA) were initially quite discouraged and perplexed.
In evaluating the situation it occurred to me to do a Marginal Net Worth Analysis for the CPA based on this one response. The bottom line of the analysis revealed that every client he obtained like this had a value to him - in today's dollars and after all expenses except income taxes - of over $70,000! Or over $700,000 if we ultimately achieve similar results with the rest of the mailing list. This changed our perspective profoundly in the following ways:
1. Results need to be measured in terms of Marginal Net Worth not numbers of responses.
2. The quality of the leads generated is more important than the quantity.
3. Most important, it validated for us that we could actually do it. Until this happened, all your material was still a theory to us, one we intellectually bought into but still had a vague nagging fear about - Sure it works for you - but would it really work for us?
And how! Our fees from this one transaction present value to about $7,700 and we realistically expect to earn over $100,000 from this one CPA over the next five years. In addition, we have now begun a process to follow-up the initial letter with a call/letter/call/letter, etc. series that we believe will lead to improved response rates out of this mailing list. And when we have developed this marketing program to the point that we are obtaining reliable results, we plan to market the program to non-competitive CPA firms outside of the Metro Milwaukee area.
Evaluating our efforts and results in these terms has been enormously clarifying and inspiring. It makes such a difference to actually experience the Abraham concepts in our own business. Thank you so much!!!!
M o s t gratefully, Id.
P.S. Not inconsequentially, we are a natural back-end for this CPA because our services do not overlap. To the extent that we are successful in generating new clients for this CPA, we are also surfacing new prospects for our financial planning and investment advisory services.
P.P.S. You'll find a copy of the Marginal Net Worth Analysis enclosed.
Cheryl A. Moss, CPA CFP
CPA Marginal Net Worth Analysis
Facts: Marketing Costs (300 pieces mailed) Mailing list (3,500 names) 650 Postage (300 pieces) 156 Business reply permit 75
Letterhead & printing 300
Results - one new client, $15,000 annual fees (Discount in first
year equivalent to two month's fees)
Total costs 1,181
Production Net Cumulative Sale of
Client @
Total Present Value
& Overhead Profit Cumulative Present Present 1 times Present Net of Total
Fees Costs Before Marketing Net Net Value Value Gross Value Profit Net Profit
Year 4.5% 67% Mktg Cost Costs Profit Profit 5.50% 5.50% Revenue 5.50% Nominal $ 5.5%
1 1994 $12,500 $10,050 $2,450 $3,056 ($606) ($606) ($606) ($606) ($606) ($606)
2 1995 15,675 10,502 5,173 1,568 3,605 2,999 3,417 2,811 2,999 2,811
3 1996 16,380 10,975 5,406 1,638 3,767 6,767 3,385 6,196 6,767 6,196
4 1997 17,117 11,469 5,649 1,712 3,937 10,704 3,353 9,549 10,704 9,549
5 1998 17,888 11,985 5,903 1,789 4,114 14,818 3,321 12,870 14,818 12,870
6 1999 18,693 12,524 6,169 6,169 20,987 4,720 17,590 18,693 14,302 39,679 31,892
7 2000 19,534 13,088 6,446 6,446 27,433 4,675 22,265 19,534 14,167 46,967 36,432
8 2001 20,413 13,677 6,736 6,736 34,169 4,631 26,896 20,413 14,033 54,582 40,928
9 2002 21,332 14,292 7,039 7,039 41,208 4,587 31,483 21,332 13,900 62,540 45,382
10 2003 22,291 14,935 7,356 7,356 48,565 4,543 36,026 22,291 13,768 70,856 49,794
11 2004 23,295 15,607 7,687 7,687 56,252 4,500 40,526 23,295 13,637 79,546 54,164
12 2005 24,343 16,310 8,033 8,033 64,285 4,458 44,984 24,343 13,508 88,628 58,492
13 2006 25,438 17,044 8,395 8,395 72,680 4,415 49,399 25,438 13,380 98,118 62,779
14 2007 26,583 17,811 8,772 8,772 81,452 4,374 53,773 26,583 13,253 108,035 67,026
15 2008 27,779 18,612 9,167 9,167 90,619 4,332 58,105 27,779 13,128 118,398 71,233
309,261 208,880 100,381 9,762 90,619
Direct Mail Costs 1,181
MHA Consulting Costs - Nominal $ 8,581
MHA Consulting Costs - Present $ 7,715"
Abraham Publishing Group, Inc. Jay Abraham Personal 950 Indian Peak Rd., Suite 100 Rolling Hills Estates, CA 90274
Dear Jay:
This letter is to inform you of my company's recent success. I own a tree and landscaping business which I started as a one man operation after graduating from Shippensburg University in 1973. Over the years, I have had moderate growth and profit every year until 1991.
In 1991 and 1992, we experienced our first years ever in which the corporation took a loss. This was due mostly to a down turn in the economy and the fact that our services are not a necessity but rather a luxury item for most people.
At the beginning of 1993 a friend of mine told me about you and what a great motivator you are. After I received my first tape from you, I picked up on one idea in particular that greatly helped our success in 1993. That idea was "to resell the clients that we already had".
We offered our clients additional services other than the existing ones that we already had. By supplementing our existing services, we went from a $40,000 loss in 1992 to $19,000 profit in 1993.
Your tape certainly motivated me to increase our sales and our profits. Thank you very much and best of luck to you.
(610) 967-2760 FAX (610)
4583 SHIMERVILLE ROAD EMMAUS, PA 18049
March 14, 1994
Sincerely,
Gary L.
Rohrbach President GLR/asd