Our interview

Valuations without an interview can be misleading, because otherwise the business valuator is unlikely to understand your business. Down below are two fictive scenarios of how valuations without interview can be manipulated toward a higher or a lower value.

Jane Doe Design Inc is a business that designs logotypes. They primarily work with large companies. One day, a major beverage manufacturer who is a client of Jane Doe Design Inc decides to sue them, as they claim that a logotype made by Jane Doe Design Inc is the subject of a copyright infringement. Jane Doe Design Inc don’t think that they violated any copyrights, and believe that their chances of winning in court are quite high. While potentially true, the lawsuit itself consumed too much time, money and other resources for them, and they are now on the way to making a big loss at the end of the fiscal year. They may even have to cut other important expenses, due to lack of financing, which previously wasn’t a problem. What is even worse than losing an important client and having a financially poor fiscal year, is that if this becomes public knowledge within the industry, then they risk losing more of their high profile clients.

When the company is later valued by a business valuator who doesn’t meet their client and hold an interview, Jane Doe Design Inc gets a high valuation. The valuator was unaware of the situation, because he didn’t spend the effort. The business could potentially be worth a lot less than the appraised value.

Jane Doe Cleaning LLC is a cleaning company with 15 employees, which is located in a small town where a single employer is creating most of the employment opportunities. This employer makes the decision to outsource the cleaning instead of using internal employees to do so. As Jane Doe Cleaning LLC is the only cleaning company in the town, the contract naturally goes to them. The owner of Jane Doe Cleaning LLC has every reason to be happy with herself and her business. All the cleaners that were fired from the town’s major employer, were immediately given jobs at her company instead. These were the very same employees, and they were already familiar with the routines at their previous employer, where they are to remain, only with a different logo on their shirts. This caught the attention of the local newspapers and Jane Doe Cleaning LLC were given free positive publicity. This gave them several more leads to work with. They were now on their way to making their best fiscal year ever.

When the company is later appraised by a business valuator who doesn’t meet their client and hold an interview, the business valuator gives Jane Doe Cleaning LLC a low valuation. He was unaware of the situation, because he didn’t make the effort to meet his client. The business is on its way to double the revenue from one fiscal year to another, but in this case, it doesn’t affect the valuation.