FCB #034: How I Got Appraisal RFP Quoting OFF My Plate

Introduction

It was another day with 127 emails in my inbox, half of them RFPs from 30 bank clients I needed to quote (bid) on that day. I knew I would have to stay at the office well past 5:00 PM into the evening if it was anything like every other day with this many emails to process. I remember thinking, "There has to be a better way!"

But, honestly, I was at a total loss on what to do. I mean, I was the ONLY one in my company that could do this super important "quoting" or "bidding" function, right?

Wrong!

It took my Business Coach all of two weeks to document and systemize this function and help me delegate it, freeing up 4-6 hours a day. It was like a gift from Heaven! Now, I could go home at 5:00 PM, even earlier! It's like I'd been given a new lease on life. This one change was the final piece in creating a truly owner-independent buisiness that was finally really worth something and sellable.

Of course, as you all know, I DID sell my company, for 7 figures all-cash, with no earn out. No small feat for a smaller professional services firm!

Here's the five things we did to finally get this terrible burden off my back and to poise my business for sale eventually.

1. Mindset

At first, I didn't think this was even possible.  I thought I was the ONLY one in my company who could quote or bid on appraisal RFPs coming in from clients.  

It's funny how closed minded you can be when you've been doing something "your way" for years, and relatively successfully I might add.

However, I would spend the majority of my normal work day doing this "bidding" function, and then I would have to stay after hours to get all my other work done.

It took my Business Coach challenging me and asking me to trust him to get me to shift my paradigm or mindset on this.

He said "Calvin, give me a couple weeks and a couple coaching sessions with you, and let's see what we can do. I really think I can help you with this!"

So, I gave up the ghost, decided to trust and go along with him, and that tiny shift made all the difference! It literally changed my business, quite dramatically, and for the better, and ultimately set me free!

2. Strategy

The strategy was simple:

1. Document what I did day-to-day in the bidding function in an SOP.
2. Create an Excel spreadsheet to automate the appraisal fee estimating.
3. Find someone in the company I could reallocate and train to do the bidding.
4. Have them come to me and the appraisers when they needed help with complex jobs.
5. Spend the 4 to 6 hours a day I had reclaimed doing more strategic work on the company!

 3. Systemize

In the two sessions with my coach, where I walked him through the entire bidding process, he tape recorded it and had his assistant turn that into a Standard Operating Procedure, or SOP. I then followed it for a few days, making tweaks until it was in perfect alignment with what I did on every quote.  

My Business Coach rolled up his sleeve and made an Excel "Appraisal Fee Pricing" spreadsheet that was kind of like AI today, a series of questions with formulas attached. It started off with a "Base Price" at the top.  Then, it listed several variables with additions and substractions from that Base Price depending on:

• Tier 1 Client
• Referral from Tier 1 Client
• Non-Tier 1 Client
• Argus or DCF Required
• Number of Tenants
• No. of Approaches to Value
• Type of Appraisal Report
• Distance from Los Angeles Office
• Gross Building Area in Square Feet
• Land/Building Ratio Greater Than 4 to 1 (Yes or No)
• 2 Or More Data Sets Required (Y/N)
• High-Risk Neighborhood or Difficult Access (Y/N)
• Special Purpose Property (Y/N)
• No. of Similar Buildings
• No. of Unique Buildings
• Additional Add-Ons or Deductions (Turn Times, etc.)

 After tweaking the SOP and this Pricing Worksheet for a couple weeks, the spreadsheet would ultimately allow a bidder to get to a final appraisal fee estimate that was within $25 to $50 of what I would normally quote. 

This was GREAT!  And, quite amazing to me!  I guess I wasn't as important and special after all!

4. Delegate

Well, the next step was to pick the lucky soul who was going to replace me for this important function.  Spencer, one of our Analysts (i.e., an Appraiser Assistant/Researcher), seemed like a perfect fit.  He didn't really love assisting the appraisers doing front-end report setups and was very intelligent and talented. 

I asked him if he would be interested, and for an increase in pay, and he said "Heck Yes!"

So, over the course of one week, I had him flank me for one day (Monday) and watch what I did and how I used our new "Pricing Worksheet". Then I flanked him for one day (Tuesday) while he tried his hand at it.

He was just across the hall from me and I told him to just run over if he needed any help.  His first day doing it alone (Wednesday), he probably came to my 5 or 6 times.  Thursday, he came to me 2 to 3 times.  Friday he came to me 1 or 2 times.

When he started full-time the next week, he was only coming to me maybe 2 or 3 times a week.  After a few weeks, I had him go to one of our other appraisers for help, the one that would most likely get the appraisal job.  At that point, I was finally free of the bidding function!

Halleleujah!

 5. Marketing

For a while, we had his quotes looking like they were coming from me to our clients.  The last step in this process was to educated the clients that we now had a "team" of people watching a central email address that they could send their RFPs to.  We let them know there were several of us watching that inbox to ensure the quickest turnaround of quotes to their RFPs. 

This also saw my own work email inbox go from sometimes over 100 emails a day to down around 20 to 30.  Wow, what a relief!

The clients didn't balk at all!  In fact, their responses were very positive as they were now getting quicker responses to their RFPs than when I was doing them all by myself.  And, our Win Ratio went up as a result! 

Conclusion

If you are an Appraisal Business Owner and you don't think there's anybody but you that can perform the bidding function in your company, I am proof positive that you're wrong.  

If you do what I did, you can probably free up 2 to 4 or even 6 hours a day for more strategic work.  

Once you do, you may get to the point where you actually start going home early some days!

Wouldn't that be nice?

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If you're an appraisal business owner and like these posts, I can help you two ways:

1. 𝐍𝐞𝐰𝐬𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 - Go to www.CalvinCummings.com, click on Newsletter at the top, and Subscribe to our Weekly Newsletter where I share what I did to grow, scale, and ultimately sell my commercial real estate appraisal professional services business.

2. 𝐁𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐂𝐨𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 - While you're there, go to the Coaching tab and Book a Free Consult Call with me to see if our Founder Coaching Program is a good fit for you and your business.