How Does Your Advisor Overcome Obstacles?
Being able to handle challenging problems and obstacles is a crucial requirement for an M&A advisor. We always tell our clients:
If we were hiring someone with a similar role as ours, we would ask them to explain some of the tough problems they’ve faced and how they approached them.
Interestingly, this question is often overlooked in interviews, as it provides valuable insights into a candidate’s problem-solving abilities. Instead, the focus tends to be on pricing and outcomes, when the real questions should revolve around the process and its challenges. Now, having said that it’s true that the financial end of this is very important, right? Let’s not minimize that part of it.
Assessing Problem-Solving Skills in Context
Essentially, it’s about the initial phase of the process. This involves understanding the intricacies of the client’s business and showing empathy or emotional intelligence to understand their perspective and challenges. It’s crucial to grasp these aspects and recognize what the clients are experiencing internally.
When they start getting into the meat and potato part of the process, our understanding of the client’s emotional experience equips us to present information effectively and convey the existence of multiple perspectives. Through my experience, I’ve learned the significance of recognizing that there can be several valid solutions to a given situation.
That’s extremely important. There are always multiple valid solutions, and a competent advisor doesn’t settle for the first one. Rather, we strive to offer our clients as many suitable options as possible, drawing on both our experience and our understanding of the client’s business.
The Art of Delivering Solutions
A good advisor must recognize the existence of multiple valid solutions and consistently work towards uncovering them all. While it may sound cliché, it’s crucial to provide clients with multiple options. This demonstrates thorough preparation, showcases our value, and ultimately ensures that clients have no hesitation in endorsing our services because we have thoroughly explored every potential solution to their challenges.
The role of an M&A advisor stretches far beyond mere number-crunching and deal negotiation. It’s about being a strategic partner who combines analytical prowess with emotional intelligence to navigate through the complexities of each transaction. The advisor’s mission is to illuminate the path not just to a successful deal, but to a solution that resonates with the client’s vision and circumstances. By focusing on a holistic understanding of the situation and uncovering a multitude of solutions, we affirm our dedication to the client’s success, earning their trust and laying the groundwork for a long-standing professional relationship.
Contact Sukay & Associates to learn more about our process to help clients reduce the frequency of obstacles in their M&A transactions.
