An interesting conversation came up the other day when we were referred to as experts in our field, I beg to differ, I don’t think we are experts, but I do consider that we are specialists.

The definitions of expert are–

A person with a high degree of skill in or knowledge of a certain subject (adjective)

one with the special skill or knowledge representing mastery of a particular subject (Noun)

The definition of specialist is –

One who is devoted to a particular occupation or branch of study or research

I don’t think many can hold out to be masters of their subject indeed it is interesting that some “experts” appear to always be classed as experts even though they are no longer active in their field or continuing to learn at the same pace as they did before.

I know that the market place for our business is always changing and we have to use our skills to change with it, and that doesn’t just apply to our sector, I wonder how many experts in the field of VCR technology exist, or those that know everything there is to know about DVDs and CD’s – Technology is changing so fast that they need to change too.

I therefore accept that to be classed as a specialist in our field is not a bad thing, admitting that we do not know it all, and are continually ready to learn, but what we do offer is that quality of devotion to what we do. 

I know from personal experience that I probably give too much of my time and knowledge free to those I hope will benefit from it, and have been accused of giving people way more of our valuable information than they need without charging them for it.  But it works for us because at least clients know we have a passion for what we do.

Overall I’m constantly reminded of the phrase:

What is an expert?  – An “ex” is a has been, and a “spurt” is a drip under pressure

Specialism for me then!

Most of us will have come across the commonly accepted 80/20 rule attributed to Vilfredo Pareto namely that 80% of our business can be attributed to 20% of our customers, conversely 20% of our customers probably account for wasting 80% of our time, in other words the cause is often much smaller than the effect both positively and negatively.

A past mentor of mine always used to say you can take that one stage further and there is a 95/5 rule that exists out there as well and the effects can often be even more marked.

Take for example direct marketing, at its absolute best leaflets that come through the door have a 5% chance of being acted upon, for many reasons, I know for example that leaflets and flyers promoting car insurance only motivate me to any action once a year at renewal time.

Another big one has got to be those businesses that face to face network, our own experience is that 19 out of 20 people say it doesn’t work so don’t pursue it and allow it enough time.  Couple this with internet marketers who are always saying at times of challenge, like we have now, only 5% of businesses actually increase marketing budgets whilst 95% cut back believing that they are looking at a cost not an investment.

Is it no surprise therefore that 95% of the wealth in the UK is believed to be vested in 5% of the population, maybe those individuals were always going to be part of that 5% group and this is just the reward for their efforts.

Perhaps the biggest indication of this “rule” however has got to be those who use social media in some form or other.  Most viral community forum operators know that 95% of the contributions come from 5% of the members, and it doesn’t matter which forum you are on, it is exactly the same.

It is the same with LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, blogging et al, of all the people in my growing database only about 5% are embracing these changes.  The ones I admire the most are the ones that still don’t understand it but do it anyway, as I’m sure a lot of the 5% wealthiest in the UK didn’t fully understand or even enjoy what gave them their successes at some point.

The Christmas and New Year period always gives me an opportunity to reflect on the recent past and where we go moving forward, and I think just accepting that this “rule” does exist helps me ask myself the question do I want to be part of the 5% moving forward or the 95% sucking their thumbs and feeling hard done by – No contest I believe

This is the first post from the new Corporate Finance Associates WebLog (Blog), and the aim will be to share ideas and thoughts relating to both the UK property sector be that both commercial and residential and the market for getting those same properties financed.

Corporate Finance Associates (CFA) only deal in the unregulated market so any referrals to the residential or regulated property sector will be supported by links to the relevant source.

We will also be looking at what has been a growing area of our business not yet served by our current website, namely the ability to put investors in property together with those vendors looking to market their properties discretely  and often on an exclusive and off market basis.

We are happy to look at partners in this area, so if you have access to high net worth individuals who are looking to invest (with no upper limit) in UK commercial and residential portfolios, do contact us with a view to being put on our investor database.  Also if you have access to off-market property based opportunities that you feel would benefit from being shared discretely with investors who have the funds and capabilities of completing a property transaction quickly, do let us know the details.

We are happy to enter into Non-disclosure and non-circumvention agreements to protect all parties concerned.