Fiducial | We help your business grow and be profitable.

by Stephen Parezo

Michael Davis

September 28, 2005—If entrepreneurs are the architects of the small business world than it’s business advisors like Fiducial’s Michael Davis that are instrumental in helping get the enterprise off the ground.

“What I am is a builder,” said Davis, a franchisee in Stow, OH. “I like to help people build their business and I want to build mine. After all, for 90% of business owners that is their retirement. They built it up and they’re going to sell it.”

A Buckeye through and through, Davis earned a BS in education at Ohio State University. He worked in private industry for the next 10 years as vice president of the American branch of a European manufacturing company which grew from 15 to 75 employees during that span. A change in ownership helped steer him towards starting his own business.

Davis found that having responsibility for the results and the freedom to make those decisions really appealed to him. There’s also the accountability of having to live with those decisions.

“You should move quickly with the reversible decisions and slowly with the irreversible ones,” he said. “Starting your own business, leaving a company or branding a company is an irreversible decision.”

He began his own business 10 years ago then expanded his operations by buying an existing office that is celebrating its 25th anniversary. Stow is located in the Akron-Cleveland area known for its steel wheels and tire factories.

Exceeding expectations

“People here understand machinery, upkeep, production and margins,” Davis said. “They have a good understanding of the accounting equation—the sales and the cost of goods. Where I can help them here is controlling the overhead. They know how to produce but controlling the overhead was never an issue with them.”

Davis places a premium on customer service and approaches prospective clients two ways.

“They have to be ready to sell what they are ready to buy,” he said. “That means that if they think they need xyz in the beginning you’ve got to at least provide that.”

What it comes down to, Davis says, is every time you meet a client/prospect “one of you is being trained.”

“You exceed expectation by setting realistic expectations to start with,” he said. “Will we be perfect in write-ups? No, but we’ll correct our mistakes. Will your tax bills go down? Not necessarily but you’ll pay the least amount of taxes so you can sleep nights.”

According to Davis, “We specialize in keeping people out of trouble and to let them do what they do best. They sure as heck didn’t get into business to become a bookkeeper. Most people who are coming to an accountant either want more money out of their business or want more time away from their business.” He and his staff are able to help clients reach both those goals.

Among his clients is one of the area’s premier massage therapy clinics with 11 therapists on staff. The clinic owner got a little too strict with one of his best therapists who then left the business which had an impact on the bottom line. With the owner considering shrinking the staff down to five or six therapists, Davis stepped in to ensure that the owner kept his high standards but made certain these standards didn’t lead to the loss of any other key employees. It wasn’t long before the owner secured large contracts with a local golf course and a large healthcare provider that he wouldn’t have been able to bid on if he had down-sized his staff.

Davis also came to the rescue of an owner of a management consulting company that was a super salesman looking to hire others just like himself. But by doing so, the owner would place his future in jeopardy since it’s only a matter of time before other talented salesmen build up some clients and then take them with them. Thanks to Davis’ advice, the owner hired a couple of “plodders” whom he could train to help grow the business but who didn’t have his unique talents thereby removing any threat of losing clients.

Building relationships

How would Davis’ clients describe his approach to helping their small business?

“They would say that he cares enough to take the extra time and find the true root cause of what’s going on in their business,” he said. “A lot of CPAs will simply say their idea of customer service is ‘here are your taxes and your bill.’ You don’t build relationships that way.”

Perhaps the one area of his business that Davis is proudest of concerns a specialty in building relationships with homeowner associations in condominium communities.

“I do it through developing a relationship with the condominium management associations,” he said. “There’s a tendency for the unit owners to be professionals or business owners themselves. So when I talk to a board of directors they are owners or are a CFO of a company and could become a prospect for me.”

It’s an added bonus for Davis when these boards turn over each year because that represents a new set of potential clients.

On a personal note, he recently got married for the first time at age 50 and says it was well worth it.

“I waited for the right one,” Davis said. “It’s broadened my motivation because we are building something together. I inherited three kids so my motivation has increased becoming involved with family, church and community.”

Stephen Parezo is the Media Manager for Fiducial.

Whatever your small business needs, your Fiducial tax and financial professional can analyze your situation and recommend an appropriate action plan. To locate a Fiducial office nearest you on fiducial.com, see the Zip Code Locator located in the upper right hand corner of the page. Do you have a particular topic that we should be writing about that can help your business? Please send your suggestions to: stephen.parezo@fiducial.com.

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