Speaking with people you don’t know at a networking event can be a tricky proposition. Having a valuable conversation with a prospective client means making sure it is about them, not you. To do that, you need to be both inquisitive and insightful. Knowing something about a lot of different topics gives you a leg up. And that’s where...

“Trigger events” are major changes that affect a business. They can be milestones achieved through the normal course of a business’ life such as buying new equipment or moving locations. Or, they can be through environmental happenings outside of the business’ control such as new laws. For a business owner, they can be joyful, such as a...

As a busy professional, you likely find yourself burning the candle at both ends much of the time. You know that you should do more to prepare for meeting with small business owners, but there just aren’t enough hours in the day. 

In 2017, River Cities Capital Funds, a growth equity fund focused on healthcare and information technology, produced a study on software as a service (SaaS) companies. At the time, River Cities already had invested roughly $100 million in 16 SaaS companies, which had resulted in six successful liquidity events, including two IPOs. 

Last week, we hosted the final installment in Vertical IQ’s free spring webinar series—a presentation entitled Building Prospecting Momentum, led by banking industry sales expert Ned Miller. Ned notes that banks can grow their book of business through effective prospecting, but it’s a competitive world out there when it comes to...

This week, I read an article that got me thinking about the importance of succession planning for business owners. The article, entitled “CFOs not doing enough succession planning,” referenced a study conducted last year, which revealed that only a third of CFOs surveyed said that there was a succession plan in place for their roles....

Last week, we hosted the second installment in Vertical IQ’s free spring webinar series—a presentation entitled Save Me! Save Me Now! by small business banking expert Nick Miller, president of Clarity Advantage. Miller focused on smaller business’s fraud vulnerability—with an emphasis on red flags to look for with the way your banking...

Vertical IQ kicked off our free spring webinar series a few weeks ago with a great presentation by Jack Hubbard, chief experience officer of St. Meyer & Hubbard, entitled What a Beer Cart Driver and Boutique Hotel Can Teach Us About Welcoming New Clients. In it, Jack discussed what financial professionals should consider before taking...

As a mom of soccer players, I hear my kids’ coaches reiterating the importance of anticipating what is going to happen next on the field—where the ball is going to go, when the opponent is going to make their move. If you think about it, the ability to foresee what is going to happen before it happens is a vital talent in many sports....

Accounting Today published an article a few weeks ago entitled, “Why accountants need to be data storytellers.” Now, the storytelling concept might be familiar to people in a marketing context—it’s a technique commonly used in that field to convince you to take that next step in the sales funnel—but personally, I’ve never considered...