Andy Cagnetta CEO Transworld Business Advisors
Which of your services have seen the most demand in the past year? We had expectations that there would be huge numbers of businesses begging to be sold amid these difficult times. I think that for the most part, it’s a testament to the will of entrepreneurs that nationwide, we have not seen a glut of sellers coming to the market. For the last 25 or so years, it has been a buyer’s market and we have not seen those numbers slow down. There was so much investment money on the sidelines before this all started that these investors are still seeing an opportunity and they still want to deploy that capital. What are Transworld’s strategies for helping clients get the most value from their business? For us, the idea is to find the right buyer. To those that are hurting, we would urge them to hang in there. This is not the best time to sell a business if the profits are down. But if earnings and profits are up, it still is a great time to sell. The goal has been to educate people on this because we see ourselves as trusted advisers helping people get to a point where they eventually want to sell. Clients come to us with a life situation and we help them navigate this in terms of their business assets. In the early days of the crisis, we were providing a lot of advice and connecting them to banks that offered PPP funding if their own financial institution did not. Outside of COVID-19, what challenges are your clients facing and how you are helping them? As the leader of Transworld in Florida and the leader of our franchises, I give tools to our people to succeed. We have been working on technological advancements for years and the pandemic gave us time to focus on this. On our website, we have a buyer match system, where customers can enter their criteria and receive alerts when a property becomes available. We have a DocuSign technology built into our CRM. We are aware of how complicated it is to sell a franchise or a business so we have been working for many years to make it as easy as possible for customers 54
| Invest: Greater Fort Lauderdale 2021 | PROFESSIONAL SERVICES
to distribute much-needed liquidity to the economy. But in some instances, the guidelines were issued as little as 48 hours in advance of the opening of ( ) ( ) the application process, meaning businesses had to turn to professionals to help understand eligibility criteria before an application was possible. Firms soon found they could become increasingly innovative and streamlined. Many South Florida firms reported added efficiency generated by the ability to work from home. South Florida law firm Bilzin Sumberg allowed staff to work around their environment, getting rid of set office hours on the condition that client services were maintained. The firm has seen increased productivity, in addition to more efficiency derived from Zoom mediations and hearings, negating the need to commute, and allowing this dead time to be used in a productive way. Now that attorneys and judges alike have seen that Zoom hearings are possible in some instances, they may just be here to stay. “Our firm is technologically adept, and we value being ahead of the curve. We have a full-time litigation support team that works closely with our IT team to make sure we can all operate and conduct meetings, trials and arbitrations digitally. Using secure digital devices, we confidentially present exhibits to judges and arbitrators quickly and seamlessly all while our team retains complete control of the content,” Wes Holston, managing principal of the Fort Lauderdale office of Bressler, Amery & Ross, P.C., told Invest:. “Personally, I think there will be more and more digital hearings, mediations, and prep work. I can do trials and arbitrations in New York from right here in Fort Lauderdale. We also prep witnesses remotely, rather than incurring time and travel costs.” McKinsey expects 2021 to be a year of transition as people begin to shape the future and get a grasp on what this looks like. The McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) says that more than 20% of the global workforce, mainly in high-skilled jobs in sectors such as finance, insurance, and IT, could work the majority of its time away from the office and be just as effective, although it concedes that not all who can do so will. And while business travel is expected to slowly rebound, spending in 2021 will reach just half of 2019 levels, further lining the coffers of professional services firms. The professional services sector also found support from the government through PPP funding. Fort Lauderdale law firms took advantage of the PPP program to avoid laying off employees. According to a PPP loan disclosure released on July 6, 2020, Hollywood-based firm Conroy Simberg received $6.2 million in PPP funding, allowing it to retain 408 employees. Becker & Poliakoff’s
