What’s a CPA from Chicago doing in the business of equipment leasing? Plenty--if you are Bob Dubow, a former auditor of leasing companies with expertise on the leasing industry and its intricacies. Because of his industry experience in the day-in, day-out rigors of leasing transactions, he helps CPA firms help their clients structure leasing solutions, but more importantly, provides value by using his knowledge to anticipate obstacles along the way.

Scaling His Services to Fit the Environment
After more than 15 years working for a Big 6 firm and two leasing companies in the Chicago area, Bob started Andrew-Bradley Leasing Inc. two years ago with his brother, Dan. Since that time, the company (named after his son and his brother’s son because he didn’t like the ring of “Dubow and Dubow”) has formed alliances with more than 800 CPA firms, and contracts totaling over $12 million in equipment leases that were the result of referrals from about 150 of those 800 firms.

When Bob noticed the AICPA national advertising campaign and tagline, “The CPA. Never Underestimate the Value,” a seed was planted. “I learned that Big 6 firms had corporate finance departments to help clients obtain different sources of funds,” he says. “I wondered if CPA firms that were not large enough to support that function in-house would like to offer a similar type of financial service via a fellow CPA.”

Since Andrew-Bradley does not have a sales force to pay, overhead is low, and as a result, the client gets a very good lease rate. Moreover, the company provides much more than a competitive leasing solution by meeting the CPA’s criteria for client service without any surprises, fine print or double-talking proposals, commonly found, says Bob, in the leasing industry. This self-styled “Truth in Pricing” philosophy, obviously modeled after Truth in Lending, strengthens the CPA’s client relationship and meets Andrew-Bradley’s marketing goal of establishing a long-term relationship with the CPA firm.

Bob does not charge the firm or client for his services, since the quoted interest rate already has the investor’s fee built into the contract, and unless the transaction is complete, Andrew-Bradley doesn’t collect any fees from the investor. However, he welcomes competing proposals so that the CPA can demonstrate how Andrew-Bradley’s proposal compares on an apple-to-apple basis even without the CPA referral. The key is that the client would never have known about Andrew-Bradley without their CPA’s referral.

Integrity Builds Loyalty
“Public opinion polls I’ve seen say the CPA is the most trusted advisor compared to other professionals,” says Bob. “As a profession, if we lose integrity, we have lost our ‘value-added,’ and it doesn’t matter what we know or how well we do it! That’s really what our company is founded on with regard to Truth in Pricing. We don’t tell the client one thing and then do another.”

Bob says he works on a slim margin to keep pricing low, because he wants the clients to tell their CPAs not only how well they were treated, but that they received a good financial deal. Since Andrew-Bradley does not solicit business directly, subsequent referrals are a necessity to survival.

“Getting business exclusively from referrals is tough, especially at the beginning, but we’ve now had multiple leases with the same client, referrals from the same CPA firms and even had a CPA’s clients refer us to other business owners they know.”
 

“I feel I’m using my financial background and integrity to help people, while getting a fair dollar for the value I’m adding. Much of our initial marketing success comes from the fact that I am a CPA. CPAs are naturally very protective of their clients, but they are willing to work with me because they know I will provide value beyond a traditional lease transaction while keeping costs low and using my integrity to structure the best arrangement.”

Bob welcomes others to ask him about his services and the value-added consulting function he provides. Send him an e-mail at ablease@aimhi.com, or visit his Web site, www.naperville.net\ablease.