It’s that time of year again… Halloween!
In just a couple days, millions of children between the ages of 3 and 13 (and well beyond) will be dressing up as their favorite monster or princess or who-knows-what and scouring their neighborhoods to maximize their candy accumulation.
During my youth, my friends and I used to pack a second costume in our pillowcases (plastic pumpkins were too small) on the off chance that we came across a house with full-size candy bars. My buddies and I used to quickly change masks and ring the bell again hoping for a second score. We turned trick-or-treating into a science. We knew which blocks had the most high-yielding homes and we mapped out the fastest routes to navigate the neighborhood streets.
We worked weeks in advance of the big night, drawing up plans and setting up an elaborate sequence of rides from different parents at different intervals to port us between all the cheeriest parts of town.
We became very good at reading signs and spotting trends… for example if you are walking up to a house and you see a bunch of toothbrushes scattered about… turn and walk away. These are discarded “treats” from the amateur candy seekers that made it up to the front door and got disappointed by some heartless dentist.
So what does all this have to do with Profit Recovery?
The same exact rules that apply to success on Halloween also apply to success at Profit Recovery. To be successful in Profit Recovery you need to be smart and relentless. You need to understand the art and science of the process and you need to have a thorough plan and execute against it. The best auditors work in teams, they learn from the previous year’s findings, but at the same time, they can remain flexible and spot trends in real-time. It’s just like trick-or-treating.
The next time you’re selecting a profit recovery firm make sure to include a couple of questions about how many costume contests they’ve won and how many cavities that they’ve had. Follow this simple advice and your next profit recovery engagement will be Spooktacular! Yeah, I went there!
Have a happy and safe Halloween everybody!