Announcing ISA's Private Client Services Program

Christine Guernsey, ISA CAPP

In the beginning of my appraisal career, I marketed to the general public. Marketing to such a broad audience was time-consuming, expensive, and not always fruitful. The clients I attracted usually needed an appraisal for a particular function and one time only. After every assignment I would need to begin marketing again for my next assignment.

I soon discovered that developing "clients who had clients" was the most efficient way to build my business. The professional service providers whose clients needed appraisals could and would refer me to many of their clients. This began my appraisal practice's marketing strategy of concentrating on large collections and working solely with the various gate keepers who specialize in the high-net-worth individuals market.

High-net-worth individuals (HNWIs) are considered those whose financial investments are in excess of one million dollars. In 2016, there were over four million of these individuals in the US alone. Their collections of antiques, fine art, decorative arts, and collectibles may comprise a significant part of their assets. Procuring, investing, protecting, and maintaining their collections requires a team of highly-trained professionals who work exclusively with this group to help meet their specialized needs. Developing long-term relationships with museums, curators, art and object shippers and handlers, private dealers and consultants, estate attorneys, lawyers, bankers, insurance companies, and charitable foundations, among others, are excellent sources for repeat referrals. As you work closely and regularly with these professionals, an appraiser learns exactly what they need and expect to best serve their clients.

This July 13 and 14, the International Society of Appraisers will present its inaugural ISA Private Client Services program, "Appraising in the World of High-Net-Worth Individuals," at UBS, Legacy, Plano, TX and as a live stream. This new ISA marketing program will provide appraisers who wish to become involved with this sector with an inside look as to who these private client professionals are, why and when they hire personal property appraisers, and what types of appraisal reports and valuations they require from appraisers to best service their clients. Those who attend this program, either in person or streamed live, will gain valuable information on how to market to this group, which they can universally use in their own markets and practices.

Register for this two-day seminar, "Appraising in the World of High-Net-Worth Individuals" in Plano, Texas or as a live-streamed course

Toro Quieto (Calm Bull), Tom Lea
The Bryan Museum

The opening presentation, "Starting Points: The Collection," features J.P. Bryan, a prolific, lifelong collector of western history, artifacts and art. His eclectic collection of over 70,000 objects led to the creation of the Bryan Museum in Galveston, Texas in 2015. Mr. Bryan will share his personal story of collecting, discuss which private client service providers helped him to develop and maintain his collection, and what factors led him to create a museum to house his vast collection. The Director of the Bryan Museum, Joan Marshall, will join Mr. Bryan in what promises to be a very engaging and informative presentation.

The presentations in this two day seminar will include a close look at which professions work most closely with HNW market. Friday's presentations focus on personal property collections and their procurement and management. Saturday's presentations deal with the business side of maintaining and protecting the future of collections, estates and taxes, loans, investing and charitable giving.

View the full course program

The July 13-14 seminar "Appraising in the World of High-Net-Worth Individuals" is part of a larger marketing program, ISA Private Client Services, which ISA has been developing to help our members learn best practices and promote their services to the HNW sector. Completion of this seminar along with other criteria will allow our interested ISA members to apply to the program and be promoted as an affiliate of the ISA Private Client Services Division. More details on this program will be announced July 13.

This seminar is open to all ISA members. Whether you intend to apply to the ISA Private Client Services program or not, you are still welcome to take this marketing course.

Explore the Legacy West area this summer

I hope I will see you in Plano this July, or tuned into our live stream. In addition to a fantastic learning experience, The Legacy area is a very cool and fun spot to spend a couple of days with plenty of great restaurants, shopping, and entertainment all within close walking distance. The on-site class is limited to 30 participants, so sign up quickly as the seminar is filling up fast!

Can't make the trip to Plano, Texas? You'll still be able to participate in our seminar! Register for the live stream and join us for the course as it happens from the comfort of your home or office.

Christine Guernsey, ISA CAPP, is recent past president of ISA and currently serving on the ISA Board of Directors. She appraises all areas of American paintings, works on paper, sculpture, and outdoor sculpture, specializing in 19th and 20th centuries.

Filling in the Gaps with USPAP's Competency Rule

Steve Roach, JD, ISA CAPP

"Whatever the medium, there is the difficulty, challenge, fascination and often productive clumsiness of learning a new method: the wonderful puzzles and problems of translating with new materials." - Helen Frankenthaler

After doing something for a while, it's easy to get into a comfort zone that can be hard to leave. It is even easy to forget that as appraisers we enjoy one of the most interesting professions around, with each day providing the possibility for a new client, a new challenge and a new area to learn.

Saint Jerome as Scholar, 
El Greco, c. 1610
(Metropolitan Museum of Art)

Several years ago, I decided to become certified by The Appraisal Foundation to teach the 7-hour and 15-hour Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice courses. USPAP provides a solid framework for ethical, competent appraisals and I wanted to demystify USPAP and help students see how the principles and guidelines of USPAP could enhance their appraisal practice. As some have told me, making USPAP interesting while teaching is more of a challenge than learning USPAP in the first place, and I keep that in mind.

My favorite rule of USPAP (yes, I have a favorite USPAP rule) is the Competency Rule which states, "An appraiser must: (1) be competent to perform the assignment; (2) acquire the necessary competency to perform the assignment; or (3) decline or withdraw from the assignment. In all cases, the appraiser must perform competently when completing the assignment."

USPAP's Competency Rule requires that an appraiser both identify the problem to be addressed and to have the knowledge and experience to complete the assignment competently.

However, USPAP also provides for "on-the-job learning" if the appraiser follows these steps: First, they must disclose the lack of knowledge and/or experience to the client before accepting the assignment or, at the point during the appraisal process when an appraiser realizes a lack of knowledge or experience. Second, an appraiser must take all steps necessary or appropriate to complete the assignment competently and finally, the appraiser must describe in the report the lack of knowledge and/or experience and the steps taken to complete the assignment competently.

As a USPAP comment clarifies, "Competency can be acquired in various ways, including, but not limited to, personal study by the appraiser, association with an appraiser reasonably believed to have the necessary knowledge and/or experience, or retention of others who possess the necessary knowledge and/or experience."'

What happens if you cannot acquire the necessary competency to complete the assignment and deliver credible results? You must decline or withdraw from the assignment.

Over the last year, I taught my first 7-hour and 15-hour USPAP courses for ISA and worked with Meredith Meuwly, ISA CAPP, and Cathy Peters, ISA CAPP, to prepare to teach the ISA Fine Art course.

Teaching provides a meaningful way for me to connect with other ISA members, but also helps strengthen my own skill set. I was so nervous the night before the first USPAP class I taught online that I couldn’t sleep! Would I be able to connect with students that I couldn’t see? How would the online platform interact with my PowerPoint? How could I facilitate student engagement to help students build their own skill sets with a 7-hour USPAP update course that most see as a chore? How could I add value to the course so that even experienced appraisers could feel like participating the class was worthwhile? In other words, I looked at how I could acquire competency to teach USPAP in a credible manner and came up with a plan to tackle the challenge.

The Competency Rule in USPAP provides guidance for appraisals, but it goes further than that, reminding us all that learning is an ongoing process and that with a plan, you can acquire the competency needed to handle challenges that might be thrown at you.

Stepping outside of your comfort zone is a challenge. As Frankenthaler said in the opening quote, there’s a clumsiness that’s inherent in trying new things. But there are also “wonderful puzzles” that make the effort rewarding and worth it.

Steve Roach, JD, ISA CAPP, is an appraiser and an instructor for both the 7-hour and 15-hour USPAP courses.

ISA offers online and in-person USPAP courses throughout the year. See the full educational calendar for 2018.