Business valuation becomes bureaucratic and ritualistic if you insist on contingency planning for every risk. There is nothing much you can do in an earthquake, or if sharp showers delay a shipment. Contingency planning for uncontrollable disasters, or for trivia, only serves to divert attention from serious and likely risks. It is a leadership prerogative to select strategic risks for detailed consideration in a business planning exercise.

Product liabilities, regulatory changes, competitive moves, cost over runs and project delays are generally the most destructive when it comes to business valuation. They are worth providing for in detail. A leader must communicate the reason for contingency planning, lest a business valuation task force gets lost in a negative mind set, and lose morale. Contingency planning should not get equated with opposition to a project.

Waves of proposals and pressures of current operations keep much of business valuation work on paper. It is tempting to put a plan of corrective actions on paper, and let it gather dust there! Take steps to ensure that contingency actions are set in motion in reality, so that business valuation objectives can be met even when circumstances change.

The Delphi Version of New Business Valuation: How do experts with who you have no regular contacts see the future? The question may have occurred in your mind often, but gets lost in the hustle of routine papers at the office. Business valuation requires trust, so the number crunching is done by people who know your pet peeves! Well, everyone has blind spots, so how do you avoid future downsides which no one over who you wield power wants to tell you?

Social workers who have the pulses of demographic segments of customers, scientists who have spent lifetimes with emerging technologies, young politicians with dreams of new policy initiatives, and the most successful executives from unrelated industries, can all be treasure houses of information which you will not find inside your company! You cannot make earth shaking decisions based on stray and wild ideas, but systematic networking, or even a structured Delphi approach, will add value to every business valuation. Some of the best decisions are ones that seek to unlock values, which elude present owners. The party with whom you negotiate may have no idea of your business valuation!

Delphi Analyses work best in groups. Scientists and experts with opposing views should be able to reconcile their differences. The process can matter more to business valuation than the outcome, because an investor and technical aids can gain many insights during discussions. The latter can meander, so it is best to try and focus debates on key issues of importance and relevance to business valuation. Product obsolescence is generally the most leveraged area for the views of independent experts.