The Personal Property Appraisers Post

By Todd W. Sigety, ISA CAPP

There has been a fair amount of discussion both here on the Appraisers Post and on some LinkedIn appraiser groups about the benefits of social media and online networking. With that in mind, I discovered an interesting article on the CBS Moneywatch.com site called Networking Without Looking Desperate: 5 Rules. As more of our networking moves to online forums such as Social media sites, blogs and videos, the more appraisers need to be aware of current technological trends which can prove beneficial in operating an appraisal practice.

The article states that networking should be part of your ongoing business activities and plans, not something that is done on the spur of the moment or with little thought and foresight. I think this is a very important point to keep in mind.  Networking should be part of your business plan, and I just dont mean online, but both real face to face networking and virtual networking.

The 5 rules mentioned in the article were

• Nurture Your Network...Patiently
• Ask How You Can Help
• Know When to Ask - and How
• make the Web Work for You
• Shake Some Hands

The five rules will keep your networking planning current and productive, and of course growing. By nurturing your network you want to keep in touch with your contracts on a periodic basis. This is done in order stay connected so when you do need some advice or assistance your group of contacts will not wonder where you have been or why you only connect when you need advice. Keep you network advised of what you are doing, but also don't overdo the contact either.  You should keep a good balance of updates, questions and answers.

In asking how you can help, you present yourself to your contacts as a resource available to help and assist. By staying engaged with your contacts you will benefit when it comes time for your network to reciprocate. In Know When to Ask - and How, make sure you are asking questions of the right individuals in your network, and ensure you are not asking them to do your work. So many times I have seen request for help where there was no preliminary research done, no foundation. If you are going to ask for assistance from your network, make sure you have done your proforma investigations and understand the situation before asking for assistance. I have seen request where appraisers ask for assistance on an artist, and some of the responses were, have you tried Google? The point is pretty clear, dont ask your network to do basic foundation research for you. What you want from your network are specifics, and clarifications of the nuances of a question or appraisal methodology.

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June 17, 2010

It’s been a while since my first blog and, in the long interim, I’ve been to Israel and Jordan.

Aside from visiting some collectors and seeing what’s being offered at some of the galleries and stores there, one very astute collector encouraged me to visit a special exhibition at the Bible Lands Museum in Jerusalem.. This is a museum that hasn’t got much attention over the past 18 years of its existence. However, it is a jewel of a museum, sitting in the shadow of its much larger neighbor, the Israel Museum. It is a lovely space with beautiful galleries and clearly organized collections. Even though the galleries are well lit, the architectual space reminded me of the dark, monumental stone palaces and tombs of the Ancient Near East. My only annoyance was acoustics. One person with very thin high heels was trying to find the way out in a real hurry and made quite a racket on the stone floors.

Perhaps most relevant for readers of this blog is the fact that the entire museum was conceived by, supported by, and organized by very passionate and philanthropic collectors Elie and Batya Borowski. Dr. Borowski began collecting while hiding during WWII in Switzerland and built a magnificent collection in the successive years. Visit the museum’s website more information, www.blmj.org.

If you go, plan to spend several pleasant hours wandering through the permanent exhibition which is organized chronologically, although it is interpreted thematically and references many of the customs, language, trade, and economic related to the peoples who wrote the Bible or who were described in it. There are some amazing artifacts.

Why did I end up here and why am I sharing my visit? The Museum, in line with its bold approach to interpretation and emphasis on artifacts, is also showing an extraordinary show entitled Angels and Demons: Jewish Magic through the Ages. The exhibition’s exquisite catalogue supplements the elaborate wall texts and expands on mystical practices and concepts in Judaism, including Kabbalah throughout the ages. For the collector, however, this was a rare opportunity to see an expansive array of amulets, magic bowls, figurines, magical texts from ancient times, spanning the Ancient worls, the Byzantine Age,the Medieval period, the Age of Enlightenment, and up to the present. Many of the objects were carefully selected from Israel’s museum and academic collections. However, a large and important of the exhibition was supplied by very well-cultivated private collectors who chose handsome and unique artifacts from their extensive private collections. The catalog is sure to become an indispensible tool for those trying to build a solid collection among the amulets that collectors (and appraisers) frequently encounter in today’s market. Now, when I have to appraise an amulet – and I’m frequently encountering all sorts of amulets from many eras and customs and regions – I will have this exhibition catalogue close at hand.

More soon on what’s hot in Judaica collecting.

Consultants Greentarget recently released a study and survey of how in-house corporate general counsels are using new media, including blogs, and social media.  As this has been of interest to me, and should be to other appraisers, it is always good to gather information on how others professionals are using New Media.

The in house corporate counsel survey looked at a group of 164 attorneys responses and how they were taking advantage of new media.  It did show that traditional methods, such as trade journals, conferences and press releases were dominate, yet more and more in house attorneys are using new media platforms to expand and enrich traditional networks.

In general the survey stated of the AmLaw 200

• Blogs are up 147% since August of 2007, with nearly half having firm branded blogs
• Every AmLaw 200 firm has a LinkedIn Account
• 31 of the top 100 AmLaw firms have a Facebook Account
• 76 of the top 100 AmLaw firms have a Twitter Account

Interesting that blogs are increasingly preferred fir gaining business and legal industry information.

To read the full report (37 pages), click HERE. It is an excellent report with some good charts and graphs, I recommend appraisers who are interested in New Media read the full report.

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

While at first blush, the French expression — “Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose — the more things change, the more they stay the same” — might seem an apt description of Greentarget’s recent research about the adoption of new media by the in-house legal community, a closer look confirms that change is more extensive than many pundits have appreciated to date. In addition to confirming that referrals from trusted sources and credentialing activity (i.e., demonstrations of thought leadership) remain the two most important factors considered by corporate general counsel when they seek to hire outside lawyers, several of the survey’s findings convey significant new trends in the way that information is disseminated and shared by members of the legal community.

While the more traditional marketing channels for law firm credentialing continue to dominate–publishing articles in trade journals, speaking at industry conferences, and being quoted in the press–in-house attorneys now are using new media platforms to deepen their professional networks; to obtain their legal, business, and industry news and information; and to enrich their social and personal lives. Most importantly, they expect that trend to accelerate in the future.

As law firms and their lawyers embrace social media technologies at an accelerated pace with wide-ranging levels of participation, adoption, and engagement, the Corporate Counsel New Media Engagement Survey was designed to explore the very degree to which in-house counsel, the primary purchasers of outside legal services, are listening.

Highlights of the Corporate Counsel New Media Engagement Survey:

Click the Read More below for the rest of the article.