Your Orlando Florida Business Broker

10 Step Business Selling Strategy from Orlando’s Leading Business Broker February 23, 2015  by  Michael Shea PA   (Edit) The 10 STEP BUSINESS SELLING STRATEGY Our Sellers come to us to help them achieve the highest and best possible price for your business while taking the least amount of time from you and your business. We know that your time is more valuable when invested in continuing to run your business. In order to achieve the best price, your business must continue to grow. After all, that will be what a buyer who wants to purchase it will be looking for. Our philosophy has created a multiple step strategy that culminates with the sale of your business. This proven method has been used to sell hundreds of businesses. STEP 1: COMPREHENSIVE BUSINESS ANALYSIS. As your business broker, we analyze your operation, finances, market potential and trends. We take that information and generate a business profile that represents your company in the most attracti...

More Stats for Business Sellers to Consider April 15, 2015  by  Michael Shea PA My last two posts to the blog have been on the inventory deficit we see here in Central Florida and the strange phenomenon we are encountering in the market here where inventory (businesses for sale) is at a 5 year low. If you have read my posts there is a pending transfer of wealth somewhere on the horizon. Some 10,000,000 businesses will sell or close their doors over the next 10 years and only about 30% of that number have any idea of how to sell, transfer successfully, or maximize the value of their business. This recent Article by CNBC http://www.cnbc.com/id/102523395 is an alarming wake up call to sellers. Just as alarming is that sellers are seemingly unaware that their business sale and the dynamics of the transaction fall victim to the law of supply and demand. If, as i report inventory is at an all time low, and if this pending wave of sellers (age 65 and up) are about to enter ...

Lister or Seller…what kind of business broker do you choose? October 15, 2015  by  Michael Shea PA Confucius said “Everything has beauty but not everyone sees it.” This applies to business as well as art, and the other disciplines. So when I read that quote I thought of the beauty in my own profession and how and why I appreciate certain aspects of high performing professionals. IF any of you have seen the movie “The Wolf of Wall Street” there is a scene where the main character makes a cold call sale in a room of his peers that are frankly mediocre. What the witness is beauty in motion. They all stop what they are doing and are mesmerized by the ability of the man to capture a clients attention and more importantly close the sale. Now in no way do i applaud the behavior of the penny stock pumpers of the 80’s and 90’s…..frankly I find them to be the lowest of the low but one can with proper perspective appreciate the talent and beauty of the moment where he was abl...

Business Buyer Education Top 3 Tips August 21, 2015  by  Michael Shea PA So with the uptick in activity in business sales at the middle market level so too has the uptick of buyer inquiries. A shocking statistic for all is that 90% of buyer contacts that reach out to inquire on listings never pull the trigger. That my friends is a massive number and one that deserves some exploration. There is little empirical data studying the activity of buyers but we do know the following from interviews and observations. 1. Buyers are generally un-educated regarding the terms, process and marketplace dynamics, seller expectations, and financing realities. 2. Fear plays a huge part in mitigating the ability of buyers to “pull the trigger”. 3. Financing EDUCATION: Lets start with #1 and naturally its the most important. Anyone contemplating the purchase of a business needs to understand the playing field they are on. It is normal and natural for a person to bring the kn...

Scary Statistics in Business Sales January 26, 2016  by  Michael Shea PA It is the time of year when we get the results from the listings sites for national stats on business sales. It is also when we as a company at Transworld Business Advisors review internal statistics.  Now in most cases business brokers stats don’t mean alot but given that we are the largest and do over 300 plus transactions a year the level of volume and the data drawn from it warrants some attention.  The following chart shows the deal volume for 2015.  In essence we were flat as year over year but volume was up. The Stat that shook me the most was one we kept internally here at Transworld.  We track all contracts and success rate (i.e. getting to closing) .  The national average for success rate is about 20% for all brokers, internally we run about 35%.  Here in Orlando we were closer to 40%.  But that is not the important stat.  The number that sh...

Not all Lawyers are the Same August 18, 2016  by  Michael Shea PA When you go to the hospital (where I am sitting right now with my mother) you go to see specific doctors for specific specialties. All Doctors (and yes believe it or not, Lawyers are technically doctors “juris doctor” .  Anyway if you had to have open heart surgery I imagine you would not go to a Gastroenterologist or a Anesthesiologist and ask them to crack your chest. So to should be the selection of a attorney when selling a business deal. Picking a “swiss army knife” (do it all attorney) has a bucket load of consequences that will more than likely cause you much pain and probably a deal.  An attorney that is specialized in one area of practice has a focus and skill achieved from long experience. Here are some local good attorneys to choose when doing a business deal http://www.achievelegal.com/ http://www.generalcounseladvisors.com/ http://www.skutnerlaw.com/

Selling Your Business is Your Broker Selling the Value? December 1, 2016  by  Michael Shea PA   (Edit) When selling your business you will get lots of opinions regarding how to value it. There are several accepted valuation methodologies accepted by valuation experts. However, as a seller of a business you should know what “soft” items create value in the mind of a buyer. In addition your business broker should emphasize and sell those elements. Lets list just a few of the elements that increase value of a business. 1. Clean Books and Records: Having clean books and records in a software and up to date is critical and in this day and age inexcusable for not having. Why is it important? Because buyers generally in most cases have not bought the type of business you are offering and can’t understand the the business without a road map to reference. In addition given that most buyers are first timers and are scared to death of making a bad decision they will invariab...

Legal Due Diligence at the M&A January 22, 2016  by  Michael Shea PA Although Josh Logan at Achieve Legal in Orlando has oriented this to the M&A level of business sales there are some lessons to be learned from this youtube video. Good Legal counsel is critical in a deal.  Filed Under:  Buy a Business ,  Immigration and Business Buying for Foreign Nationals ,  Selling A Business, Selling Your Company Tagged With:  #business #businessbroker #sell your business ,  #buyabusiness #businessbuyer #Buyereducation ,  #buyabusiness #sellingabusiness #merger #aquisition ,  #sellingabusiness #sellerfinance #buyingabusiness ,  due diligence ,  Transworld

10 Questions You Must Ask Before Buying a Business May 20, 2015  by  Michael Shea PA 10 Questions You Must Ask Before Buying a Business 10 Questions You Must Ask Before Buying a Business 1. What are your biggest challenges right now? You want be aware of potential minefields. For example, if you’re buying a company that will need $1 million in capital improvements, you need to learn that upfront while you’re still negotiating the purchase. 2. What would you have done differently? This question can get the owner talking about opportunities he didn’t pursue but would have liked to. This question could help you learn how much growth potential the business offers — from untapped markets to additional product lines to new marketing opportunities. 3. How did you arrive at your asking price? Often, sellers will base their asking price on arbitrary factors such as how much money they’ll need to move on with their life. Find out what quantitative information they ha...

Why Use Transworld to Sell Your Business? March 12, 2015  by  Michael Shea PA   (Edit) When asked why someone should use Transworld Business Advisors to sell their business over other Brokerages a Picture is worth a thousand words.  Selling a business is a complicated matter with many moving parts and variables not the least of which is the legal, financial and procedural pitfalls that can occur when the transaction is not handled properly. When selling your business use a professional that has sold over 200 transacations successfully in over a decade. Filed Under:  Buy a Business ,  Immigration and Business Buying for Foreign Nationals ,  Selling A Business, Selling Your Company ,  Uncategorized Tagged With:  #business #businessbroker #sell your business ,  #business sale ,  #sellingabusiness #sellerfinance #buyingabusiness

Selling a Business March 25, 2015  by  Michael Shea PA   (Edit) Selling a Business When contemplating your exit from your business, you will require specialist advice from seasoned business brokers. Similar to most business owners, you will have a majority of your capital tied up in the business itself. If the sales process is handled poorly, there may be serious financial implications. Problems can arise from: Breaches in confidentiality The business being valued incorrectly Not pre-qualifying potential buyers and knowing they are genuine Recognizing the intentions of the buyer Incorrectly prepared sale & purchase agreement documents Poor management of the due diligence process Enticing the wrong buyers through poorly structured promo material The Transworld Business Advisors Process Selling a business is a complex process, requiring a high level of brokering skill. The Transworld team is made up of senior brokers, with a remarkable track reco...

Rules of Thumb are for the birds October 11, 2015  by  Michael Shea PA   (Edit) In the world of small business sales and mergers and acquisitions every buyer thinks every business is overpriced and every seller thinks its worth more than what you tell them. Over the years “industry experts” of which I am apparently one, bandy about “rules of thumb”. In other words….business X sells at 2 x cash flow or 70% of sales etc etc etc. I recently had a broker call me up and tell me that a business was overpriced (not her job) and that the proper valuation method was a $ value per customer. Oddly enough a month prior she had a different position entirely (#notethesarcasm). Valuation is an art and there is data to support proper pricing. But in simplest terms there is not one method that is correct; however sellers need to be particularly cognizant of market dynamics like supply and demand and inventory levels. Yes even in small business sale and mergers when inventory...

Let's get one thing straight right now.   If you are  looking for the perfect business, stop looking, it doesn't exist.   And if you really want to buy a business you need to settle!  That's right buying a business is a lot like being in a bar at 2am...ponder on that for a moment.   Seriously all businesses have their drawbacks, risks, pain points, skeletons in the closet and warts.     Your job is to find them all, understand them completely, decide if you can manage them and if they will stop you from buying. Let look at some of the business attributes you will want to rate: Income - This is my number 1 concern.   You are not buying a hobby, you want to buy a future  income stream.    So you want to know if it is provable, sustainable, and can you grow it. Length in business  - I love businesses that have been around for more than 5-10 years.   You should too.   Customer...