Are You Using A Victorian Approach To Selling Your Business?

11/02/2010 by info.

150 years ago there was no need for the services of a business transfer agent. As if you wanted to sell your business in your town or village then the probability was that you simply transferred your business to your son, and it didn’t really matter what price you obtained for it. Alternatively you might sell it to someone you knew in the village and took the best offer that came your way.

A business contact told me that his father was a business agent in the 1950’s. His marketing strategy was to travel to Cornwall, look for local business owners who wanted to sell their businesses, and then travel back to London where he would advertise these businesses to London residents. The idea was that the alternative buyer in London might have been willing to pay a little more than the local buyer.

The fact is that the wider the marketing exposure is to potential buyers the more choice a seller is likely to have, it is simply a case of simple economic supply and demand.

If a buyer relies entirely on personal contacts generally speaking they will not find that person who is willing to pay a little more for their business. But that is the big issue, often sellers will still look for the easiest option and offer the business to their employee, a customer or a business contact rather than try to maximise the selling price. In other words they will market their business the same way it was done 150 years ago, the market over the last 150 years has changed essentially due buyers mobility and technology.

A business transfer agent now brings that marketing into the 21st Century, and advertises literally to the whole world. It may take a little longer to find that buyer however the seller is likely to be able to obtain a higher selling price than using a Victorian approach to selling.

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