What does your website–or lack of it–say about your business?

Some 52% of Canadians go online to research products, says the November issue of Profit magazine. If your store doesn’t have an effective web presence, you’re going to sacrifice sales, they add.

And yet, many small businesses in Canada still don’t have a website.  Only 36 per cent of small businesses had their own websites (compared to 91 per cent of large businesses) as of 2007, a recent CBC article reports.

Surprised? I’m not.

I encounter this often, when owners enlist our help to sell their business—many do not have a website.

They don’t realize the bad image it conveys—that you’re not professional enough to have a site. And it’s just as damaging if you haven’t kept it current. Think of the website as your online home. Are your premises tired and dated?

An effective, well-designed website will give visitors a positive impression of your business. But the site needs to be consistent with who you are or want to be as a business and directed to your target market—your prospects. As with all marketing channels, you need to determine the audience you are trying to reach and with what message—with the ultimate goal of gaining a customer or client.

With this in mind, we took a long, hard look at our own Sunbelt Canada website this past spring and realized it didn’t convey all that our company had to offer. So we overhauled the site, to make it more relevant to and functional for our target audience—people interested in buying, building or selling a business–to attract more visits and ultimately, more customers.

Instead of just pointing out the improvements, I wanted to share some of the thinking behind the changes, so you too could benefit.

More learning opportunities for business owners and prospective business owners

I’ll admit it—I’m a packrat. I hate throwing something out that may be useful to someone else or to me in the future.  It took the discerning eye of my wife, Gayle, for me to clear out all the equipment and material I’d stored in the large vault being converted into a new learning space at Sunbelt’s Ottawa office.  The existing meeting rooms just weren’t big enough to accommodate the number of people wanting to attend our business seminars or broker training courses.  So over the past few months, we’ve been renovating, and we’re now in a position to host more learning opportunities for more business owners and prospective business owners, starting with a series of free evening seminars on “Exit planning for business owners.”   We’ll have more details shortly.

Whether you’re thinking about selling now or several years from now, proper planning and preparation can make a significant difference in the outcome of the sales process.  We encourage all business owners to understand and take control of the factors that affect the value of their businesses and to constantly build for maximum return on investment.

Have you read our three posts on how financial, organizational and operational factors can help you build value in your business?  If not, you might want to do so now:

How’s your fiscal fitness? Get tips on financial factors to build the value of your business.

Can a potential buyer see himself in your business or are you blocking the way? The greater value comes when the business is making money without its owner’s involvement in the day-to-day activities. Read more about the organizational factors that build value.

Some operational factors–the state of your shop, warehouse, office, store–are fairly obvious, but do you know how your systems or lack of them add or take away value from your business?

And if you want to reserve a seat at our Ottawa Exit Planning series, please indicate your interest by registering here. We’ll have more details shortly. Or if you’re outside Ottawa and you’d like to be notified when we have added an event on buying or selling a business in your area, use our contact us form to request this service.

Building value in your business: the Inner Circle

Inner Circle peer advisory group now in Canada

How many of you remember Victor Kiam, the businessman who liked his Remington shaver so much he bought the company?  Well, the three Inner Circles I experienced in the U.S. impressed me so much that I bought the company – at least the Canadian Master Franchise.

Kiam said (and showed), “Entrepreneurs are risk takers, willing to roll the dice with their money or reputation on the line in support of an idea or enterprise. They willingly assume responsibility for the success or failure of a venture and are answerable for all its facets.  The buck not only stops at their desks, it starts there too.”

Membership in an Inner Circle group can substantially improve the odds for entrepreneurs like us rolling the dice.  In a recent member survey, 97% reported better decision making ability; 75% reported higher revenues AND profits; 71% reported better work/life balance.

So what is the Inner Circle and its life- and business-changing power?

Business owners in Canada getting fair value for their businesses

Small business owners in Canada share many of the same challenges as their counterparts in the United States:  government regulations, access to credit/capital, taxes, finding new customers and retaining existing customers. But selling that same business is a whole other matter—think growth, in contrast to the gloom and doom of the current American market, where it seems that some sellers have reached their breaking point and are now settling for less.

Online marketplace BizBuySell.com has reported that sales of businesses with roughly $350,000 in annual revenue have risen 8% in the U.S. over the second quarter in 2010.

I can tell you that sales have also increased in Canada, but in healthy double digits and at prices that are reflective of anticipated economic success.  Business owners are getting fair value for their businesses and buyers are having success as the new owners.  Most businesses show an increase in revenue of 15% to 30% the year after the transfer of ownership.  The new owners come with energy, enthusiasm, and some new skills and ideas.  This has not changed. Sellers are having to finance a greater portion of the purchase price but they are getting fair value and 99% of the transactions at Sunbelt are working out well for both parties.

Who is selling and when

Some of our sellers are serial entrepreneurs.  They tend to be younger than 55 when they sell a business.  But the vast majority of our sellers aren’t serial and they’re not entrepreneurs.  [While business owners can be entrepreneurs, many are not.]  They hang on to the last moment, when they are turning 71 or 72. For most, freedom 55 is a myth.

In fact, a 2010 survey by Businessesforsale.com, found that 20% of business buyers in Canada were over 55!  You can read more about this and our tips for baby boom buyers here.

The average life expectancy was only 61.7 years when the U.S. set the retirement age for its social security program at 65.  This was in 1935.  By the time our CPP was established some 30 years later, life expectancy had hit 70.  It has now hit 81.  Puts things into a very different light doesn’t it.

Whether you’re thinking of selling and retiring or starting a second or third career, we can help you reach your business goals. Contact any of our offices across Canada for a complimentary consultation.

And for tips on buying, building or selling a business, make sure to sign up for our free monthly newsletter.

Gaining fresh perspective for life and business: letting go of the need to be right

Most of us will do anything to avoid being wrong

Two posts back, I wrote about the value of taking time out for vacation, to recharge, to clear the mind and get fresh perspective, good for our health and our business.

Perspective is everything in business as in life.  It’s what maintains us through the challenges of the economy, the marketplace, the unknown and the unforeseen.

Success-oriented small business owners are prepared to step outside of the familiar, the tried and true, and they are open to other ways of thinking and doing.  They are curious, always asking questions, looking for ways they can create value.  They are not afraid to act.

This week, a friend recommended I watch a TED video she had found through a blog post by staffing industry executive Susan Wright-Boucher.  As Susan says:

“We go to great lengths to prove we’re right. We defend our point of view when challenged. We debate and argue to get others to see things our way. And yet we celebrate movies and books that surprise us with plot twists and red herrings just so that we can enjoy the feeling of being wrong when we get to the end of the story. What happens to us in real life that compels us to be right? Are we missing opportunities to be surprised and delighted?”

And, from a business perspective, I would add—opportunities to surprise and delight our customers.

It’s been said that “in order for you to profit from your mistakes, you have to get out and make some.”  Based on what Slate columnist Kathryn Schulz says in her recent TED video, to start the ball rolling we have to “let go of rightness.”

Kathryn talks about the need to “step outside of that tiny terrified space of rightness,” reflecting that we limit ourselves and our personal and professional relationships by our fears of being wrong and inadequate.

Most of us will do anything to avoid being wrong.  So we pump up the confidence we have in our convictions.  And that can lead to tunnel vision, tempering our acceptance of other points of view.  As Abraham Maslow said, “To the man who only has a hammer, everything he encounters begins to look like a nail.”

That’s no way to build relationships and resolve issues that can make or break a privately owned business, be they with customers, suppliers, or staff.  It’s the same when it comes to buying or selling the business, where give and take, and the need to listen to and understand the other party’s position, is needed on both sides.

I encourage you to watch the video.  Let me know what you think.

And if you haven’t done so, grab my RSS feed at the top right or subscribe by email to the Real Deal using the SUBSCRIBE BY EMAIL in the right-hand column.  You’ll be the first to receive new posts hot off the press.

No double dipping at our table: how dual agency works in Canada

No double dipping at our table

Business brokers bring buyers and sellers together.  The rules around “who acts for whom” change with the Canada/U.S. border.

In Canada, individual business brokers often represent the interests of both the buyer and the seller of a business. This is known as dual agency.

Dual agency is not the standard in the U.S., although some states do allow a broker and one agent to represent both sides of the transaction as dual agents.

Normally, buyers pay no fees to us.  The broker is paid on a commission basis by the seller when a business transaction is successfully completed.

It seems that some don’t understand this.  Like this individual from an American financial services firm that wrote:  “I hate double-dipping business brokers”.

And he wasn’t referring to our practices with chips or vegetables.

His statements are misleading.

Let me explain.

Taking a vacation when you’re in charge

Take the plunge!

Are you taking, or have you already taken, a vacation away from your business this year?

If your answer is yes, good for you!

If not, what’s stopping you?  Think twice before you answer.

As a business owner myself, I know how hard it can be to step away.  And provided you enjoy what you’re doing, the workload seems much lighter than it actually is.  I touch on this in tips for baby boom buyers.  Sometimes you don’t even notice how much energy you’re expending.

But that can be part of the problem. You may not be able to separate yourself from your business.  It’s important for owners to make their business independent of them:  they’ll have more flexibility in their life and their business will be worth more when it’s time to sell.

We all need time to wind down and recharge, to clear our mind and get fresh perspective. And vacations are a way to do just that.  They’re good for our health and our business.

Vacationers reportedly experience an 82% increase in job performance post-trip says Intuit’s Guide to Taking a Vacation.

Selling a business: using marketing to increase value before you sell, part 3

Know the potential return on your advertising investment.

Last post, we talked about a) understanding who you are or want to be, b) identifying your target market and c) ensuring that everything you do is consistent with the image you are trying to create in order to be the very best supplier to your target market.

Today, we’ll address ways of communicating with your prospects.

Most of us are familiar with the standard advertising media such as direct mail, telemarketing, newspapers, magazines, radio, television, coupons, flyers, billboards and signage. These paid media can be effective if you have properly identified the audience you are trying to reach and the message you are trying to get across and you commit to the time it takes to achieve results. You need to determine who you are trying to reach and with what message, in order to choose the media that will be the most effective for your purposes.

You should also be looking at the potential return on your advertising investment. Higher revenue and higher profits (all else being equal) will result in a higher selling price for your business. I highly recommend getting expert advice about your advertising investment. Some simple rules such as including a call to action apply– if your outlay does not result in a prospect taking some action towards becoming a client then what is it accomplishing? Knowledgeable media sales people with personal integrity will help you make appropriate decisions about your advertising mix.  Advertising firms who help with your creative materials are also a good source of such information.

Selling a business: using marketing to increase value before you sell, part 2

Last post we talked about understanding your market niche and applying focus and consistency of image in product or service delivery to ensure you dominate that niche.  Today, I want to expand on how you touch your prospects and how a consistent image results in a better business.

Business owners often overlook prospect and client education, peer or client recognition, ambiance and effective testing to understand prospect and client perceptions.  Large companies regularly hire services to collect, analyze and report on their prospects and clients perceptions but those of us in small- and medium-sized businesses often ignore this or make assumptions that are wrong.

I was approached by a client some years ago to sell a number of their locations. They were not doing well.  After visiting some, I asked the client what business he thought they were in.  He said that they were in the business of selling bagels. I said that he was in the business of making his clients feel a bit better about themselves because they had patronized his location. 

Selling a business: using marketing to increase value before you sell

Singular focus can achieve transformational results in our businesses if it’s based on an understanding and channeling of who we are, what we have a passion for, what we can be the very best at and what drives our economic engine.  As we said in last post, Taking your business from good to great, that singular focus has to apply to all our activities,  so it extends to our marketing efforts.  Marketing is that which causes clients to come to you and keeps them coming back.

Dominate a niche market: be the very best supplier in that niche

In The Guerrilla Marketing Handbook, Jay Conrad Levinson states:  “In order to sell a product or a service, a company must establish a relationship with the customer.  It must build trust and support.  It must understand the customer’s needs, and it must provide a product that delivers the promised benefits.”

The goal is to dominate a niche market by being the very best supplier in that niche.  You may have to narrow the niche again and again to get it down to the one you can dominate. The starting point and qualifier for identifying what you will provide and to whom, is the selective focus we referenced above.

Bill Davidow, former Marketing VP at Intel, does a great job of describing the process of market segmentation and product development in his book Marketing High Technology.  As he says and shows, while “devices are invented in the laboratory, great products are invented in the Marketing Department”.