Our first annual Broker Growth Summit was packed with industry experts sharing the latest tools and technologies to help brokers achieve success, including a guest panel of leading business brokers from across the U.S. Until next year, we’d like to share some of the highlights from this event.
- BizBuySell is on a mission to make you more money.
We want you to sell more businesses faster at maximum value with minimum friction. Here’s how:- Deliver you the most exposure and responses for your listings and services.
- Give you the tools to measure marketing effectiveness.
- Improve lead qualification processes as possible.
- We’ve recently assembled the BizBuySell Broker Advisory Council, a group of leading business brokers, to help us identify solutions to best serve the brokerage community.
- BizBuySell is actively investing in enhancements to deliver you more value.
Here’s what we’ve been working on and what’s in the pipeline:- BizBuySell listings automatically appear on LoopNet, reaching millions of tenants and investors - at no additional cost - on the most heavily trafficked commercial real estate marketplace.
- We’re spending millions to dominate paid and organic Search Results, so when buyers and sellers search, they find you and your listings.Plus making email marketing and onsite improvements to make it easier for them to find and contact you.
- New advanced listing performance analytics give you the intelligence to maximize your marketing and your ROI.
- Regional Account Managers can help you get the most out of BrokerWorks, including evaluate your account, walk you through the platform, and tips to be more successful.
- We are evaluating programs to source sellers and automatically match them to relevant business brokers – we want to be your #1 source for seller leads!
- Stay tuned for more including a revamped Broker Directory where you can better market your success to capture new customers.
- Google Business offers a ton of free tools and apps to grow and get noticed.
Whether you’re looking for more visibility or ways to run more efficiently, Google has an entire suite of tools and resources to help you grow – and most of them are free- Google Business is a great opportunity to get your name, your brand, and your business out there. When prospects google you or brokers in your area, Google highlights matching businesses in search results
- Test your site speed. Get a full report with recommendations on how you can connect with customers faster.
- Google Analytics and Google Search Console give you access to insightful data to help you measure site traffic, improve performance, and implement new strategies.
- Google Workspace helps businesses of all sizes connect, create, and collaborate
- Google Trends analyzes the popularity of top search queries in Google. It’s a great way to measure the pulse on what’s trending in small business.
- Avoid these top mistakes when using BrokerWorks.
- Use the Showcase Plus Email Credits included in Premium & Elite memberships before they expire at the end of each month – it’s a major missed opportunity if you don’t.
- Select all the geographic areas you serve in your profile to appear in Broker Directory search results for those locations – the more areas, the more potential sellers reached.As a guide, Basic members can select 1 area, Premium 5, and Elite members select 10 areas served.
- Make your profile the best it can be - it matters to sellers if you have a license, professional credentials or belong to a professional affiliation. They also review your sold and for-sale listings to see if you have experience selling businesses like theirs. Keep in mind, if you can’t market yourself, why should they think you can market their business?
- Use these best practices to market your listings.
We know how buyers search and engage with listings.- Maximize location information as confidentiality allows. 79% of buyers search by state, county, or city – if you don’t include that information, your listings won’t appear.
- You have the option to select two categories, meaning two separate Search Results, if their relevant. 41% of buyers include category in their search.
- Always use eye-catching photos. If confidentiality is an issue, Pexels.com offers free, high-quality photos relevant for all business types.
- Write great titles and descriptions that will entice and qualify at the same time.
- Data shows that the more financial information you include, the more likely you will find a quality buyer.
- Showcase and Diamond upgrades are available and are recommended for listings in competitive markets or industries, higher priced, or needing to meet a quicker sale timeline.
- Pay attention to your listing performance! If your click-through rate is under 2%, you may need to make some adjustments.
- Lazy listings get no respect.
Writing in ALL CAPS, not using spell check, bland headlines, too little info, and blurry photos are all great ways to make less money. - Stomp out these top buyer complaints to help us maintain a healthy marketplace:
- Delayed or lack of response
- Failure to remove sold listings
- Misrepresented opportunities
- Brokers tell us the business for sale market has been very active. Don’t miss out.
According to our guest panel of leading brokers from across the U.S., despite the pandemic, business has been outstanding.- The pandemic created a lot of different opportunities for a lot of different industries.
- People who were displaced from their careers and had the resources have been going out and buying businesses.
- Plus, favorable financing, SBA loans, and low interest rates have enabled more buyers to go out and acquire businesses.
- For owners, if you have the right type of businesses with the right multiples, they’re selling. There’s a strong demand for high performing businesses.
- Brokers stress the importance of educating clients and managing their expectations.
Both buyers and sellers should be informed upfront about how the buyer-seller process works, include all the information needed to make it a successful sale.- As a broker, make sure you’re taking the extra time to pre-qualify your buyers, and that they’re looking at businesses they can afford, that they have the financial strength to get approval from banks and landlords.
- Set expectations with timing, closing and loan processing.
- Trying to get sellers to be realistic about their business’s value and make sure they understand what they’re selling.
- Don’t take a business to market until you have everything you need, including leases and financials.
- Take extra steps to talk to lenders and analysts to make sure you’re pricing the business correctly. If you can, get a pre-qualification letter from the lender to helps get the deal done.
- Selling a business confidentially Is about building trust and marketing creatively.
According to our panel of experts, confidentiality is the number one thing sellers worry about. While every situation is different, it’s about establishing strong relationships, and finding creative ways to market the business for sale.- Always assure your clients that everything public facing will not disclose the identity of the business. It’s about having strong relationships that are built on trust. You should know the lawyers, accountants, and other brokers you’re working with.
- Brokers should develop very strong and specific NDAs and expect buyers to submit personal information about their background and financial capabilities. Then, follow up and speak to them about their background and see if there’s a fit.
- Your listing and write-up should be very strong and well-crafted. Your tagline and description should be well thought out to generate interest. To achieve good results on the marketing platform, it should include city and zip code. It should also have financial information. If it’s a niche business and you can’t reveal city and zip, you need to be more creative in how you market the information. Consider other forms of direct marketing to protect that information better.
We hope you find this information valuable and informative. You can also watch a video recording of the entire event. As always, if you need assistance or have any questions about how to succeed with BrokerWorks, contact us at BizBuySell. We look forward to seeing you at our next event.