Blacks Business Brokers have managed to sell my business to a nice customer, who I believe will…read morelook after it. They have also been able to get a good and fair price for it.
Most importantly, they looked after me all the way. Including those inevitable times when I was about to give up and loose hope. Just like selling a home, it is a long and painful processes selling a business and I was not prepared for it.
I would not have been able to sell my business without their help. Their experience, ability to value it and sort out all the times I did not know what to do, have been priceless.
To give you the history of my experiences with them.
I had been running my business for many years and the sale price would be an important income for me. So I spent ages researching which one to use. Looking at which ones were active on the business for sale sites, asking others who had sold their businesses and reading online reviews
Also when I called others, I just did not get the feeling of them being so well organised and able to follow through once I joined them. Blacks were a bit over positive sales like on the phone, but otherwise fine.
The guy who came over was good and seemed to know quite a bit. He was also candid about what would I could mess up, so my business would not sell. For example, being greedy on price and so on.
This candidness and honesty sealed the deal.
When they wrote the initial sales material, they were open to really work with me to get the best possible copy. I liked how they were happy to redo it, until I felt it was the best it could be.
When I was give my account manager, who was backed up by someone else to assist when she was away. Things could not have been better.
The amazing thing with Blacks Business Brokers, was that my account manager and her colleague. They were normally available at the end of the phone. If not, they called back in a couple of hours, never more than day later, even for non urgent things. They always had time and always wanted to ensure they had done the best possible job.
My account manger's colleague, also said she had been in the business brokering trade for over 18 years. It really showed when I had some more obscure concerns and this kind of advice was really valuable.
About 15 people enquired about my business. One part of it is very mainstream and would have been easy to sell, the other bit was very niche and harder for business buyers to know what to do with.
If it had just been the bit that was more mainstream and in a larger sector, they could have sold it in a few months. The value multiples are industry standard and commonplace. The more niche side is more arbitrary to value as a niche product in a smaller industry.
Of the 15 enquiries, 7 people came to visit and 3 were serious about buying the business. They also did a great job of checking out people and judging if they were serious, before they were put through to me.
They were also cautious about who they gave out information to and checked with me each time, by saying who the people were, before giving out information.
With one enquirer, Blacks Business Brokers were very understanding when I said that they were people I felt would not be a good for the business and for sellnig to. They were experts at subtly getting them to loose interest, without causing trouble.
They always got in touch regularly, just to see how things were going. Every issue they followed up with the buyer, seller and my solicitor. A situation was never resolved in their eyes, until all parties said it was. Amazingly they never dropped the ball and always kept going with all parties, until all issues were resolved. Considering we have had so many communications, to me this is almost beyond what is humanly possible.
With the buyer, who did buy the company. They were amazing at ensuring it moved quickly and all the usual delays with due diligence and lawyers were sorted out. I was not happy with the first solicitor from their list, who wanted to charge for an excess amount of upsell work. So I found my own, who was 5 times cheaper, did all that was needed and very quickly.
I am really happy that I have chosen Blacks Business Brokers. Even since I chose them, I have spoken to others who have sold their businesses and none of them have had a truly perfect and admirable experience from their broker, like I have had.
A rare breed.
