Are you considering Buying a Retail Business? - Do you need a Business Broker?

What To Look For When Buying A Retail Business

There are such a variety of crucial points involved when purchasing a business, they could easily give you a headache. This is particularly accurate when you're negotiating to buy a business which is in the retail sector. Always strive to uncover every bit of information that you can to ensure the very best chance at your long term success in this highly competitive market.



So where do you start? You have to develop an understanding of what to search for and acquire a strong grasp of the hurdles you'll have to overcome in order to push any retail business up to its ideal level of performance. It is vitally important to understand why some businesses succeed and some businesses fail.



Successful businesses share many common factors - crucial components, if you will - and one of the first things you should do is to assess whether the entity you are considering has these factors, or may be modified accordingly.



When you own a business you need a great deal of professional advice and help and this is also the case when you are negotiating to buy a business. Look for professionals who have experience in your particular niche and sector of the retail business environment. When it comes to brokers and intermediaries, make sure that you understand that the business broker formally represents the seller and has a role to play - you should bear in mind their allegiance. Always maintain a good relationship with the seller, as he or she will be vital in the post contract stage and you should therefore maintain a professional relationship with the broker during the negotiation stage.



When you are in the process of reviewing a list of businesses for sale, make sure that you have itemized the important criteria. There are maybe as many as 70 key areas that you need to cover and when you scour the listings make sure that you look for all of these elements, good or bad. Some extra attention at this point will reduce the size of your list to a reasonable number.



When you have moved to the actual discussion stage, arm yourself with a list of critical questions to ask the seller. You should really focus and search for critical indicators. Often, you can get a great insight into their background by couching your questions in a particular way. You should make sure that you pass this stage with a clear understanding of the business.



Financials are often very difficult to understand, especially for a layman. This is where your independent accountants and advisers come in and help you to understand the numbers. There are several things to look for and several pitfalls to avoid, at this stage. Know how to analyze the figures and draw your conclusions accordingly.



Whilst it is important to know how to value a business and you should use proven and tested formulae, you should make sure that you bring in your advisers at every stage to help you understand this process. You definitely don't want to pay out too much when you buy business assets and goodwill. Sometimes it is almost impossible to use a strict formula to value a business, which may or may not rely on a lot of supposed "goodwill", and it may be necessary to construct an earnout formula to help you. If you do decide to buy a business based on your findings to this point, you will also need to make sure that you have covered all the financing elements and it is important to try and get the seller involved at this stage. This will inevitably focus the attention of the seller, as he or she will be involved with you for the forseeable future and it is in their best interests to make sure that they are also structuring a great deal.



When you come to the formalities of closing a deal, there are of course numerous legal and documentary issues to address. As you look forward, make sure that you have a very clear plan to help you through the transition, and on into the future. This is a whole new topic in itself, but you do need to make sure that the smooth running of the business suffers the least disruption, and that you do not "spook" the customers!

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Richard Parker is the President and founder of the prestigious Diomo Corporation - The Business Buyer Resource Center. His celebrated materials, seminars and consulting have encouraged thousands of aspiring business buyers from around the World to pursue their dream of buying a business. Want to discover more about impressive business buying success strategies that really work, then look no further than=> http://www.diomoretail.com/



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Automotive Advertising - have you changed yours?

Traditional Automotive Advertising is Dead

In your heart and in your mind
you already know this is true.


That's why you're reading this article right now...you're seeking a
solution. What you're doing is not working the way it should be - or
the way it once did. There was a time when you could just buy an ad -
maybe on the TV or the radio, maybe in the Auto Trader or online - with
any old message and get ups on your lot. That's not the case anymore.

Haven't you been wondering what's changed? Where did the ups go?

It's all because the traditional model is broken and the traditional
methods are quickly racing toward obsolescence.

You want - and have a right to expect - more. More traffic. More sales.
More money.

But too many independent dealers are wasting their time and money and
opportunity with traditional marketing practices that are dead.

So what's alive? What can you do today to make a difference tomorrow?

Here's a sure-fire approach any independent dealer can plug in
immediately to make a dramatic impact on sales this month:

1. Stop selling vehicles.

What??? Perhaps we should say, stop MARKETING vehicles. Everyone sells
vehicles. The fact that you have an '02 Taurus with low miles and cold
ac doesn't make a lick of difference to John and Sally America. Most
people who need or want a vehicle aren't committed to a specific make
or model (even if they say they are).

But if make, model and mileage are the only buying preferences you
offer to your potential customers, you place yourself right in the
middle of the commodity market - where www.kbb.com makes the rules and
you're left with no option but to compete on price and selection.
That's when your traffic dies and your gross suffers unless you're a
mega-volume player.

The odds are not in your favor.

2. Start selling the deal and the dealership

Instead of talking about your inventory, start talking about the
specific reasons a used car intender should choose you over everyone
else. Declare to the world, "I am the obvious choice! Buying a vehicle
from anyone else would be foolish."

You want to make concrete offers - and tie those offers to powerful
benefits. What are the big obstacles facing your customers? What's
missing from other dealerships in town? Do you offer better sub-prime
financing options? Are you more aggressive on trade-in allowances? Do
you have a unique bonus you give to customers (like keys delivered to
their office on a silver platter)?

If so, make your claim, back it up with a guarantee, and tell the
people exactly how and why you will make their life much, much better.

Here's an important distinction: we're not talking about spending money
on marketing or advertising in order to "get your name out there" or
"build brand." Not at all. That would be foolish and a total waste of
money.

We're suggesting that you communicate these ideas through a compelling
story or message that causes people to take action and allows you to
measure your results.

Are you wondering why you haven't heard this before? It's a conspiracy.

It's perpetrated by media and agencies and the huge machine that is
deathly afraid of a dealer - you - being able to track and measure the
results of your marketing expense.

This is a huge opportunity for you.

Most dealers don't know this information (and many of the ones who do
know it are too stubborn or too lazy to take action).

The wise dealer who takes this information and runs with it will be in
striking distance of dominating their market, making their competition
impotent - even the franchise dealers - and ending up with an ups
producing machine so powerful that you're actually able to take a few
days off each week because the marketing is so effective.

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Jimmy Vee and Travis Miller
are the nation's leading experts on attracting customers and the
co-authors of Gravitational Marketing: The Science of Attracting
Customers. Get important survival strategies and tips for FREE by
requesting their Automotive Emergency Survival Marketing Toolkit For
Used Car Dealers and Managers. To get your FREE copy visit http://www.richdealers.com/articles

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