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Services for Real Estate Pros |
RAINER 4,110 |
| Jon Hunt | ||
| location_on Saint Augustine, FL — Florida Business Exchange | ||
| web Jon Hunt's (jonhunt) Blog | ||
A successful business brokerage isn’t much different than any other business. It is a business built on relationships, trust and confidence.
What sets business brokers apart from other real estate professionals is confidentiality. Putting a ‘For Sale’ sign in front of a house is standard practice, but putting a ‘For Sale’ sign in front of a business would hurt sales and customer relationships as well as cause confusion, fear and even panic among employees.
My clients rely on me to keep their information confidential. Therefore, businesses listed for sale are identified only in general terms.
If you’re ready to sell your business, I can provide a Broker’s Opinion Letter – an estimate of your business’ value, based on the information you provide -- at no cost or obligation. That’s not a gimmick. It’s an investment of my mind in getting to know you and your business.
If you’re ready to buy, I will the find business that is right for you.
About Jon:
Jon has been a resident of St. Augustine, Florida, since 1986, when he accepted the
position of Publisher of The St. Augustine Record.
Before becoming a business broker, he served more than 36 years with Morris
Communications Corporation in a variety of executive and management positions.
His most recent position was as Director of Business Development for The Florida
Times-Union, the largest newspaper in the Morris group. In this
position, Jon did business evaluations, helped business units
improve their bottom-line performance, did due diligence on
acquisitions and assisted in the purchase of a number of businesses
for the Morris family.
In addition to being a member of the Business Brokers of Florida
and a licensed Florida Real Estate Associate, Jon holds Series 6 and
65 investment licenses and has taken all courses required to become a Certified
Financial Planner and is affiliated with Bull & Bear Capital Advisors www.bullbearcapital.com
Jon has owned his own business, and has assisted a number of businesses in
improving products and procedures. He volunteers time assisting businesses
owners through SCORE.
He is a retired Lieutenant Colonel with the Florida Army National Guard. He served more than 29 years.
First, understand the value of your business.
There are two ways to determine the value:
1. Conduct an analysis of your financials to determine gross revenue and owner benefits. I can then compare these results to those of similar businesses that have sold to provide an estimate of the value of your company. There is no charge or obligation for this service.
2. Get an independent valuation. We collect the data for a third-party firm that crunches the numbers and determines the value. These valuations are perishable, so you don’t want to pay this fee until you are serious about selling. There is an upfront cost for this service, but we deduct the cost from our fee at closing.
Contact me for more information about either of these services or a free consultation.
When we meet, I’ll need to see tax returns or financial statements for the past three years and a copy of your lease. If we list your business, I will need a list of furniture, fixtures and equipment. I safeguard this data. It is never out of my hands and never provided to a buyer until a non-disclosure agreement is signed and the buyer qualified.
Once we agree on the value, we enter into a contract. I agree to use the best efforts to find you a qualified buyer. You agree to cooperate by providing updated financials.
Your business is aggressively marketed, but in a confidential manner. We require nondisclosure agreements before providing any information. We require net worth statements and/or verification of funds from potential buyers before discussing your financials.
Once we have found a potential buyer its time to put the two of you together for a discussion of the business. Put yourself in the buyer’s shoes and you’ll easily come up with questions likely to be running through his mind.
How much is the business earning?
What is being done to market the goods or services?
How long will it take me to earn my money back?
How strong are the employees?
Why does the seller want to sell?
Is is worth what they are asking?
Why should I use a broker instead of selling my business on my own?
Marketing is expensive and time consuming. You need to spend your time running your business, not qualifying buyers and answering questions from unqualified buyers, who may not safeguard your information.
Market Knowledge and Valuation
You know your business best, but Florida Business Exchange knows the marketplace. An offer is only the first step. We have a team of professionals that get you from contract to closing.
How do you know that buyers are serious?
We pre-screen buyers and presents only those with verified funds to you. This saves you time and effort. We stay in constant contact with local and national buyers interested in investing in Atlanta or Florida.
How do you market my business?
We use a variety of proactive methods to market your business. In today’s world, the Internet is king, and we market your business on many Web sites, but we also do direct marketing when we believe it is in your best interest. We maintain valuable relationships with other brokers representing buyers who are looking for the right opportunity today!
I’m ready to retire but I don’t want my employees, customers or suppliers to know yet. How do you sell my business confidentially?
Your business is not identified by name or even specific location. Our buyers are carefully screened and required to provide us with signed non-disclosure agreements before we release any information about your business.