need help in preparing a 'white paper' on "facilitating getting into
the business brokerage business".
not the biz brokerage biz itself, not getting into the biz, but
helping others get into the biz of biz brokerage.
not talking about large business or public company M&A. not what the
investment bankers do, or even 'the geneva company' type. small
businesses. but also looking at the national segment, that is, broker
operations that have many offices. i.e. not mom-and-pop, not real
estate people, either. not talking about just understanding brokerage
operations, but rather understanding the outfits that will get you
into the business broker business. 'franchise' and 'affiliate' shops,
if you will.
focus on outfits like SUNBELT and VR, www.pghbiznet.com, www.ima-world.com .
focus on what the above companies do to get leads, grow their business.
bonus very possible |
Request for Question Clarification by
jbf777-ga
on
10 Dec 2003 12:12 PST
Can you clarify what you mean by "needing help?" It probably wouldn't
be doable at $170 to actually prepare an entire white paper, but if
you'd outline exactly the inforation you would like researched for
inclusion in the paper, or if you'd like a specific section written,
that would help clarify the purview of this question.
Thanks,
jbf777
|
Clarification of Question by
holguinero-ga
on
10 Dec 2003 13:30 PST
what the above companies do to get leads, grow their business
|
Request for Question Clarification by
jbf777-ga
on
10 Dec 2003 15:02 PST
Can you define for me the scope with which you're using the term
"business brokerage?" Are you talking of companies that help in the
facilitation of buying and selling and merging of businesses in a b2b
environment? As I understand it, Sunbelt is more of a
financing/lending business.
|
Clarification of Question by
holguinero-ga
on
10 Dec 2003 15:21 PST
vr biz brokers is the closest biz to my client's. don't have their
website handy, but let me know when you found it.
yet, my client is in the biz of putting others in the biz of biz brokerage.
|
Request for Question Clarification by
jbf777-ga
on
10 Dec 2003 16:28 PST
According to VR Business Brokers at
http://www.vrbusinessbrokers.com/
Don't they specialize in the first level of things (business brokerage
only)? They don't seem to be working on getting people into the
business of business brokerage.
Is your client working to get individuals, or is it trying to get
companies into the business of business brokerage? Is it an
educational- or training-type company?
|
Clarification of Question by
holguinero-ga
on
10 Dec 2003 16:42 PST
click on vr's franchise opportunities section. that's close to what my
client is doing. he does not call it franchise, but he recruits people
nonetheless.
i need to give him some ideas on how to recruit people. if you could
give me some insight into how vr recruits franchisee's that would be
wonderful.
|
Request for Question Clarification by
jbf777-ga
on
10 Dec 2003 18:52 PST
Sorry for all the questions, but in order to properly assist you, I
need to get a full understanding.
Does he represent his own business brokerage firm or is he recruiting
on behalf of other companies?
|
Clarification of Question by
holguinero-ga
on
11 Dec 2003 04:27 PST
neither. he's alot like vr. a brokerage operation that also recruits
people to become brokerage affiliates. except, his main biz is the
latter.
|
Request for Question Clarification by
jbf777-ga
on
11 Dec 2003 07:25 PST
"Affiliates" though means "affiliation" with something. I really
don't understand what it is he's doing. He's trying to get people
into a business for what? Are they paying him for the education?
does he get a kick-back from a business brokerage firm? The VR firm
is getting affiliates to probably represent them and be a branch of
their business brokering. These affiliates get some sort of
percentage or kick-back most likely for every transaction.
|
Request for Question Clarification by
jbf777-ga
on
11 Dec 2003 08:14 PST
Ah, wait... just re-read your post.
Ok, so he IS a brokerage operation, but he's predominantly engaged in
getting other people into HIS business, so that THEY are the ones
doing most of the brokering? Is this correct?
|
Clarification of Question by
holguinero-ga
on
11 Dec 2003 08:30 PST
yes, correct. he does get paid for affiliation, like a franchise fee,
and gets an override on their activity once they begin brokering.
don't give up.
|
Request for Question Clarification by
jbf777-ga
on
11 Dec 2003 08:49 PST
Ok, I've got the scoop on how VR finds new franchisees. But I don't
think it's $170 worth of information. :) Any thing else you'd like me
to investigate? Or do you want to lower the price of this question?
|
Request for Question Clarification by
jbf777-ga
on
11 Dec 2003 09:29 PST
Actually, I'll work to get information for the other companies if you want.
|
Clarification of Question by
holguinero-ga
on
11 Dec 2003 12:15 PST
ok. yes.
|
Hello holguinero -
Thanks for your question. If you choose to rate this answer, please
ask for any necessary clarification or information you may need before
doing so. Thank you for your understanding.
I talked with representatives from four brokerage companies -- VR,
PGH, IMA and Empire, and I gleaned an understanding of where they're
getting their new recruits. I haven't heard back from Sunbelt,
despite multiple voicemails. I also contacted a few other companies
and learned that not all business brokerage companies are offering an
affiliate or franchise opportunity.
Currently, it looks as though the preponderance of new recruits comes
from "word of mouth" for these companies.
With VR, in 2004 they're going to commence with serious marketing
through publications like USA Today, as well as rolling out a
web-marketing strategy. They belong to The International Franchise
Association (IFA) and the International Business Brokerage Association
(IBBA). The IFA offers a franchise listing as a form of advertising:
http://216.109.85.35/ifa/control/ifahome.
The IBBA doesn't offer any promotional services, but being visible in
their directory might attract an individual looking to become a
franchisee or business affiliate.
With IMA, they've actually strayed away from formal adertising because
of "too much response," believe it or not. Word of mouth seems to
suffice.
PGH reports that this side of the business is very negligible and,
although existent, doesn't really constitute a formidable portion
enough to even care where new recruits come from.
Empire is more selective with who they recruit. They thusly treat
their affiliates more like "employees" and "hire" them as such: one
has to submit a resume and be deemed as compatible with the company
and its program before they let you on board. So though you may have
$14.5K readily available for footing the affiliate setup fees, they
don't just let anyone be a part of their operation -- this sounding in
contrast to the other companies that seem more open to anyone with the
desire to join, and the funding to boot. They actually place ads on
places like monster.com and hotjobs.com for finding new recruits.
This presumably affords them a convenient way of pre-screening
individuals by including qualification criteria in their ads and
presenting more of an employer-employee vignette.
From what I'm gathering in the pursuit of this information, most
likely the best way of targeting new potential recruits into this
business is to treat it marketing-wise like any other business
opportunity. This would include typical advertising in Entrepreneur
magazine and other "business opportunity"-type publications. I would
augment this with online-based advertising. People who read these
periodicals and browse business opportunity sites are typically
already in a place monetarily and personally to invest in a business
opportunity, in addition to possessing the entrepreneurial mindset
required to be interested in such a pursuit.
If set up like a franchise, I would highly recommend locating
franchise directories to be a part of, such as the one listed above at
IFA.
You can see this Google search link for franchise opportunity sites:
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=franchise+opportunities&btnG=Google+Search
Here's a selection from the first few:
Franchise.com
http://www.franchise.com/fdc/template/buyer%2CDefault.vm
Be the Boss
http://www.betheboss.com/
Bison
http://www.bison.com/index.html
There are also plenty of websites dedicated to general business
opportunities. Here's a couple:
BOC Online
http://www.boconline.com/
US Free Ads
http://www.usfreeads.com/_business-opportunities/
If you'd would like to take more of a "pre-screened," selective
approach like Empire, placing classified ads in the likes of
monster.com and hotjobs.com would definitely be a viable option as
well. Here's a link at monster.com as an example:
http://jobsearch.monster.com/jobsearch.asp?re=2&pg=1&q=business+opportunity&sort=rv&vw=b&cy=US&brd=1%2C1862%2C1863
Traditional keyword based online advertising is also another means.
Google Adwords is a very successful program that could be employed:
http://adwords.google.com
It's always good to develop a website with all of the information
right there for anyone interested to peruse. Treating the website
like an interactive advertisement is a good mindset to have when
creating the site. Summit Brokers has a movie about becoming a
business broker right on their website:
http://www.summitbrokers.com/web/index.html
In addition to these avenues, there's always targeted, "opt-in" email,
but this is becoming more and more of a turn-off as the saturation
level of junk mail is almost eclipsing legitimate advertising in that
vein.
In summary, the approach to getting people into the business brokerage
business is not unlike any traditional business-opportunity
advertising campaign. I would advise targeting entrepreneurial-minded
and financially capable individuals looking for a new business
opportunity. These people are found in specific-interest periodical
subscribership, business opportunity/franchise websites and similar
online venues.
jbf777-ga
GA Researcher
Search strategy:
"becoming a business broker"
direct company contacts
Additional link:
Business Brokerage Press
www.businessbrokeragepress.com
About becoming a business broker
http://businesseller.dynip.com/FAQ/becomingabb.html |
Request for Answer Clarification by
holguinero-ga
on
15 Dec 2003 17:33 PST
i've edited a bit and forwarded to client. may have some questions or
feedback for you to help me with so i won't close this just yet, but
great work so far.
thanks.
|
Clarification of Answer by
jbf777-ga
on
15 Dec 2003 18:29 PST
Sounds great. Let me know...
jbf
|
