[Aladdin C.C.]

I have been cleaning carpets part time  in  retirement to help financially.
I now find it hard to haul the equipment about and will have to retire properly.
I have a customer list comprising about 500 cards with phone, address, work done etc.. Total value of work about £60,000.
Is there any formula to value the cards in order to sell to  another carpet cleaner?

[gwrightson]

I wouldn't know of any formula, but why not sell the business as a going concern,
you have all of the equipment, I,m guessing a phone numbers to contact you, website ,a van
and a customer base.

As you are retiring you wont need any of these so sell a a going concern.

Geoff

[scott johns]

where are you based and how much were you thinking?

[Mike Gwilliam]

I wouldn't know of any formula. What you can rely on is that if those people were sent postcards-reminders it would generate 2 to 3 grand minimum per mail shot if sent every 6 months.

It would depend on what someone in your area is prepared to pay to get easy work.

[Aladdin C.C.]

Thanks for your comments. Scott johns  my customers are mainly in Derbysire Dales, ie Central Derbyshire.  My reason for this post is that  I have no idea what the cards are worth.My intention in keeping good records was to do follow up calls but I have always had some regulars and a flow of new calls to keep me going part time without chasing them.
Thanks Mike that info is helpful.
My thought was to contact the two full timers in the area to offer them but don't know where to start on price.
I didn't think about selling the business as I got a good price for the delettered trailer I used .Ig got almost impossible to park a 4x4and a trailer near a customers property .
Any suggestions welcome.

[scott johns]

hard to put a price on it I suppose the old saying its only worth what someone is willing to pay.
I'm in the east so derby out of my zone I'm sure someone new to the game may be interested.
anyway all the best what ever you do

[Hilton]

The only real thing you have of value is your customer data
Is the 60k per annum.?

[Aladdin C.C.]

No the £60k is total over last few years working part time.

[Carpet Dawg]

Depends on the quality of the clients you have in your database.

Have you cleaned many times for these clients?
Out of the 500, how many where one offs?
What's the average spend of these customers?
What's your minimum charge? etc etc.

Basically, what I am trying to say is that these clients in your database needs to meet the criteria of the buyers pricing structure. 

[Shaun_Ashmore]

Your turnover is the biggest clue, stock at valuation, adding in years trading and any contracts as well as database and maybe your average job price.

Find this out and get someone to value it for you, I know some one who has his business for sale for £85k but no takers it depends on how quickly you want to sell.

[jasonl]

Ill give you 2 grand cash for them, thats about what they are worth.

4 years ago I paid £3000 for 2500 customers on  a cleanersmate database already installed on a lap top and this site

the-carpetcleaner.co.uk   it turned over 30k a year.

[maxcampbell]

We did a deal with a local man retiring. We sent a joint letter, his words one side, our words the other, then gave him 10% of all the work we did for his customers over the next two years. It didn't come to anything significant. I can't remember how many names there were, probably 300-ish.

[Doctor Carpet (Ret'd)]

Possibly rule number one for when you want to plan retirement ....

Sell the business when you don't need to sell it to maximise the selling price.

There again I thought it would possibly take up to  5 years to find the right buyer. Instead I sold  9 days after the target date to start thinking about it.

Then it was a question of " help, what do I do now. I've got to rely on my savings"

Rog

[Aladdin C.C.]

Jasonl - thanks. I have  e mailed you any dry-fresh.

[Shaun_Ashmore]

Do you have a website that may enhance the sale.

[Aladdin C.C.]

Jasonl .....was that a serious offer or computer auto word suggestion gone wrong?
Shaun - thanks but I retired early on a small pension then worked part time to supplement it . So a web web site and expensive advertising would Have. brought too much work. It was fine low key as very few overheads. I didn't want the extra as word of mouth produced the work after some local ads and yell. A bit different to most business patterns but it produced what I wanted.

[Shaun_Ashmore]

May I ask what you charge?

You could always email me if you like to keep things personal.

shaun_ashmore@lineone.net

[Aladdin C.C.]

E mil sent Shaun. We live in a "nice" rural area with several local market towns. I have little competition which come and goes. I am not cheap but I am very thorough and do added bits free of cheap.To go full time would mean competing in say Derby or Chesterfield so it suited my part time plans.