Derikraven is correct.
Besides you would need to find a cc buyer whose client base matched yours. A competitor who charges more than you would find it difficult to convert your clients into ongoing meaning full clients prepared to pay his higher prices. . And if you charge top dollar then anybody buying your list but who charged a lower price would probably have to up their game in order to keep your clients as future clients. And that is probably exceptionally hard to do.
How did you manage to sell your business, was it through an agency, advertising or someone you knew?
I bought the business off one of my clients. (I was his bank manager.) My superiors in the bank thought I was completely barking paying what I did for it but I could see how the bank account worked (or didn’t as the case may be), and how he operated the business and his lifestyle. The business had been running for just under 10 years when I bought it.
So pretty much from day one of my ownership I was working on plans on how to sell it to maximise my return. At this stage aged 36 I planned to be out of running the business as soon as I could after turning 50. I was realistic enough to know that you can’t guarantee good health always and thank goodness i made for that allowance in view of what medical issues I did incur.
Also when planning a sale you plan to sell it when you don’t need to as part of your strategy of maximising the sale price. I just fell lucky that the timing fell so neatly with my original sale plans and my age.
My business model was to run one van , one porty with myself and another guy as the two crew members.
Cutting a very,very long story short I sold out to my number two with the sale being completed 19 days after my 50th birthday. Thereafter we switched roles with him being the boss and me acting as his number 2. Which was quite interesting when we arrived at an existing client who knew us both and I would explain that the client was now dealing with “the new boss”.
I continued to work for him for nearly two years (which certainly helped with continuity) but I got back in touch with another of the lads who had worked for me in the past, introduced him to the new owner and as they “clicked” I was then redundant.
The reason for all that background “waffle” is to put into context the answers you’re looking for. Because the new owner had worked for me for a number of years he was trained to my standards. He also knew many of the clients and had seen my very personal ways of marketing and had carried them out (more or less ) whenever he was running the business when I was away on holiday.
So, he didn’t have his own business to worry about but instead was buying a business which he knew inside out including what the turnover, GP and NP ratios and amounts were.so he had every confidence that he could achieve what I had been achieving (and even more if he worked smarter and harder).
Overall I saw a multiple return on the amount I had paid for the business originally but it was mostly due to how I had managed my data base and marketing (and work ethic).
I’m still good friends with the new owner and I still proffer advice from time to time (and is often rewarded with meeting up for a beer and curry evening.)
I’m not saying everybody can achieve a sale of their business the way I did but hopefully may give others of you some food for thought. Two other things you should know. The new owner is 24 years younger than me so has more energy, a wife who also helps in many admin ways (which my wife couldn’t do because of illness) and with time on his side to plan his exit strategy. The second reason was that my wife and I have no children so obviously that can make a huge difference financially to your plans and timing.