As part of a thorough understanding about business operations, many certified business brokers consider themselves experts on excellent customer service. But when subjected to pressure from the clock and the competition, they might forget to practice what they preach.

Here are five fundamentals of good customer care that business intermediaries need to remember.

1. Available and able to communicate with clients on a 24/7 basis. It’s surprising how many brokers are not equipped or knowledgeable about using current media, such as Twitter, text messaging and instant messaging, to set appointments and exchange updates with clients. Most buyers and sellers rely on the latest technologies to exchange important information with their representatives. There’s no excuse for business brokers not to have that capability.

2. Willingness/ability to work with client learning curves. In the bustle of daily business it’s easy to forget that not all sellers and buyers are familiar with the terminology and protocols involved in business transactions. Just because someone is new to the game doesn’t mean he or she isn’t a serious and qualified client.

Certified business brokers endeavoring to be successful need to take the time–or make time–and have the patience to educate buyers who aren’t quite prepared to begin the search and sellers who don’t yet have their act completely together.

3. “Shooting straight” with buyers and sellers. It often is tempting to work with someone who says he’s a buyer and has the money to do a deal, but without determining whether he is truly motivated to make a purchase. Similarly brokers often take a listing for a business though there’s no landlord commitment and an incomplete set of records.

It’s a better use of the sales professional’s time and more respectful of the client to make sure all pertinent facts come out at the beginning. Send the buyer home to think about whether he’s really ready to make a commitment. And tell the seller her business will be marketable only when she’s got a complete package of financial and other information, along with a landlord or franchisor commitment.

4. Find a way to work with other brokers, even those without experience. It’s not just greed that causes many certified business brokers to decline requests from other brokers to cooperate on a possible deal. But if the inexperienced licensee really has a buyer for your listing, or has a business for sale that represents a good opportunity for your buyer, you have a responsibility to your client to work with the other broker.

Some skilled business sales professionals know how to forge an agreement with less-experienced colleagues, so that everyone wins. One approach is for the more experienced broker to handle the deal and pay a finder’s fee to the other sales person.

5. Going beyond continuing education. While certified business brokers have specific training in the offering and selling of small and mid-sized businesses, some don’t bother to gain extra knowledge that might help their clients. It’s important to be informed about various funding strategies, including where SBA-backed lending might be available and how to get it. And the broker who is well versed in the documents and agreements that will be encountered–financial statements, leases and escrow instructions– will be a valuable resource for clients and also more likely to be very successful.

It’s not that brokers are lazy or want to be careless about their work habits. But many are so pressed for time they often neglect to follow their own advice to clients and practice excellent customer service.

About The Author:  Peter Siegel is a SCORE Counselor specializing in consulting those selling or buying a small business.  He is the Founder of BizBen.com – online marketplace for businesses offerings and resources, and has written three books on how to buy and sell small businesses. If you have questions about the buying or selling a business process please feel free to phone Peter Siegel at: 866-270-6278.

Most everyone searching for a business opportunity has encountered the question about whether an enterprise being considered is a sound business investment or merely buying a job.
 
The distinction between the two often is unclear. But it’s important for entrepreneurs to consider this question when establishing criteria for the search, and when becoming educated in order to make smart buying decisions.
 
As a guide for determining whether you’re buying a job or purchasing something more than that, consider these three principals that shed light on the topic and clarify some of the issues involved:
 
1.  Level of owner’s involvement: The seller may claim the offering is a terrific business opportunity with wonderful potential, but if his or her full-time participation is necessary to make the company run, it looks a lot like a “job.”
 
Being tied to the kitchen, or office, or retail counter for much of the day, during business hours, is pretty much the same experience whether you own a business or labor in someone else’s company. It’s nice to think: “this is my business, I can do whatever I want.” But the reality is that the person who has left a job for a business that’s just as demanding of daily attention may not have made much career progress–may have bought a job.
 
2. Return on investment in absentee business: The entrepreneur who’ s invested money, but not long hours of labor into a company might argue that he or she has a business rather than a job. In fact, there are a number of enterprises in which the investors have a financial interest but little or no involvement in operations. And indeed, that enterprise might well be a business for purposes of this discussion.
 
But there’s a question concerning return on the buyer’s investment. If there are little or no owner’s discretionary earnings at the end of the year, the enterprise, though technically a “business,” is not a very good business. The way for the owner to generate some cash flow is to show up for work every day, replacing employees and taking, as an income, the money saved by reducing staff. Now we’re back to the fact that the person has bought a job because the owner’s intense involvement is required if the business is to generate a return.
 
3. Change in value: A critical factor to be considered is whether the buyer is able to realize an increased value for the business opportunity investment, whether or not involved as a full-time worker. That means the person laboring in say, a retail or service business, and taking out a salary, might actually not be merely the owner of a “job.” An increase in the value of the enterprise, by 10 percent or more after a year or two following the purchase, can be considered proof that it’s a business, rather than a job.
 
Frequently, the difference can have more to do with the intent and action of the buyer than character of the business. An entrepreneur might have purchased a job in which he or she is working every day for an income. But if the owner is working “on” the business, not just working “in” the business, the result often is an expansion of markets, new products, additional locations or other payoff due to implementation of smart growth strategies.
 
A growing enterprise is, for purposes of this analysis, a “business” rather than a “job” even if the owner is earning his or her “living” as a full-time worker in the company.
 
Understanding these principles is useful for a buyer who’s considering whether to purchase a business opportunity or a job, and wants to know the difference.
 
About The Author:  Peter Siegel is a SCORE Counselor specializing in consulting those selling or buying a small business.  He is the Founder of BizBen.com – Businesses For Sale In California and has written three books on how to buy & sell small businesses. If you have questions about the buying or selling a business process please feel free to phone Peter Siegel at: 866-270-6278.