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Find and
Buy Your
Ideal Business and
Pay a Fair Price
designed for business buyers, and their advisors
Allow
me to introduce myself. My name is Ted Burbank and in 1979 I
established the first business brokerage office to serve central New
England. I managed a staff that averaged twenty plus individuals
that included; CPAs, MBAs, Attorneys, a Wall Street Investment Banker and
others, most of whom had business ownership experience.
We
represented a unique team and together we sold more than two thousand
businesses. We learned a tremendous amount in the process and
from each other. The book and software offered here is a
distillation of the experience and knowledge gained in that process.
Deal
Master 4.0 is based upon experience gained in
the actual purchase of more than two thousand businesses!
I
originally produced and assembled this book and software especially
for first time business buyers but many financial professionals, business
brokers, intermediaries and advisors to entrepreneurs have purchased the
program and found it of benefit in their practices. I made sure,
however, that the Deal Master software could be used by non-financial and
financial professionals alike to assure the program would benefit the most
people.
The Business
Buying System's software, Deal Master 4.0,
consists of several interactive components that cover the entire
acquisition process from start to finish. Applying the "Insider
Information" this package provides can save you thousands of
dollars in legal and accounting fees plus save you hundreds of hours
reviewing inappropriate businesses or companies that are not right for
you. The Business Buying
System is designed to make process of
buying a business simple and safe.
Use
the Business
Buying System and
no
one will ever believe you are buying your first business.
Here's what is included in the Business
Buying System
Book --
"Buying a Business Made
Easier" |
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Profit
from the experience and insight gained in negotiating more
than two thousand business transfers. This
practical guide, written in understandable "shirt
sleeve" language, simplifies a very complex subject.
The book focuses upon the motivations and perceptions that drive
a sale and the software "crunches the numbers."
Case studies and examples are provided to illustrate every major
point.
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Notice the title is not Buying a Business Made Easy.
If we learned anything in the process of selling two thousand businesses
it is that buying a business is not easy. In fact it is probably
going to be one of the most difficult things you have ever attempted to
do. Why is buying a business so difficult? The short answer is that
the rules for buying/selling a business differ from those for selling
essentially anything else you can imagine.
Perhaps
these three examples will illustrate:
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Business
owners would constantly tell us that they didn't want people to know
their business was for sale.
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Most
business buyers would confide they were unsure of exactly what type
business they wanted to buy. They could tell us what they didn't want
and, as with art, would know the right business when they saw it.
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When it
comes to price, if you ask twelve people what a business is worth you
will probably get as many answers.
To
summarize. Sellers don't want you to know
what they are selling is for sale? "Don't let anyone know my
business is for sale but sell it quickly." Buyers want to buy
something but they don't know what it is. Both want a fair price (whatever
that might be). Seven additional differences are explained in
the book with instruction on how to turn these differences to your
advantage.
The
Business Buying System was assembled to address and solve these issues and many
others as well. For example, one of the first issues addressed is How
to Identify Your Ideal Business. We have devoted an entire
chapter to this subject and developed a matrix for you to use as you
screen businesses for suitability. This foundational part of your
quest is critically important to your success not only in finding your
ideal business but your success after the purchase as well.
The book
'Buying a Business Made Easier" walks you through the Business Buying
Process one step at a time. Each major point is illustrated
with a case study of an actual sale.
Some of the tips and insider information
illustrated in "Buying a Business Made Easier"
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Identify businesses
that fit you. Ideally businesses that have "All the Right
Things Wrong" with them
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Quickly
eliminate businesses that do not fit your personality or fail to meet
your income needs
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How to
find a business to buy that's not for sale (an estimated twenty
percent of all business owners are considering sale but are not yet
listed with a broker)
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Three
questions to ask so you don't waste time and money reviewing
businesses that don't "fit" you or your lifestyle - cut
right to the quick without offending either the seller nor the sellers
advisors
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Ask the
four key questions used by the Pros to determine profitability before
seeing " the books" - Save hundreds of hours and perhaps
thousands of dollars in professional fees analyzing businesses that
either:
a) will not support your lifestyle or b) you cannot afford to
purchase.
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Learn
how to determine the real profits of any business, especially cash
businesses, using methods employed by the Internal Revenue Service and
savvy business buyers
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Avoid
pitfalls and common mistakes that most first time buyers make that can
cost you dearly
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Learn
negotiation techniques that produce win-win results
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Where
to obtain the best advice (and it's usually free)
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Determine
a proper price and transaction structure for purchasing the business.
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Ask all
the right questions of the seller without aggravating him or her
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How to
obtain all the important documentation and information up front
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Analyze
the collected data as would a financial professional
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Structure
Win-Win Offers and Counter-Offers quickly and confidently
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Deal Master 4.0's CD ROM |
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Part
1
"MBA
on a Disk"
-- Business Analyzer and Financial
Audit Software
Perform your "Due Diligence" like a pro
Simply
enter one to five years of financial data from accounting
statements or tax returns, answer a few questions regarding the
business, make a few decisions - press a key and PRESTO!
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The program has calculated:
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The Real
Profits of any business (special section for use with Cash
Businesses)!
Our Business Buying System provides you the unique ability
to uncover the real profits of any business - even Cash Businesses
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A Fair
Price and Terms for the business - You can perform countless
"What if" scenarios and calculate scores of possible
transaction structures quickly and easily to determine a Fair Price
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Fairness
Test and Justification of Purchase Price Calculations - Make sure
the business can afford the price, and that your Rate of Return is
commensurate with the risk involved - this is a double check on
whether or not the price is fair.
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Determine
the real profits of any business, especially cash businesses, using
audit techniques employed by the IRS and savvy business buyers
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Pro-forma
projections of profitability under your management - Easy and
straightforward calculation that employ the scores of historic
operating ratios generated by the program.
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Cash
Flows and working capital requirements - Make sure you will have
adequate reserves and money to grow your new business
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Comprehensive
Ratio Analysis with explanations - Scores of ratios are calculated by Business
Buyer's Tool Kit's software along with an
explanation of what each ratio means, why it is important and how it
is calculated
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Business
Buying System's software will also generate
Comparative Income Statements and Balance Sheets
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Risk
Analysis Reviewer ~ Checks out factors other than "the
numbers"
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Graphs
to visually view key factors
Deal Master 4.0's Transaction Structuring software
helps you analyze counter offers for fairness and "get back to
the table" with a proposal you can defend quickly and confidently.
Hard copy
sample of an actual case study included for reference
Part
2 - Business Pricing and Transaction Structuring Software
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Business Pricing and
Transaction Structuring Software
for Small to Middle Market Companies
Easy to use.
Simply enter one page of data from tax returns or accounting
statements, answer a few questions and make some decisions and
the software does the rest. It couldn't be easier or more
simple. The
program, although years in development,
will provide your valuation in minutes.
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Size does matter
One size does not fit everyone; and neither does one approach to business
valuation. That's why the program produces values, transaction
structures and fairness testing for the three size categories of private
businesses - all at the same time. The three Size and Business
Structure categories can be briefly described as follows:
- Middle Market -- Generally Private
companies with well defined Corporate structure and earnings in the
low millions
- Mid-Size -- Private companies with
Corporate structure developing. Owner has delegated many
management functions to others - earnings typically from $250,000 to
the early Millions.
- Main Street -- Commonly referred to
as "Mom and Pop" - Business owner wears essentially all the
hats - Earnings usually under $250,000
15 valuation methods
Yes, the program simultaneously produces three business valuations using
15 valuation methods. This approach insures you are using valuation
methods that are appropriate for the business involved.
Don't pay
too much!
Use the Deal Master's Business
Pricing software to develop a fair price you
can defend and with terms that will work. Construct a deal where
existing cash flows will cover your acquisition debt service, give you a
reasonable return on your investment and compensation commensurate with
your initial investment. Use the Data Gathering form to
assure you cover all the important bases.
Transaction Structuring
Determine a
Fair Price and Terms for the business - You can perform countless
"What if" scenarios and calculate scores of possible transaction
structures quickly and easily to determine a Fair Price. It's not
necessarily the price you pay that's most important but rather - it's the
terms or how you pay it that really matters. Make sure the business
can afford the purchase price terms so the business can stay sold.
Deal Master 4.0's Transaction Structuring software helps
you analyze counter offers for fairness and "get back to the
table" with a proposal you can defend quickly and confidently.
Fairness
Test and Justification of Purchase Price
Make sure the business can afford to pay:
Designed to be used by non-financial professionals
Don't let the ease of use fool you - this is a powerful program designed
for the business owner, business buyer or advisors who needs to know how
to price and structure the sale of a company.
No financial expertise or specialized knowledge is
needed and the program uses Microsoft Excel™
so there isn't a new software program to learn.
"The
right tools can make you an expert"
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3 - Forms, Checklists and Contracts plus Special Contingencies
and Language on the Deal Master 4.0 CD-ROM |
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All the documents
required to buy a business safely ~ Forms, Letters,
Contracts and Checklists all ready to be used as is or
customized by you. All documents have been field
tested in several thousand negotiations. All documents
are designed to protect you fully during and after
negotiations are completed.
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Forms, checklists,
letters of understanding and the like are considered mundane by many.
We can assure you they are vitally important in many subtle and not so
subtle ways. In the interest of brevity, consider the possible cost
of an oversight caused by the lack of a comprehensive Due Diligence
Checklist. How will you be assured all bills are paid when you take
possession? What protection will you have should unpaid bills arise
after the sale? The "mundane" Forms, Checklists and
Contracts Section of the Business Buyer's Tool Kit addresses these and
many other issues automatically.
Some of the forms and checklists:
- Preliminary Checklist to assist
in clearly defining the business that will be right for you. This
checklist alone can save you from spending countless hours and
thousands of dollars as you search for the "Right Business."
- Business Profile data gathering
workbook - Covers all of the questions that must be answered to avoid
costly oversights - make sure you cover all the bases.
- Due diligence checklist covers:
a) all areas of concern to be investigated and checked -
b) All the documents that must be collected (in addition to Tax
Returns) before a price is finalized and a sale consummated.
- Forms and letters for use in
negotiating the purchase of the business safely ~ Samples in book
illustrate usage and all are on the CD ROM ready to be used as is or
customized for a special situation.
- Sample wording for contingencies to protect you in
those special or unusual situations that may occur.
Business Buying System's
family of documents proceed through the Offer, Counter Offer, Due
Diligence, Negotiation, Problem Solving, Financing and Final Close with
YOU in CONTROL throughout the process. Deal Master's documentation
is designed so you can SAFELY STOP the process at any time up to the
preparation of the final documents. YOU STAY in CONTROL and YOUR DEPOSIT
is SAFE until you call a stop or the deal is done. Hard copy
Samples included for reference.
| Part 4 - IRS Tax Return Data by
Industry on Deal Master 4.0's CD-ROM |
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Who
would have believed you would have direct access to Internal
Revenue Service information directly from your computer with Business
Buying System's CD-ROM.
The financial data collected from tax returns filed with the IRS
is compiled in spreadsheet format by Industry, Business Form,
and other criteria and its all right on the Business
Buying System's CD ROM.
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I have made it
easy for you to use the data to justify/ratify your
assumptions and compare your target business to other businesses of the
same size within the same industry. For example, you might want to
use this data to ratify that the Gross Profit percentage you expect to
maintain is realistic and attainable. This data is especially helpful
in adding credibility to your projections and increasing a lender's
confidence in you as a savvy businessperson.
Compare:
- Gross Profit -
Net Expenses -
Recast Income and Profitability - Rents - Labor Costs
Real
Profitability of one Industry with Another and more.
Thanks
to CD-ROM technology, the copious amount of IRS data is readily available
to you as dynamic information. You can forget about the
tedious data input that is required with static information found in
books, articles and reports. Business
Buying System has organized the data on CD-ROM -
ready for you to use and analyze as you wish.
| Part 5 - IRS Field
Agent Audit Guide by Industry on Deal
Master 4.0's CD-ROM |
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In
addition to the IRS financial data the Deal
Master CD-ROM
contains the IRS's internal Audit and Investigation Guides
for businesses from Architect to Veterinarian.
Thanks again to CD-ROM technology, the vast amount of
information involved is readily available for download to your
printer or for on screen review by industry .
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Each Audit Guide provides an overview
of the industry under review to familiarize the you with industry lingo,
practices and then outlines just what questions should be asked, what
documents should be requested for review etc. as part of your
investigation or due diligence. Actually the IRS agent's Audit is
essentially the same as a Due Diligence Review one should conduct before
acquiring any business.
Now you can have the
same
Audit and Investigation Tools the IRS uses
We can keep the cost to you
very low by providing the data on the Deal Master CD-ROM rather than in
the size of a telephone book. For example, the Audit Guide for
Commercial Printers, when printed from Deal Master's CD ROM, is almost
half an inch thick.
The IRS Field Agent Audit
Guides will be especially valuable if you are considering the purchase of
a "Cash Business" such as:
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Bars
or Restaurants
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Beauty
Shops
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Bed
and Breakfasts
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Car
Wash
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Child
Care
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Laundromat
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Pizza Shop
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Retail Shop
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Liquor Store
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and others
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Whether it's a Manufacturing,
Distribution or a mobile food
cart business you are looking to buy, there's probably an IRS guide on
Deal Master's CD ROM that can help you analyze your target business with
the savvy of a professional dealmaker.
"Present
yourself as a professional"
Part
6 - "Loan Proposal Generator" on Deal Master
4.0's CD-ROM |
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The Loan Proposal
Generator portion of the System is unique in that it
automatically creates a Loan Proposal based upon actual
Banker's lending criteria and presents the data in the
format the Lender's like to see making it easy for a lender to
say yes to your loan request.
You can structure your offer with confidence and present
yourself as a savvy business person to the seller and the
seller's advisors. Sample Loan Package included for
reference.
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Special Bonus ~
Deal Master's Loan Proposal Generator contains a section that will
facilitate your contact with the most competitive lenders willing to
"do your deal" at the best available rate. Run
a possible transaction by the lenders before you make an offer to
determine:
- What the lenders will consider a Fair Price
- What down payment will be required of you
- How much bank financing is available and at what rate
- The Amount of seller financing that may be required
Owning "Business Buying System" is like having your very own CPA, MBA, Financial Advisor, Banker
and Business Intermediary on CD-ROM. Calculate scores of
sophisticated ratios to thoroughly analyze the business. Develop a
fair price and transaction terms that will work. Investigate the
Business with the same tools used by the IRS and savvy business buyers.
Save hundreds, if not thousands of dollars in professional fees by doing
the calculations and assembling financial and other information into a
concise report for your advisors to review. Proper use of you
professional advisors is simplified with Business Buying System .
"Your
accountant would have to charge you many times
the cost of this package for the ratio and business analysis alone"
Easy to
use - No new programs to learn
The Business Buying System's
programs are in either Microsoft Excel workbook format or Microsoft Word
doc format. You need not know Excel to use the program. The
forms, checklists etc are in Microsoft Word doc file format and as such
can readily be imported into most any word processing program if you are
not using Word. No need to learn a new software program to start
using Business Buyer's Tool Kit right away. Yes, an operating manual
is included but, because the program is so intuitive, you probably will
not use it.
| In Addition
- Samples and Examples |
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Samples and examples put you on a
fast track to understanding the several sophisticated reports
the Business Buying System's software programs generate. Having completed
reports to review will make developing reports for the
businesses you target so very much easier to do and understand.
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How
much does the
"Business
Buying System"
cost?
To compare value, please consider
the following:
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An accountant would have
to charge you $1,000 (and maybe more) just to place a rough
estimate of the sale price of a business you may wish to buy. This
could become quite expensive if you review several businesses
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A basic Business
Valuation similar to what you will produce yourself with Deal Master's
software will generally cost between $2,500 and $15,000
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Expect to pay an
accountant $2,500 or more for the comprehensive financial analysis
that the Business Analysis software program produces
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SBA Loan Proposal
Generator will save you the hundreds of dollars an accountant would
charge or save you scores of hours were you to attempt to produce the
SBA loan proposal on your own
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Document Pack will save
you money two ways:
1) Avoid excessive legal fees
2) Make sure that all the protections possible are included and that
you are in control of the business buying process from start to close
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Just one mistake made
because you didn't have the book "Buying a Business Made
Easier" to guide you could cost thousands or even worse - prevent
you from buying the business that would have been perfect for you.
With these
costs in mind, you can readily see where the "Deal Maker - Business
Buyer's Tool Kit" (Books and Software) is worth much more than
its selling price.
"Those
who are serious about buying a business will purchase this Tool
Kit
and wonder why the price is so low."
Using
all the tools included in your
Business Buying System, we put an offer in
for a convenience store.
The seller accepted and we are set to close in a
couple of weeks. Thank you for your assistance.
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Regular
Price
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| Buying
a Business Made Easier |
85.00
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| Deal
Master 4.0 Software which includes: |
195.00 |
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Business
Pricing Transaction Structuring Software for the Non-Financial
Executive
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MBA on Disk - Business Review and Analysis Software |
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SBA Loan Proposal Generator |
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Document
Pack - a complete set of all forms, contracts etc.
needed to complete a transaction
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IRS Tax Return Data by type of business |
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IRS Field Agent Audit Guide by
type of business |
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Samples
and examples |
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Shipping
using USPS Priority Mail (Approximately 4 pounds) |
15.00 |
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Regular
Price
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$295.00
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Internet
Discount
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$100.00
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Special
Price
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$195.00
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or
Download
plus CD ROM option
The
Books, Business Pricing and MBA on Disk software programs, the
Document pack and IRS Tax Return Data can all be downloaded now.
However, the IRS Field Agent Audit Guide files are huge and
therefore impractical to download. We will
therefore, send you a CD ROM containing the entire Business
Buyer's Tool Kit (including the IRS Field Agent Audit Guides) by
USPS Priority Mail.
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$145.00
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Two ways to buy:
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Ship
hard copies of both books and CD ROM containing the entire
Business Buyer's Tool Kit
USPS
Priority Mail included
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"Download"
from Internet
plus receive a CD ROM that contains the entire
Business Buyer's
Tool Kit
USPS Priority Mail included
*
We will send books and software programs
as email attachments within 24 hrs of purchase
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$195.00
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$145.00
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