New 
This New Book and Software Package Provides Step by Step Instructions detailing 

How to Transition to a 
Fee Based Practice 
or

How to become more effective selling businesses

Created especially for Business Brokers, and others Selling Businesses

If you are presently a business broker or if you are considering entering the field then this  has been written for you.  Allow me to introduce myself and share a bit of how my business brokerage office changed to a fee based operation over fifteen years ago.  My name is Ted Burbank and I began my business brokerage career late in 1979.  

At that time no one in my market nor anyone I knew ever charged up front fees when listing a business. Charging up front fees was never a consideration as we began the journey that would end with my brokerage collecting a retainer with every listing.  I can tell you that the change did not take place until we were convinced that our collecting a fee was in the best interest of our client. Prior to this the staff and business owners alike viewed up front fees as a benefit to the broker only.  

It turned out that business owners really wanted the fee based approach over the free based one - they just didn't realize it until we offered them a sensible alternative.

Let me share with you the catalyst for our transition from a typical business brokerage office where businesses are listed without a fee to one where every listing was accompanied by a fee.  My wife and I were at a party and someone asked what I did for a living.  Quite a few people gathered around to hear more after I explained that I sold businesses.  After answering all the usual questions such as “What’s the best business to be in today?”  I still had an audience so I continued and pointed out that many entities sold businesses.  In fact Century 21 sold more businesses than any other organization.  I was quick to add that those numbers were purely a function of their size and not their effectiveness. 

For example if every other Century 21 office sold one business a year that might represent several thousand sales.  But – they sell less than one of twenty listings or an effectiveness rate less than a five percent.  Business brokers typically will sell one in six to seven of their listings.  However, (drum roll please) my office was successful in selling one in four of our listings.

The adulation and praise was short lived as on the drive home my wife asked “Is it true that you sell one of four listings?”  "Why yes indeed." I replied – my chest expanding with pride.  "Yes we do."

I was unprepared for her foundation shaking reply.  “You mean to say you only satisfy twenty five percent of your customers?”   Oh wow! I never looked at it that way.  What other professional has a success rate that low?  Perhaps a baseball pitcher’s batting average, but I couldn't think of anything else. I was really troubled and decided that we would find a way to improve our effectiveness. It’s not easy being married to an intelligent woman.

It took over a year for us to come up with the solution to the low effectiveness problem (Notice the objective was not to collect fees although the result was we became a fee based operation).  Our effectiveness rate went from twenty five percent to the high nineties percent and now I want to share with you just how we did it with this book and software package.

"We were able to 
increase our Listing to Sale Ratio by a factor of Four 
using the methods outlined in this program"

What the package contains:

Book:  Transition to a Fee Based Practice - 232 pages of step by step instruction and examples to facilitate your  transition to a Fee Based Practice and become more effective selling businesses. Most importantly you will gain an understanding of why your collecting a retainer is in your client's best interest.  

Some of the topics covered in the book include:

• How the process evolved from Free Based to Fee Based

• Lessons learned from Wall Street applied to Main Street

• Why the business brokerage terms and language you use has to change

• Presentation of services including a sample presentation

• Types of buyers and what they might pay and why

• How to identify and then find the "right buyer"

• How to properly match buyers with sellers

• How to manage buyer and seller expectations

• Tips and techniques in developing the report

• Wealth creation strategies for small and mid size businesses that you can employ to expand your practice

• and much more

Listing Presentation:  The book includes a word for word transcript of an actual presentation that results in prospective clients asking "How much will this service cost?"  That's right - you may never have to ask for a fee to obtain one.  

We knew we were on the right track when business owners began asking how much we charged.  Remember we did not start out wanting to collect fees.  Later, we learned we had to charge in order to obtain the client and, later still, we had to develop a formula to use to determine the correct amount to charge. We noticed we often would loose clients interest by not charging or by charging too little - seldom because we charged too much!

The presentation to contract ratio of my top people eventually leveled off at 2 to 1.  Yes, for every two presentations they would land one fee paying client!  The entire staff's (averaged 20) closing ratio, including the rookies, averaged 4 to 1.  In any event, our Fee Based closing ratio was better than was our Free Based one!

The Software: Professional Advantage

Report Writer:   Software to produce the report mentioned above. The exact same software we developed and refined over a fifteen year period especially for our fee based practice.  The book provides you with the different buyers' rationales and motivations. The software will crunch your numbers the same way buyers of small and mid size businesses will.  Our Report Writer software has been designed to be used by the Non-Financial Professional and is very easy to use.  Simply enter numbers into a template and the software will automatically:

• Develop a comprehensive financial analysis of your business designed to give you a view of your client company's from the outside in   (An accountant would have to charge much more than the cost of our program for this feature alone)

• Illustrate the price and terms different types of buyers would be willing to pay today and why   

• Show how much financing your seller would be expected to provide and, if they were to insist upon a cash price, what an all cash price might be  

• Identify the best type of buyer to attract as well as the type(s) of buyers you should avoid.  

• Transaction Structuring Model – Allows you to compute “what if” scenarios by changing down payments, interest rates or terms etc and calculate your ROI and Fairness Testing so you can get back to the negotiating table quickly

Don't let the ease of use fool you.  This is very powerful software and an exceptional tool that is highly valued and used by MBAs, CPAs and other financial professionals all over the world. With our software you'll be able to present your client's business in a most professional way, raising the value of the business and the price you can get for it.  

Document Pack:  The CD-ROM has the contracts, listing forms and letters designed especially for use with the retainer process. Examples of forms, letters etc included are:

Additions to Listing Agreement                        Authorization to Commence Marketing

Authorization to Disclose Information               Authorization to Sell

Business Profile                                               Business Profile - Long

Biz Valuation Agreement - 1                            Biz Valuation Agreement - 2

Consulting Agreement                                      Corporate Resolution

Corporate Rider to Marketing Agreement        Corporate Rider

Equipment List                                                 Fee Agreement

Financial Advisory Agreement                          Financial Advisory Agreement - Long

Finders Fee Agreement                                    List of Creditors

Listing Agreement                                            Listing Agreement - Real Estate

Listing Checklist                                               Marketing Agreement

Marketing Agreement - 2                                 Marketing Fee & Commission Agreement

Mutual Non-disclosure Agreement                    Mutual Release

Release From Marketing Agreement                 Report Acceptance

Required Information                                        Secure Funding Agreement

Seller Release                                                   Training Agreement

Three Sample Reports:  The sample reports will help you as you create reports of your own.  The samples include retail, service and manufacturing/distribution businesses representing small, medium and large private companies.  Having completed reports to review facilitates a fast track understanding of  why your work will be extremely valuable to your client.  The first sample is an example of a basic report - The retainer collected, $1,500  The second and third reports are essentially the same but with more research and customization - The retainers collected, $5,000 and $25,000

Marketing Tools:  Sample solicitation letters, post cards, flyers and brochure for you to adapt to your use in marketing your services are also available for your customization on the CD-ROM.

Everything you need to start your transition to a fee based practice (read - become more effective selling businesses) is provided in this package.  The combination of our books, software and examples will help you understand and, of equal if not more importance, believe in the value of your services. We are so confident  you will be satisfied we offer a timeless no questions asked money back guarantee.  

What does the program cost?

Two Ways to Purchase:  

Special Introductory Prices    Save $$$

Construct your own Combination Special 

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