History of Selling Businesses

• Company launched in 1974 with one employee
• Currently employ 17 at home office, with 12 people in affiliate offices
• Canadian affiliate offices in Windsor, Victoria and Vancouver
• U.S. affiliate offices in Buffalo, New York and Troy, Michigan
• Robbinex represents the seller only in the sale of a business, but maintains a database of more than 2,000 potential buyers and brings qualified buyers to the seller
• Workshops are held throughout Canada and in the United States to educate business owners on the selling process
• A three-phase process is used to determine the company's worth and prepare it to go to market, followed by the active negotiation process with potential buyers
• As part of the service it offers to clients, Robbinex retains an industrial psychologist to help business owners and their families deal with the emotions that arise over the sale of their company

Background on business intermediary role

• Using a business intermediary to facilitate the sale of businesses is well-established in the United States and is a growing trend in Canada
• The sale of a business is a complex process that normally takes 9-15 months
• The best time to sell a business is when owners don't have to, e.g. when things are going well see article
• If business owners fail to plan ahead for the sale of their company, they are likely to sell short and not recoup the business's full value
• Health reasons often force a sale, for which the business owner isn't prepared