Hosted by John Warrillow
When Mark Carlson put Minnesota Mailing Solutions on the block, he got two offers for around $3 million, about four times his pre tax profit – but Carlson wasn’t satisfied, and in this week’s episode you’ll hear the one simple tactic he used to get the acquirer to boost their offer by 50%.
Carlson’s guide in increasing the value of his business by 50% was Jim Kahrs, a Value Builder advisor on our team. If you’d like to see if a Certified Value Builder™ could help boost the value of your business, please complete this form.
About Mark Carlson
As an account executive with Rauenhorst Recruiting, Mark Carlson capitalizes on his years of human resource experience linking people and work. He is also currently the principal at Tremendous Transformations, where he works with individuals to create balance in the areas of physical wellness, career, relationships and spirituality.
Carlson is the former owner and president of Minnesota Mailing Solutions, an office automation equipment sales and service organization that he grew over a 10 year period and eventually sold to Pitney Bowes. He is a past chair of the board for the TwinWest Chamber of Commerce and was named their Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year in 2002. His TwinWest experience included frequent and strategic integration with city, county and state government entities, where he garnered a greater appreciation for the nuances and importance of the public service sector.
Mark was awarded a B.S. in Education from Bemidji State University and an MBA concentrating in organizational design and development from the University of St. Thomas.
Tune into this week’s episode “Selling Your Business? How To Get 50% More” with host, @johnwarrillow.
Some Highlights Of The Show
Business: Minnesota Mailing Solutions
3:10: “There is a very large [junk mail] industry… It was a $4.5M business when I sold it… When I purchased it [as an existing business] it was doing about $900,000 a year… I purchased it for about 1X revenue.”
6:50: “The triggering event was the beginning of the decline in first class postage and the sale of mailing equipment.”
8:20: “15% net profit margin before tax.”
9:00: A movement towards consolidation.
12:01: “I knew I could sell to another individual, but the likelihood of my manufacturer approving that was small because their ultimate goal was to combine us with their corporate store now that they had merged.”
16:00: “The approval was to take over the existing franchise agreement. I could sell my business, my name, my process, my employees to anyone I wanted. I just couldn’t represent their product line.”
16:22: “I ended up selling to the big-dog … and they bought me – I had to stay with them for three years.”
17:19: “First, who are the players, and second, how do we value the business?”
18:11: Industry standard 1X revenue
18:49: “We ended up selling for $4.56M.”
19:03: “Jim [my business broker] did the face-to-face negotiations … which removed me emotionally from it… You know all of us small businesses owners identify with the business in a very large way… Removing that emotion part of it … it took a little longer to get through it all [but] that was a good thing.”
21:00: Two potential acquirers and three rounds of offers.
24:05: “The quote from their negotiating team, ‘Well, Mark is loyal to us; he will never sell to them.’”
25:03: “I had a partner in this business and my partner was also a partner in an accounting firm. He brought a very level-headed approach to this sale.”
25:45: “The most successful people were the ones who could separate themselves from their business.”
26:26: I think this was the hardest part of the sale, the due diligence & them pouring through the business.
28:27: “I was not emotionally engaged in the finances and the deal, but I was emotionally engaged in my staff and my people because that was the kind of manager I was.”
31:30: “I got complete payout the day we signed … the earn-out – they brought me on as an employee and paid me salary.
32:00: Staying on and motivated during the earn-out period. We’re talking, “What keeps you motivated after the sale of your business?”
40:40: “My broker and I talked a lot about this. We felt that we had given [the current manufacturer] every fair opportunity and as much information as we could legally to come up to that decision. At the end of the day this was their responsibility and research.”
43:00: “[After the sale] I got into the best shape of my life… I launched a life and health coaching business called Tremendous Transformations.”
46:25: mark@tremendoustransformations.com | www.tremendoustransformations.com
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For additional information regarding Florida business sales, acquisitions and valuations, please contact Eric J. Gall at Eric@EdisonAvenue.com or 239.738.6227. Also, visit our Edison Avenue website at www.EdisonAvenue.com or my personal website at www.BuySellFLbiz.com.
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