MATURE BUSINESS, NEWLY FRANCHISED.
"Partner" On-Call Network's experience, expertise empowers its franchisees to help people buy, improve and sell businesses.
As a consultant working in California in the 1970s Ted J. Leverette would contact business brokers for his clients who were looking to buy a business in a certain industry. While brokers had many businesses in their inventory, the brokers rarely represented sellers of the types of businesses Leverette's clients sought.
Why was this so, Leverette thought? He discovered that up to 80 percent of profitable businesses are quietly for sale on the "hidden" market. These sellers neither advertise nor employ a broker because they are reluctant to pay a commission of 10 to 12 percent of the selling price and/or they want to carefully guard their confidentiality.
But what if the business owner doesn't know how to sell a business? The business owners Leverette contacted said they didn't know enough to sell on their own but would try it anyways rather than pay a brokerage commission.
"I told them, 'I'm not a broker but I can help you package your business so it's ready to be sold," Leverette recalled. "They started hiring me left and right. Soon, the word got out to buyers. They started showing up saying, 'We understand that you know a lot of businesses that are quietly for sale.' There was an obvious void in the industry...this hidden market of sellers." Leverette created a new consulting profession to serve business buyers: Business Buyer Advocate ™.
Today, more than 30 years since he got his start in 1974, Leverette is the founder and president of "Partner" On-Call Network LLC, a franchised network of business consultants whose menu of services fill a unique and valuable niche in the consulting industry. "Partners" On-Call ™ help clients buy, start, improve, finance, value and sell small and midsize businesses. POCN is the only business-to-business franchisor of its kind.
POCN was founded in June 2005 and is headquartered in North Palm Beach, Fla.
A proprietary study conducted by DePaul University and franchise development consultant, FRANCORP revealed that on average, new franchisors sell 9 units the first year. POCN began offering its franchise in February 2006. Nine franchisees signed up in seven months.
Since 1993 Leverette sold business opportunities based on his successful business model to people who independently own and operate their own consulting practice. There is a network of consultants throughout the United States and Canada who utilize Leverette's system.
The 60-year-old Leverette has consulted with thousands of business buyers and owners on buy/sell, valuation and business improvement over the last four decades. He relocated his consulting business to four states during that time and each time he generated profit within two months with no prior or personal business contacts.
The market opportunity for a mature and proven yet newly franchised business like POCN is immense. According to The Wall Street Journal, the greatest transfer of wealth in history will occur in the United States over the next decade. An estimated $10 trillion is expected to change hands, and much of this wealth is tied up in family businesses.
"Partners" On-Call furnish clients with hands-on help and impartial information to make informed business decisions; they are neither business coaches nor business brokers.
The business-coaching field is extremely competitive. According to Leverette, an online search for "business coach" and "success coach," will produce more than 8 million results.
In the USA the company buy/sell industry is populated with over 3,000 business brokers, including several hundred franchisees of business brokerage franchise organizations. Brokers serve sellers. "The POCN marketplace is larger because we serve people buying a business plus we improve established companies," says Leverette.
A broker's primary task is to simply market businesses for sale while working on contingency. POCN franchisees are paid in advance for their services and don't work on commission. Because less than 20 percent of sellers of profitable businesses sell their company through a business broker, POCN has a much larger market share and provides clients results-driven advice and guidance.
A Business Buyer Advocate guides the buyer throughout the 22-Step Acquisition Sequence and then can help the new owner improve the company and ultimately prepare it for sale when it is time for the owner to retire or trade up into a larger company.
"Business brokers are in a completely different field. We don't compete with them. There are 3,400 business brokers working 20 percent of the market. POCN franchisees have 100 percent of the market available to them," Leverette said. "We don't coach. We use our resources to help improve businesses. We're in the results business. That means getting more money to the bottom line."
POCN provides a strong investment opportunity for individuals looking to start or diversify an existing consulting practice. Potential POCN franchisees will already be successful but may have been downsized through corporate restructuring, lost interest in working for a large corporation or retired early and miss the excitement of the business world.
POCN offers a low initial investment and the opportunity to be a sole practitioner with the freedom to operate from a virtual office.
"Our franchisees don't want employees, they don't want to sign a lease and they don't want to spend $500,000 to $1 million to open a franchise," said Leverette, who is author of the bestselling book "How to Get ALL the Money You Want for Your Business Without Stealing It." "They just want to use their smarts, all those things they did to manage companies all those years. They want to make money from their know-how."
Franchisees build their referral-based business by establishing relationships with bankers, attorneys, accountants, business brokers and other professionals. There is no cold calling.
"Lawyers, accountants and bankers can't wait to meet us because we have a product that fits their needs, which differs from everybody else," Leverette said. "A lawyer or accountant can't do the legal or financial work on a buy-sell transaction if the buyer can't find a worthwhile business to buy. And the worst day in a banker's life is the day he or she finds out a business customer is not going to pay their loan. Banks love us because we can go into the business and advise the owner on how to quickly create cash flow and make the business solvent."
While business consulting in recent years has evolved into a cottage industry for many entrepreneurs, Leverette said it is difficult to start a business from scratch and achieve the credibility and diversity of services that POCN offers. Independent consultants have a high failure rate because they are faced with a special dilemma: They must have knowledge and experience to generate clients, but how do they gain that experience without making mistakes?
"We solve the problem that most consultants can't solve: They're all dressed up with no place to go," Leverette said. "These are well-meaning, very successful people with technical know-how who if they were to get hired would be useful to their client. Unfortunately, they don't know how to run a consulting business or get hired. They have too few clients and soon go out of business.
"We not only have a product people need, but we have a proven business model so that if somebody comes in and they follow the recipe, they can efficiently open their practice and be on their way to controlling their worklife and income." Apparently prospective franchisees agree.
"Partner" On-Call® has helped clients buy, start, improve, finance, value & sell small and midsize businesses, since 1974. As a franchisee, you'll enjoy the benefits of our rewarding experience.