Engaging strategy works a charm
Company: Golf Travel
Time to sell: 5 months
Customer
A home-based business, operated by a husband and wife, arranging tours to various destinations around the world to play golf. It catered specifically to New Zealanders who liked to combine playing golf with international travel.
Background
The owners had enjoyed many years of successful trading. Although this was a low-pressure, lifestyle business, it was now time for retirement.
Brief
The owners accepted that the business effectively delivered an excellent wage and that there was no EBIT or surplus of significance. However, they were unwilling to sell the business at a price that reflected the current market multiples. For the sale to be worthwhile, they needed to achieve a sale price of about $300,000.
Our approach
An analysis of how the business worked, and how its current owners related to it, revealed that it had little to do with profitability. It was all about a commercial enterprise that dovetailed with lifestyle priorities. While loss-making would be unacceptable, a modest profit as an adjunct to the lifestyle characteristics would be seen as an adequate return on investment, to the right buyer.
Solution
The key was the listing message online and in print, and all marketing support activity. The heading was ‘LOVE GOLF AND TRAVEL’. There’s not a golfer who could resist reading further. By the end of the listing text, the potential buyer would be salivating at the prospect of an expenses-paid life, built around golf and international resort travel.
Result
The listing pulled heavily; over 60 expressions of interest within the first day or two. Following qualification by telephone, the Information Memorandum was issued. The business sold to a married couple who were a mirror image of the vendors, 15 years earlier. Within a month of settlement, the vendors had accepted a part-time consultancy role with the new owners.
