In our best webinar yet, we met up with the expert on buying and selling home service business, Patrick Lange the owner of The Business Modification Group. Patrick Lange shared his secrets on how to best set up your business in order to one day enter the sellers market. And now you’re in luck, we get to share those nuggets with you.

Let’s start with who is Patrick Lange?

Meet Patrick Lange—a business broker who knows the heating and air industry inside and out. He’s got hands-on experience; once owning  his own heating and air company for several years. One day, he realized that his heart was really in helping others buy and sell businesses, not in running his own.

When Patrick tried to sell his heating and air business, he hit a snag. There wasn’t much help out there for the little guys in the industry. That’s when the light bulb went off: if he was struggling to find good advice, others were probably in the same boat. That’s when he decided to make a big change.

Patrick went all-in on specializing in the heating and air business market. At first, he helped people in Florida, where he’s based. But pretty soon, word got out and before he knew it, he was helping others buy and sell heating and air businesses all over the country.

Fast-forward to the past six years, and he’s sold around 120 companies with an average of about 20 per year!

The 4 tips that are easy to implement today!

Patrick shared his top tips that he declared “if you focus on these four things as you’re building your business, I can guarantee you that you’ll be able to sell your business for more money than if you didn’t.”

 

When a buyer looks at your business, they’re looking for consistency there. They love long term business, long term employees, people that have been there.

A business built on service and repair

One of the most important things when selling your business is having consistency in income, service agreements and deep relationships with customers. At the end of the day they’re buying two things, your brand and your employees. You want to focus on securing long term relationships with your customers with as many service agreements in place as possible to show the buyer steady income. Another key focus is long-term employees that generate the revenue behind the brand. One of the most interesting statements Patrick made about hiring long staying employees  is “what I see works the best is hiring for attitude and training for aptitude. So they’re bringing  good people that have the traits they’re looking for, and then teaching them the trade.”

 

If the goal is to build a business for maximum value, you being in the field is slowing down that growth.

Get out of the van

One of the most shocking things Patrick talked about is how most businesses are stuck in the $1 million in sales and less is because of the owner. The bigger the separation from you and the business, the bigger the pay day. He explained that when you are the top tech, the top salesman, installer, office manager etc. in the company you essentially have a high-paying job, not a business. When it comes time to approach a buyer they are going to come in and say to themselves ‘well now I have to replace the number 1 employee and I have to hire all new employees to do all the jobs the business owner was exceptional at’, whereas if you already have those people in place then you only have to replace the business owner and in the end get a higher dollar figure.

 

As your broker, I can get you a higher selling price if the books are clean.

Keep your books clean and organized

This is not groundbreaking information, but what is  important here is if you have 20 years worth of filing cabinets filled with your paper trail or if you have software that has all your financial records and even customer records, it is the ultimate game changer when it comes to selling your business. If you can quickly show a buyer all your reports, data and past client job information, the buyer will be more inclined to buy a business that’s efficient and organized. Using a field service software like Workiz is the best way to get your business in a successful position that’s attractive to buy.

 

Buyers are scared to death of new construction

Stay away from new construction

The debate here is not that you can’t make money, build a successful business and ultimately sell if you are only working with new construction projects, but Patrick suggest that with new construction sometimes the work is inconsistent.  The #1 thing buyers look for is consistency within the business. If you are going to take on a new construction project then he suggests implementing a maintenance agreement so you keep the consistency with that project.

There you have it! By taking these tips and implementing them into your business model you are well on your way to building a home service business that is attractive and ready to sell. If you want to get in touch with Patrick Lange you can contact him for any questions or inquiries. 

businessmodificationgroup.com
Patrick@businessmodificationgroup.com
Phone number: 352-440-4604