As you ready this Murphy Business Brokers review we encourage you to think through how a broker could be useful in the sale of your business.
Owning a business can be the realization of a dream for many people all over the world. But there may be a time when the owner wants to exit the business.
There are many reasons why people want to sell a business. However, they may not know where to start.
They also may not know how to choose a reputable and trustworthy broker. Or that they even need a broker to make the process as smooth as possible.
It is possible to sell your business without using a broker but you will need to know many things to make sure everything is done properly.
Better Alternatives to Murphy Business Brokers
As buyers and sellers of business ourselves, we’ve had the best sale valuation and customer service from the following broker.
Overview of Murphy Business Brokers
Murphy Business Brokers specializes in the sale of brick and mortar businesses. They were founded in 1994 and have not stopped growing since.
The current CEO of Murphy Business Brokers is Thomas Coba. He has decades of experience in managing major companies.
His experience has led to the continued success of Murphy Business Brokers. But along with his expertise, the team that stands behind him is exemplary.
The management team and business brokers treat every sale like the only sale. With this kind of dedication, it is no wonder they have been in business for so long.
Types of Businesses Murphy Business Brokers Sells
Murphy Business Brokers is a traditional brick and mortar sales company. That means that they sell different types of on the ground businesses.
They handle mergers and acquisitions, franchise sales, machinery, and equipment, as well as commercial real estate.
Murphy Business Brokers also offer services related to business brokerage and valuation.
Murphy Business Brokers Valuation Process
With Murphy Business Brokers you will find that they have a business valuation service. If you choose to sell your business with them then it will be part of the fees you pay for the sale.
But if you don’t want to sell your business and simply want to have your business valued and assessed then they can do that separately.
However, this service is not free. The website does not talk about or disclose the fees for the valuation process.
You will need to contact them and ask specifically. This is not unusual but we do prefer brokers that are upfront about their fees.
Murphy Business Brokers do offer an array of valuation services.
- Broker’s Opinion of Value
- Calculation of Value Report
- Business Appraisal Report
- Business Valuation Report
Each of these services has its pros and cons. Which one you choose will depend on what you need the valuation for.
Sales Process
Every brokerage firm will have similar yet different ways of handling the sales process. Some are more detailed and layout the step by step process on their website.
This is helpful when writing reviews or trying to make an informed decision about selling your business with a particular company.
However, the Murphy Business Brokers website does give clear and concise steps. So we had to put together the steps that we gleaned from the information.
If you are interested in using Murphy Business Brokers for the sale of your business then you may want to confirm the sales process with them first.
Valuation and Assessment
As with the beginning of any sales process, the business has to be accurately valued and assessed.
The potential buyers will want up to date and correct information. The broker will also need to know what to list as the business price.
The valuation process is talked about in one of the previous sections. However, this part will be a little more in-depth.
During the valuation and assessment process, you will need to produce financial documents as well as other documentation.
They may or may not complete a due diligence process at this point. The website didn’t say anything about due diligence.
We assume that they will do that but we don’t know when it will occur. With a brick and mortar business, due diligence is hands-on.
This means that they will want to go to the business, see the facility, talk to employees and customers. Basically look at the business behind the scenes.
Due diligence, if they do it, could also happen right before closing. You may want to ask specifically before you sign a sales agreement.
If they don’t have a due diligence process you may want to think through selling your business with Murphy Business Brokers.
Since they have been in business for so long you probably won’t have to worry about this.
Marketing Plan
As with many other business brokerage firms, Murphy Business Brokers will come up with a marketing strategy after the valuation is complete.
Before this, you will have to sign the sales agreement paperwork. But if you get to this point then your personal broker will start working on how to market your business.
Part of this process will include many detailed and strategic marketing outlets.
- Direct mail
- Targeted marketing
- Consumer and trade marketing
One thing that Murphy Business Brokers does to help sell a business is to prepare an offering portfolio.
While the details of your business are confidential, the offering portfolio is something that is shown only to serious buyers.
It will contain detailed information about your business that will help those that are interested decide if it is the business they want to buy.
Murphy Business Brokers claims that by providing so much information to serious buyers in the beginning it is easier to have a quick and successful sale.
The offering portfolio seems to be a key part of their marketing strategy.
Murphy Business Brokers also list your business on international and national brokerage networks. This will help bring buyers to you.
Identify Buyers
After all of the marketing efforts start to work it will be time to identify the serious buyers.
Your broker will receive all of the contact from interested parties. They will then go through all of the interest to find some satisfactory offers.
Once the good offers are found they will be presented to you for the final decision. You are able to talk the offers over with your broker or attorney.
You will need to decide on one offer to pursue the next step.
Negotiation
After you have identified the buyer and offer you want to accept it will be time to negotiate. This is when everything will be decided on before the closing.
Murphy Business Brokers will help you through this whole process. The financial options, post-sale training, and other specifics are taken care of in the negotiation process.
Once the documents are signed at closing there is no way to change them. Make sure you present any concerns to your broker during this time.
Closing
As with all business sales, closing is the last part of it. The Murphy Business Brokers website does not walk through the specifics of their closing process.
They also don’t talk about the escrow process and what service they use. This will be something that you will need to ask in advance.
It is likely that this will all be discussed when you sign your sales agreement, but if it isn’t then you will need to ask.
Murphy Business Broker Success Rate
After looking at the website we didn’t find anything that gave a clear success rate. Not in number form at least.
There are businesses that will tell you the percentage of successful sales. However, when a company has been around for as long as Murphy Business Brokers, the numbers can be complicated.
That doesn’t mean that they aren’t successful at closing sales. They have over one thousand businesses for sale through their firm at any given time.
Fees Charged By Murphy Business Brokers to Sell a Business
There will always be fees associated with using a brokerage firm to sell your business. However, different firms handle fees differently.
It is not unusual for firms that deal in brick and mortar businesses to not say what their fees are.
Murphy Business Brokers is no different. They do not disclose their fees on the website.
This is something that will be discussed when you contact them about selling your business. It is very likely that for the sale of a business they have a commission rate.
But since this is not the only service that they offer, there will be other fees for the different services.
We do like to see transparency when it comes to fees. However, you will have to call them to find out what they charge for the services they provide.
Pros and Cons of Using Murphy Business Brokers to Sell a Business
Even with the most experienced brokerage firms, you can expect to have pros and cons. No business is perfect and it will come down to what you need to help sell your business.
We are going to take what we have talked about in this Murphy Business Brokers Review and make it a clear list of pros and cons.
Pros
- Extensive experience in brick and mortar sales
- Work with a variety of businesses and commercial real estate
- Longevity in the industry
- Use a variety of marketing tools
Cons
- No fees listed on the website
- Do not deal with website business sales
- Did not talk about due diligence on the website
Conclusion And Verdict
When you decide that it is time to exit your business, we know that the decision did not come lightly.
Working hard to establish a business takes persistence and perseverance. That is why it is important to use a broker to sell your business.
Getting the proper amount for the sale is important when exiting the business. You don’t want to lose money on the work you have put in.
After spending some time researching and writing about Murphy Business Brokers, we feel confident that they are an experienced and reputable firm.
However, that doesn’t mean that they are the firm that should handle everyone’s business sale. There are some things that we didn’t like on the website.
Not listing fees or even alluding to what the fees could be for the services they offer is not something that we like to see.
However, it is not unusual. Some of the older and more experienced firms will not list fees. But do be sure that you ask what they are if you contact them about selling.
It would be a positive thing if they sold website businesses as well. But they only deal in brick and mortar sales. This isn’t unusual for firms to only deal in one or the other.
The way they approach marketing is advantageous for the seller. They get to so many different markets by using online listings as well as direct mail and other methods.
Using this kind of marketing will give the seller a larger pool of potential buyers that they may not have found otherwise.
The sheer amount of experience that Murphy Business Brokers have gives us confidence in their ability to sell your business successfully.
When you look at the website it does show past businesses that have been sold by them. It also lists the industry they are in and the amount they sold for.
We did like seeing this as well. Even without an explicit success rate, giving this information helps evoke confidence.
Verdict
While overall Murphy Business Brokers is impressive based on the website, we don’t think they would be our first choice to sell a business.
They do have the experience going for them, however, we would rather work with a company that discloses the fees upfront.
We would also like to see them layout their sales process in a more concise list. We had to read through the page and figure out how the process worked.
We also didn’t feel comfortable that the Murphy Business Brokers website didn’t talk about due diligence. Due diligence shouldn’t be ignored.
With this being such an important part of the sales process it should at least be mentioned. Without seeing it on the website we are only left to guess whether or not they complete this step of the process.
It would have also been nice to have a clear picture of what the valuation process looks like.
They do talk about valuation and the different types they complete but we would like to see a list of what owners will be required to show.
These things that we have mentioned are the reasons that we would not personally use Murphy Business Brokers as our first choice.
However, if we had friends or family that were choosing to exit a business we would mention the name for them to research.
