You’ve worked hard for years, your life is your salon, then before you know it, your husband gets a new job overseas, or you fall pregnant, or you reach a point where you’ve just had enough.  Whatever the reason, you want to get out and you want to get out NOW!

Selling your salon can be an involved and often a time consuming process.  Before you jump in, you’ll need to assemble…

The top things you need to get organised before selling a salon…

Picking a broker

Now you’ve completed this checklist you’re ready to find a broker. Utilise someone with industry knowledge and never go with the cheapest commission – remember you get what you pay for! Ask how many salons they have sold. Ask for testimonials. Ask to see their detailed commission structure, as many brokers have hidden fees.

Compile documentation

Once you’re happy with all of this, pass on all of your details from the checklist above to your broker.  They’ll develop an appraisal and compile a document which easily and concisely explains all the important attributes of your business. From there your salon is ready to show to prospective buyers.

Picking your price is the most important component in selling a business. And although we can give you a business appraisal with some price parameters you are the person who ultimately decides the listing price. If you are looking for a quick sale then price is the key driver, however if you don’t mind waiting till the right buyer comes along then you may get your listing price.

Unfortunately unlike real estate there can be no comparisons to develop an accurate valuation. However this is where an industry based broker can guide you. We say there are two mythical creatures: 1 is the buyer and the 2nd is the seller.  When all is good and the moons align then we have a deal.

When the seller looks at the offer on the table, they will usually respond with a counter offer.  If this is accepted by the buyer then the seller and the buyer go to contract and the business is taken off the market.

In my experience there can be no time limit for which a salon sells.  It could be one week or one year, but settlement is usually around 1 – 2 months after the contract is signed. This is the period where all the legal stuff gets done.  You don’t really need to know much here other than to make sure you get a decent lawyer to guide you through the transfer and any conditions attached to business sale. There are some standard terms of sale, but make sure there aren’t any special conditions to restrict your future plans or the sale going through smoothly.

Just prior to settlement you’ll need to do a stock count.  You should also assist the new owner with an introduction on how the business works and introduce them to the team. This is usually takes about 1-2 days. Finally the money is transferred and settlement has occurred. Give the new owners the keys and pop a bottle of Champagne as your salon is now out of your hands and you have stacks of money because you built a great, well presented business which sold to the first interested party!

Now wasn’t that a dandy little tale about a successful salon sale?  I only wish they always went that smoothly!

Happy sales…

For more information on appraisals and finding the right salon. Contact a salon specialist broker today on 1300 366 521.

Benchmark Salon Sales – Selling salons Australia Wide

LinkedIn is the professional network with over 100 million members and is an online business oriented service platform. Therefor it is necessary to integrate LinkedIn in your Social Media Strategy. Read our 4 Steps how to start your Account.

Here’s how you get started:

1. Personal Account— The first thing you need to do is create a personal account on LinkedIn. To make a company account, you have to also have a personal one. To begin, just go to www.linkedIn.com and enter the basic information. When you complete it, just click “Create My Profile.”
2. LinkedIn Profile— Before you complete your profile, a confirmation email will be sent to your email account. It will have a link in it – you need to confirm your account by clicking this. It will take you to the sign-in page where you enter your email and password.

LinkedIn offers two services—a basic “free” one and a premium “paid” one. After you choose the type you want, you’ll be ready to click “Profile” and begin to edit your profile.

Create both your personal and company profiles. For your LinkedIn profiles it is recommended that you add a lot of information. All the information you enter is searchable, so the more you have, the better it is for your business, and the easier it is to be found.

When you’re finished preparing them, you can link your personal profile to your company profile. Make sure to add a detailed description of your business!

3. Company website— You’ll see a field for your company’s site and the type of industry. When you put your site, use the format: http://mywebsite.com. This will automatically become a hyperlink to your company from your personal profile. All the members of your staff can use this hyperlink to link back to your company. It’s a great way to be seen.
   Your industry field is searchable, so think before you choose. It will be a very good way to find potential clients and for them to interact with you.
4. Get involved— LinkedIn is the same as any social media site. If you want to be seen, you have to get involved. Make connections and contacts to start building your network. The exposure will help lead you to a bigger audience.

After you get set up on LinkedIn, there are several features that it has that can be useful to help build your business. Here are 9 tips how to improve your performance:

1. LinkedIn Search— Search for others in your industry and/or for potential customers. The more you connect the bigger audience you will have.
2. Ads— You can look at several of the ads for businesses in your industry. This will let you see how they use LinkedIn Ads for paid advertising.
3. Import your email contacts— On LinkedIn you can import your email contacts from other email applications. This way you can begin to add LinkedIn connections to your existing email accounts.
4. Post Updates— Like Facebook and Twitter, LinkedIn has a status update field. You can begin a conversation or post a link to an article you’ve written.
5. LinkedIn Groups— Like Google+ circles, LinkedIn has groups. They are members who share a common interest in a specific topic. They help you build a community, so this is great for your brand.
6. Reply to Updates— You can see all updates posted to LinkedIn. Begin conversations yourself or reply to someone else’s update. If you choose, you can elect to only see message from your connections or even set your own criteria.
7. Banners— You can add up to three custom banners to your company page for free. You can use them to:
   • Take customer testimonials, highlight them, and link them to your page.
   • Link to and promote an upcoming event or webinar.
   • Improve your target market by highlighting and linking to your blog posts.
   • Promote a video you’ve posted about your business.
   • Let others know of the various social channels so they can reach you there.
8. Post company updates each day— Post updates during the time of day you get the most traffic. For most, it’s in the morning. You can try different times to see what works best with your audience.
9. Send messages to your target market— Linked in has a Sponsored Inmail feature that works like email. You don’t need them on your email list. It just works from your LinkedIn. This isn’t a free service, but it can be worth it.