M & A Rainmaker

You know that saying – belt and braces – well having a couple of blogs at the top of a 100 and something million search needs a bit of that

When my Pinterest page suddenly dropped out of the Google search for Sales and Marketing Expert post the Hummingbird revision I had already planned for it – thank goodness !!

You have to plan ahead in most things and certainly when it comes to protecting a top ranking position in Google for a competitive search term like Top Digital Sales and Marketing Expert you do.

The Centripetal Network Consulting blogs that are currently ranking at the top of Google are the ” belt ” and this blog is the ” braces “. I do actually have a 3rd ” back-up ” which is a Pinterest page which complements an older Pinterest Page   which has been ranking very well for searches on Digital Marketing Expert UK fort some time. However, as I mentioned it fell out of the rankings recently. It might return.

http://www.buckarooleather.com.au/miners

Why so important ??

Obviously it is important to be found for the things that you do and provide. When you are providing a service that includes being found in search engines then clearly it is important to be found and to be found easily and quickly.

The top 5 or 6 positions of the first page of Google are the sweet spot and that is where the current blog posts are. Around 40/50% of all the traffic goes to the top position and the remainder is spread between the rest – typically.

Of course the reason why we want to rank high in Google is because it is a major source if not THE major source –  of traffic to our blog and website.

Everyone that wants visitors to their web or blogsite needs to spend time working out what they want to rank or be found for and then how easy or difficult it is to do that. There are various tools that we can use to help with that task.

Of course Pay per Click is one way of getting found on Google but it is an expensive way and we always recommend that you build a strategy around ranking naturally for key words and phrases.

If you are Selling Gold,Silver,Diamond,Pearl,Watches, Jewellery and Art in the U.K. where do you go for the best prices and for people that you can trust ??

Although I am not an expert in this market I did have cause to investigate this market and sell a few items recently and what I found may be of interest.

Background

Simplistically the price of Gold over the last 20 years has increased massively. See

http://goldprice.org/gold-price-history.html

In USD/oz the increase has been from 2-400 tp 1400.

Silver has followed a similar trend

http://www.financial-portal.com/metal_Silver.html

from 5 to about 35 US dollars per oz.

Diamond prices have fluctuated quite a bit and only certain sizes, colours and quality of diamonds are really investments.

http://www.diamondsourceva.com/ShoppingAdvice/diamonds-investment.asp

Small diamonds are pretty valueless.

Pearls have been a disaster !!

http://www.fashion-era.com/jewellery/jewellery_freshwater_pearls_pictures2.htm

Prices of Watches and Jewelery

So, the value of Watches and jewelery, depending on what they are made of, have been affected by these price trends but then you have makes and designs to take account of before you can say what the trend has been.

Certain watches ( antique/classic ) are going to retain their value, generally speaking but there will be fluctuations.

http://www.businessweek.com/lifestyle/content/apr2010/bw2010045_024977.htm

I have a client who is looking for SaaS companies that might fit into it’s Buy and Build Portfolio. They will deliver solutions for the public and private sectors.

If you know of any such companies please let me know asap.

If you are selling a high tech business in Birmingham then the M&A Rainmaker blogsite has some useful information about the process to use

I sold the national Cisco Internet and Networking company Voyager Networks in 1999 and more recently the global Cisco Unified Communications company 5i Limited in 2009 and worked with Ernst & Young in 1999 and Nortons Corporate Finance in 2009.

Both times we used a similar process to sell the companies. It made absolutely no difference that one sale was at the height of the dotcom boom whilst the other was at the bottom of the global recession.

The process is outlined here

http://mandarainmaker.co.uk/wordpress/selling-your-business-2/

along with other useful, related sections.

An interesting article from 2007 in USA Today
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/technology/2007-02-23-facebook_x.htm?POE=MONISVA

The original and still the most important purpose of the M&A Rainmaker blog was to impart the lessons that I learned in selling businesses, particularly High Tech businesses.

The process is discussed here

http://mandarainmaker.co.uk/wordpress/selling-your-business-2/

in some detail.

I use the sale of 2 of my businesses Voyager Networks and 5i as particular examples in the selling your business process. One of the reasons for this is that one, Voyager Networks, was sold at the height of the High Tech, Dot Com Boom in 1999/2000 and the other, 5i, was sold in the depth’s of the global economic recession in 2008/9. Yet they both sold and sold well.

A very similar process was used in both cases although there were differences other than the economic backdrop.

When we started Voyager we had no clear strategy for it being a lifestyle business or an exit route business. It only became an exit route business after my meeting with Investec and after innumerable approaches to buy us. This was something like 1996, 3 years into the life of the business.

5i, on the other hand, was started with the clear intention of exiting ( sale or float ) 3-5 years later.

In fact both businesses sold around 7 years after thier start and in conversations with other people who have sold High Tech businesses this seems to be a typical lifetime for a business before it is sold.

In both cases we conducted a ” Beauty Parade ” to find the right M&A ( Mergers and Acquisitions ) partner. In the first case settling on Ernst & Young and in the second Norton Corporate Finance. ( Actually it was probably thier Rainmakers and thier teams that we settled on aswell as the companies ).

I remember that in the case of Voyager we discussed who was going to sell the company ( after we had decided to sell ) and put into the pot Deloitte & Touche, Ernst & Young and one other ( who I forget ). To get to the short list the three partners each put out feelers amongst thier contacts and 3 were chosen for presentations. Our accountants and our lawyers were consulted ( D & T were our accountants ). We ended up using Ernst and Young and our lawyers ( from Leeds ).

With 5i the lawyers and accountants were consulted; board members and shareholders put forward suggestions and a process was followed which resulted in Nortons Corporate Finance being selected.

I have to say that in my opinion both firms were exactly the right ones for us. The Nortons process and culture was similar to the one at Ernst & Young and this was a factor in the decision to go for Nortons.

Now, there are a great number of Corporate Finance and M & A companies to choose from and it is very important to find the right partner with the right processes and capabilities.

It is possible that the right people to use are your own accountants and lawyers but probably not. Or, at the very least, you should look for alternatives. If you are very experienced at selling companies then you may well have lawyers and accountants that you have used on a number of occassions. My advice is directed at people who have not had these opportunities.

In an ideal world you want to have decided wether you are a lifestyle business or an exit route business as early as possible. Also in an ideal world, you want to give yourself time to select the right legal and accountancy M&A partners for you and your business.