THE AGENTS

Konrad Szymanski

Director, Humberstones

My company celebrates 70 years in the business transfer market this year. Starting from small origins in London in 1937, Frank Arthur Humberstone started his own business selling hotels and "flatlet houses", and quickly expanded into pubs, inns and the leisure market.

Inspired by the timing, I decided to look at what makes a good business transfer agent.

Firstly, you must get your price right. In business transfer

it is important that the people valuing the property have all the experience possible to give an accurate marketing

assessment on the spot. At Humberstones we don't just employ people who might have been running a pub one week and are out valuing the next. We spend a great many years training our staff and not only do we have valuers who

boast a huge wealth of experience, we also have a third

generation of Humberstones working in a firm where

business transfer has been bred in the bone.

That's a big help - local knowledge is so important.

Another important factor is that the person who values the business and the person you instruct to sell your business also needs to be the one handling the sale. Buyers don't want to be put through to a call centre where no one has seen the pub and doesn't know its nuances and it unique selling points. Buyers want to talk to people.

While we all agree that modern technology, websites, email, texting, etc, are all excellent tools in our fast-moving world, they are still just tools. You cannot sell businesses by

chucking mud at the wall - you need to get close to the buyers and find out what they are looking for.

Sellers should not have to pay upfront fees. There are agents who actually pay their valuers a commission based on the upfront money they collect. The agent who works on a no sale, no fee basis, is far more likely to get the price right than one who is motivated by taking an upfront fee - which leads to flattering valuations.

So, in a nutshell, our business is about the people we

employ, their experience, honesty and integrity, and about giving our clients value for money.

That's why we look forward to the next 70 years. Cheers!