Should you use a route broker or not?
Quite some time ago, I wrote about the problems with a lot of brokers out there. Mostly because a lot of the people that I’ve consulted through the years would come to me thinking that they were doing something wrong when the brokers wouldn’t respond, were rude, or just hard to deal with when it came to getting quality information about the bread or FedEx route they were interested in.
The difference between a good broker and a bad one will be the difference between selling your route quickly vs not at all. Many good brokers that are experienced in selling routes will already have a decent buyer list compiled from previous route listings that sold to other people. Those buyers are still waiting on the sidelines for a route and are often contacted before a route is even publicly listed for sale.
A good broker can net you more money for your route, sell it faster, and reduce your workload.
HOW MUCH SHOULD YOU PAY FOR A BROKER?
A good broker should structure their payout such that they’re only paid upon the successful completion of the sale. The average industry commission rate is about 10%. Some brokers will charge a minimum amount of around $10k if the route being sold is valued less than $100k. Many brokers will want to have an exclusive right to sell the route for you (meaning that you selling it through your own methods wouldn’t alleviate you of having to pay the commission). I love the idea of saving money, but it’s pretty unscrupulous as a seller to try to circumvent having to pay the broker upon a successful sale.
Trying to dodge paying your broker not only is bad practice, but could land you in legal hot water.
Using a good broker can allow you to focus on managing your business and being available for it, but you could definitely sell a route yourself. There are a considerable number of tire kickers that will contact you, and a broker would be astute at either handling them to get those people informed or simply send those types of buyers on their way.
Buying a route is often many people’s first business acquisition.
Knowing the sorts of fears that those buyers experience and guiding those buyers through that process effectively can be the difference between someone getting cold feet or moving forward with the deal. So while many brokers spend quite a bit of time to get your route sold and can help push the deal through, you may want to try to sell the route on your own. If you need guidance on how to get started with selling your route (or which broker might be the best fit for selling your route), schedule a time with me below to discuss what sorts of steps you’ll need to take.